#china #international #engineering #manufacturing #bus China-based BYD has announced that it is to open a manufacturing facility to build electric buses in Lancaster, California. It will also set up a large-scale battery-manufacturing facility there. The plants are BYD’s first manufacturing facilities in the USA.
Lancaster mayor Rex Parris said: “Our city is honoured to play host to BYD, a first-rate firm known around the globe as a leader in battery and sustainable-energy technologies. The opening of not one, but two manufacturing facilities will provide hundreds of local jobs.”
The plant, which will have an annual capacity of 1,000 units, will begin producing electric buses in October. The plan is to manufacture 50 units in the first year. BYD’s electric bus, known as the K9, is 12m long and designed to achieve a range of 155 miles on a single charge.
In April, BYD was awarded a $12.1 million contract with Long Beach Transit Authority to produce 10 zero-emission all-electric buses. The company employs more than 160,000 people around the world, with operations in China, the USA, Europe, Japan, South Korea, India, Taiwan, Hong Kong and other regions.