SMRT in MOU to sell electric vehicles in Singapore

SMRT Corporation Ltd said on Thursday that its unit, subsidiary, SMRT International Pte Ltd (SMRT), has entered into a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with green energy technology company, BYD Company Limited, to distribute and sell electric vehicles in Singapore.

Both parties will enter into discussions on the possibility of establishing a joint venture to develop, distribute and sell electric vehicles, including e-buses and electric taxi vehicles.

The MOU with BYD underlines SMRT's commitment to environmental sustainability, the transport group said.

SMRT became the first public transport provider in Singapore and South East Asia to purchase Euro V compliant buses in May 2008, and now has more than 140 Euro V buses on the roads.

SMRT Buses also started trials for two environmentally-friendly buses in January 2011, the German-made MAN A22 Euro V bus and its first diesel-electric hybrid bus made by China's Zhong Tong.

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First BYD Electric Vehicles to Arrive in Nederlands

Yesterday BYD Company Ltd (BYD) and Rotterdam City entered into an agreement to deliver the BYD’s all-electric e6 vehicles as part of Nederland’s green transportation project “75-EV-RO” – the first e6’s in all of Europe. The Netherlands Prince Maurits van Oranje, Vice Mayor of Rotterdam Mrs. A. van Huffelen, Chinese Ambassador Mr. Zhang Jun and BYD’s Henry Li (Auto Division GM) were all present for the signing ceremony in Rotterdam City Hall. As part of the 75-EV-RO project, the Rotterdam government plans to purchase 75 new energy vehicles of different types to create a new energy fleet in Rotterdam. These projects will not only popularize the concept of electrified transportation, but also resolve public concerns over vehicle safety, charging technology and local environment impact.

“We are very proud to be a part of the ‘75-EV-RO’ project and we are very confident in the performance of our electric vehicles. We expect that our cooperation with Rotterdam government will be a big success”

At the core of the e6 technology is BYD’s Iron Phosphate or “Fe” battery technology. The Fe battery boasts the highest safety, longest service life and most environmentally friendly rechargeable chemistry. Integrating the “Fe” battery, the e6 (a 5-seat crossover all-electric vehicle) can travel up to 300 kM in range per charge. The BYD e6 has been used as taxis in Shenzhen, China for over a year now and is referenced in the recent “BYD Fleet Summary” released April 29^th, 2011. The fleet of 50 e6 Shenzhen taxis, in service since May 2010, have now surpassed 3 million kilometers in cumulative fleet miles. The successful operation of the e6 taxis in Shenzhen for over a year now has proven it’s reliability according to BYD officials. “We are very proud to be a part of the ‘75-EV-RO’ project and we are very confident in the performance of our electric vehicles. We expect that our cooperation with Rotterdam government will be a big success”, said BYD’s Mr. Li.

“The Rotterdam Government has been committed to the development of cleaner transportation and aims to make Rotterdam a cleaner, greener and more healthy city of Europe. The ‘75-EV-RO’ is one of the hybrid/Electric vehicle pilot projects that we have in hand. We are looking forward to testing the e6 and think the e6 is a great choice for this project”, added Mrs. van Huffelen.

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Indonesia says China's BYD in talks for car, battery plant

BYD Co Ltd , a Chinese car and battery maker backed by billionaire Warren Buffett, is in talks to build a car or battery plant in Indonesia worth around $200 million, Indonesia's investment chief told Reuters on Saturday.

Gita Wirjawan, speaking during a two-day visit by Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao to Indonesia, said the firm was looking for local partners in Southeast Asia's biggest economy, which is seeing surging consumer demand for cars.  

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BYD Announces EV Fleet Results at Anniversary of Green-Taxi Project

Today marks the one year anniversary of the world's largest all-electric vehicle Taxi fleet,manufactured by BYD. In conjunction with this anniversary, BYD announced results of several of itselectric vehicle pilots - the F3DM, e6 and eBUS-12 which are in fleet testing across the world. Fifty of BYD's e6, five-seat crossover vehicles, each with a range of over 160 miles (up to 300 Km) and a top speed of 88 mph (140km/h), have been in service at Shenzhen-based Pengcheng Electric Taxi Company since April 29, 2010. The Shenzhen e6 Taxi fleet has now accumulated ~1,730,000 all-electric miles (or 2.77 million kilometers). The distance traveled for single fleet vehicles has reached ~63,000 miles each (>100,000 km). "This fleet of 50 e6 taxis has survived the very harsh operating conditions of hot Shenzhen summers and a very cold winter this year, and drivers and passengers alike have been extremely satisfied with their ride experience," according to Stella Li, Senior Vice President. 250 more eTaxis are being delivered to the International University in Shenzhen before August this year. According to collected data, the per-car-fuel-savings is over $1167 per-Taxi-per-month (driving an average of 400Km per day). BYD's all-electric Taxis are expected to help Shenzhen avoid about 133 lbs(or 60.4Kg) of carbon-dioxide pollution per day per Taxi. This is an equivalent of 2,425,060 lbs (or 1.1M kg) of carbon-dioxide pollution saved by this fleet in the first year.

BYD electric Taxi in Shenzhen (Photo: Business Wire)

The most important finding in the e6 fleet testing was that there has been no noticeable energy drop - both driving range and battery performance has been stable in rapid-charging conditions over the 1.73M miles tested - a breakthrough in EV rapid-charging. BYD has been challenged by the media about its claims of long-range electricvehicles and superior battery longevity inrapid-charging regimes since launching its firstdual-mode, electric and plug-in-hybrid electric vehicles in December 2008. With the results of the e6 fleet, which was continuously rapid charged in 20- 30 minutes, BYD now has a proven track record for its Iron-Phosphatebattery technology. The data is there to showvehicle charging efficiencies, consumption efficiencies, and EV ranges over time-- all with rapid-charging regimes.

BYD also reported on its F3DM fleet which BYD launched in its first US tests at the Housing Authority of Los Angeles (HACLA). The F3DM can travel over 40 miles all-electric but can be engaged to act as a Hybrid-Electric (HEV) to extend its range up to 300 miles. The HACLA fleet has now accumulated ~10,430 miles all-electric and 14,430 total miles (4,000 fuel-driven miles when extended range was necessary). The fleet is achieving an equivalent of 88 mpg and BYD estimates the per-car-savings---even netting out EV charging and electricity costs-- is ~70%. BYD's dual-mode cars are expected to save HACLA about 37 lbs of carbon-dioxide per-day-per-auto when driven to the EV range.

In China, BYD launched an all-electric bus fleet with the eBUS-12 (click for video link) in Shenzhen and Changsha, China in January 2011. These fleets have already accumulated 28,802 all-electric miles(46,380 Km) while undergoing a 3-hour-charge of the 324 Kwh FE battery. An example of the per-eBUS-savings for Shenzhen's Bus Line 202 (driving only 200Km per day) is about $2833 monthly per eBUS. 300 more buses will be delivered to Shenzhen in August of this year. BYD's all-electric eBUSes save about 708 lbs (or 322Kg) in carbon-dioxide emissions per eBUS per day.

In total, BYD EVs have accumulated over 1.769 million all-electric miles and have seen no diminished range or capacity due to rapid-charging. BYD vehicles are estimated to have alreadysaved $360,000 in fuel costs and over 2.776 million lbs of carbon-dioxide. BYD launched consumer sales of the F3DM in September 2010 and anticipates very good demand for the BYD e6 and all electric vehicles in China, fueled in part by government incentives for the purchase of electric vehicles. "Consumers that purchase pure electric vehicles will also enjoy the special privilege of "license-plate-lottery-free, no traffic restrictions and tax-free exemptions (paid by the government)." (LINK:http://english.peopledaily.com.cn/90001/98649/7344880.html)

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Revolutionary Turbo-charged Engine with Dual-clutch Transmission Launched by Chinese Domestic Auto Manufacturer—BYD

Today at the Shanghai Auto Show, BYD announced a revolutionary turbo- charged, fuel efficient, all-aluminum-alloy gasoline Engine designed and manufactured entirely in China. BYD designed this highly-efficient, break-through 1.5L Engine and has paired it with a six (6)-Speed Tiptronic “dual clutch transmission” -- coining the combo, the BYD “Ti+DCT”. BYD has led the Chinese industry with innovations in new energy technologies with their environmentally-friendly, rechargeable-energy, ET power systems for electric vehicles and in December 2008 launched mass-production of the “dual-mode” electric and hybrid-electric tandem engines in the F3DM. With the release of this Ti+DCT engine, BYD shows that they are still committed to improving thief full line of gasoline-only engine designs, staying at the forefront of internal-combustion engine technology.

“BYD has been working on the Ti+DCT technology for over 2 years and owns the intellectual property supporting this technology”

Ti+DCT is short for turbo-fuel-stratified, injection engine with dual-clutch transmission. This system is capable of producing not only, higher power, but smoother performance with superior fuel-efficiency. “BYD has been working on the Ti+DCT technology for over 2 years and owns the intellectual property supporting this technology,” according to Stella Li, Senior Vice President of BYD. The Ti+DCT is a standard option on the BYD G6 1.5Ti sedan and is available as an option for other BYD 3 series models.

BYD’s Ti – Turbo-charged, fuel-stratified, all-aluminum-alloy, injection engine improved maximum power with minimized fuel consumption and can match or beat the top foreign turbo technologies in performance specifications. The BYD 1.5 Ti engine produces 1.43 times more power than the same displacement engine and is equivalent to a 2.4 L gasoline engine. It provides a maximum torque output of 240Nm / 1750-3500 RPM. Currently, only one other foreign brand is offering a turbo-charged engine that is comparable in the Chinese markets. BYD is the first domestic Chinese company to develop this technology in-house, solidifying its competitive edge in the automotive industry. The BYD DCT technology – an advanced 6-Speed Tiptronic dual-clutch design, is a perfect combination of manual transmission and conventional automatic transmission with shorter gear shifting, faster acceleration and response times, and has selective driving modes. In the “sports mode”, the DCT electronic programming controls shifting, allowing drivers to enjoy a sports-car-like driving experience. This Turbo-charged, fuel-stratified injection engine and dual-clutch transmission (Ti-DCT) will be commercially available later this year.

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