BYD Hops On The Bus

Bertel Schmitt
by Bertel Schmitt

China’s BYD needs good news real bad. The Chinese market for EVs is … what Chinese market for EVs? And wasn’t their E6 coming to the U.S.? Whatever happened to that? That’s what we get from investors brought to California by the Governator. Oh well, Jerry Brown instead. In the meantime (as in “mean”), Nissan delivers its first real Leaf to California man. BYD will sink into irrelevance, unless they come up with something, fast.

Suddenly, they have a swell idea. Something way bigger than cars.

Buses. Reuters says that BYD “is in talks with officials in Los Angeles to supply all-electric battery buses in the city.” In talks. Being “in talks” can mean anything from “Hi, this is Stella Li from BYD. May we interest you in an electric bus?” to actually sending in a bid to City Hall. It usually doesn’t mean much more.

If L.A. takes those Chinese battery buses, it could mean jobs. “Initially we would ship e-buses from China, but eventually we would have to localize production,” Stella Li said.

Ad what about those E6es?

They will come next year, says Stella. As many as 50 of them. Honestly now.


Bertel Schmitt
Bertel Schmitt

Bertel Schmitt comes back to journalism after taking a 35 year break in advertising and marketing. He ran and owned advertising agencies in Duesseldorf, Germany, and New York City. Volkswagen A.G. was Bertel's most important corporate account. Schmitt's advertising and marketing career touched many corners of the industry with a special focus on automotive products and services. Since 2004, he lives in Japan and China with his wife <a href="http://www.tomokoandbertel.com"> Tomoko </a>. Bertel Schmitt is a founding board member of the <a href="http://www.offshoresuperseries.com"> Offshore Super Series </a>, an American offshore powerboat racing organization. He is co-owner of the racing team Typhoon.

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  • Tosh Tosh on Dec 13, 2010

    " “Initially we would ship e-buses from China, but eventually we would have to localize production,” Stella Li said." I call shenanigans! China ships drywall and fresh garlic to the US, but needs to build BUSES in the USA?! We're going to build Chinese electric buses in the US? Honestly now....

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