Eight years ago, the Scottish bus builder Alexander Dennis and the Chinese electric bus specialist BYD presented their partnership to build electric buses at the “Busworld” trade fair in October 2015 in Kortrijk, Belgium. The vehicle they showed for this purpose was a BYD prototype and also the world’s first battery electric double-decker. After the fair, it went to “Metroline”, one of the companies that today drive for “Transport for London (TfL)”, under the car number “BYD 1471”. And here, in the British capital, it is still in use today, even if “only” on school bus routes. The first buses from the Alexander Dennis / BYD partnership went to GoAhead London in summer 2016, where they were needed for the conversion of the Waterloo bus depot to electric buses. They are still in use today on regular London services.
Now, eight years later, the two partners in the cooperation announce that they have just delivered bus number 1,500 from their collaboration. The bus, an Alexander Dennis / BYD Enviro 200 EV, is going to London again under the operating number “SEe 199”, this time to GoAhead.
The bus from Alexander Dennis’ successful Enviro 200 EV series is based on BYD’s “K 8” electric bus chassis, and its electric drive also comes from BYD. BYD is originally an electrical industry company based in the megacity of Shenzhen. It was recognised early on that the traffic of the future must and will be electric, and so the electrical company also entered the construction of motor vehicles. Today, BYD is one of the world’s largest producers in this field, and in the field of battery-powered buses it is “fighting” for first place with Yutong, another Chinese manufacturer (it is remarkable that Yutong, of all people, is still almost completely unknown in Germany).
The “BYD K 8 / Alexander Dennis Enviro 200 EV” is 10,900 mm long, 2,470 mm wide (eight centimetres narrower than usual in Europe) and 3,400 mm high. The “K” in its type designation stands for “Linienbus” (Transit Bus). It can carry 80 passengers and is available as a single (British speciality) and two-door version, with double-width doors. The batteries use the cell chemistry lithium iron phosphate (LiFePh), and BYD claims to be particularly experienced with this type of battery. The cars are powered by two motors mounted close to the wheels on the drive axle, each with an output of 90 kW, so that the car has a total of 180 kW (equivalent to 245 hp). The range is given by the two manufacturers as 260 kilometres.
Technical data Alexander Dennis / BYD Enviro 200 EV for GoAhead Londen
- on BYD K 8 chassis
- Length: 10,900 mm
- Width: 2,470 mm
- Height: 3,400 mm
- Version for London: two-door
- electric wheelchair ramp at the centre door
- Passenger capacity (in London version): 80 passengers, other configuration possible on request
- Drive motors: 2 x BYD each 90 kW, close to the wheels on the drive axle
- Batteries: BYD lithium iron phosphate (LiFePh), capacity: 348 kWh
- Recharging via cable and CCS Combo plug, charging power 102 kW DC
