>China’s BYD closes in on deal to build all-electric London buses
Electric vehicle giant set to beat British competitors and seal contract to build more than 100 double-deckers for £400,000 each
>Sadiq Khan has promised to “make the capital greener and fairer for all Londoners”
>First the Chinese electric vehicle giant BYD launched into the British car market. Now it’s taking on our traditional London bus-makers.
>The Go-Ahead Group is set to award the company a contract to build more than 100 all-electric double-deckers at a price of about £400,000 each — £100,000 cheaper than UK competitors, sources said. It is the first time that BYD has won a contract to provide EV double-deckers in the UK, pipping local competitors such as Alexander Dennis.
>The decision comes with the blessing of Transport for London (TfL), the body chaired by the London mayor Sadiq Khan and ultimately responsible for public transport in the capital. Khan has pledged to use Greater London Authority spending power to “make the capital greener and fairer for all Londoners”.
>In September 2022, Khan said that new contracts from 2025 would require zero-emission deliveries and suppliers to be willing to have trade union recognition agreements.
In 2021, a United Nations working group on human rights wrote to BYD to say it “had received information that your company may be involved through your supply chain in alleged forced labour, arbitrary detention and trafficking of… Uighur [Muslims] and other minority workers”.
>It is unclear whether BYD responded to such allegations. It did not respond to requests for comment on the claims and its prospective London bus award.
>Tom Cunnington, TfL’s head of bus business development, said: “We have been assured by the manufacturer that no unethical practices have taken place and would act immediately if provided with evidence to the contrary.”
>BYD is one of a number of electric-vehicle manufacturers from China that are growing at an extraordinary rate. The company briefly overtook Tesla as the world’s biggest seller of EVs in the final three months of 2023.
>The company benefits from state subsidies, allowing it to export vehicles that are far cheaper than western-made alternatives.
>Sir Iain Duncan Smith, MP for Chingford in London and a former Conservative Party leader, lamented the decision to award the bus contract to BYD. “We’ve yet again gone to China to build buses. What is the matter with our domestic production? These are iconic, British London buses. Why is it that we simply do not look for a contractor based, if not in the UK, then certainly in Europe,” he said.
>“Can they guarantee that every single part of those buses, including the ultimate assembly, is clear of forced labour and slavery? By placing this order, we have to be very careful that they do not encourage slave labour, which is rife in China.
>Duncan Smith called on the London mayor to provide public assurances. “His job is to make sure that none of these things happen and not rely on a private contractor to do it. He should have set down parameters for full checks and full declarations of all parts of the supply chain.”
We flopped at vehicle manufacturing 50 years ago but we have a new opportunity with the rise in EVs yet the government does nothing to fund this and just buys foreign as usual.
Oh my god. Luckily not much bus ride a year.
The 100 and D3 BYD EV replacements are too big for the routes that they’re on, can someone EV restomod the Dennis Dart?
If the UK option is built in this country then the UK Gov should subsidise it. The benefit of higher employment would earn a lot of this money back via income and other taxes. It’s not as cut and dry on the total cost. These types of decisions need a more holistic view.
It’s a dirty practice by the Chinese government but equally a stupid decision by the Tories to not incentivize making them here.
I use these buses frequently and they feel cheaply made and seem to be catching fire every other week.
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archive link: https://archive.ph/G8Glk
>China’s BYD closes in on deal to build all-electric London buses
Electric vehicle giant set to beat British competitors and seal contract to build more than 100 double-deckers for £400,000 each
>Sadiq Khan has promised to “make the capital greener and fairer for all Londoners”
>First the Chinese electric vehicle giant BYD launched into the British car market. Now it’s taking on our traditional London bus-makers.
>The Go-Ahead Group is set to award the company a contract to build more than 100 all-electric double-deckers at a price of about £400,000 each — £100,000 cheaper than UK competitors, sources said. It is the first time that BYD has won a contract to provide EV double-deckers in the UK, pipping local competitors such as Alexander Dennis.
>The decision comes with the blessing of Transport for London (TfL), the body chaired by the London mayor Sadiq Khan and ultimately responsible for public transport in the capital. Khan has pledged to use Greater London Authority spending power to “make the capital greener and fairer for all Londoners”.
>In September 2022, Khan said that new contracts from 2025 would require zero-emission deliveries and suppliers to be willing to have trade union recognition agreements.
In 2021, a United Nations working group on human rights wrote to BYD to say it “had received information that your company may be involved through your supply chain in alleged forced labour, arbitrary detention and trafficking of… Uighur [Muslims] and other minority workers”.
>It is unclear whether BYD responded to such allegations. It did not respond to requests for comment on the claims and its prospective London bus award.
>Tom Cunnington, TfL’s head of bus business development, said: “We have been assured by the manufacturer that no unethical practices have taken place and would act immediately if provided with evidence to the contrary.”
>BYD is one of a number of electric-vehicle manufacturers from China that are growing at an extraordinary rate. The company briefly overtook Tesla as the world’s biggest seller of EVs in the final three months of 2023.
>The company benefits from state subsidies, allowing it to export vehicles that are far cheaper than western-made alternatives.
>Sir Iain Duncan Smith, MP for Chingford in London and a former Conservative Party leader, lamented the decision to award the bus contract to BYD. “We’ve yet again gone to China to build buses. What is the matter with our domestic production? These are iconic, British London buses. Why is it that we simply do not look for a contractor based, if not in the UK, then certainly in Europe,” he said.
>“Can they guarantee that every single part of those buses, including the ultimate assembly, is clear of forced labour and slavery? By placing this order, we have to be very careful that they do not encourage slave labour, which is rife in China.
>Duncan Smith called on the London mayor to provide public assurances. “His job is to make sure that none of these things happen and not rely on a private contractor to do it. He should have set down parameters for full checks and full declarations of all parts of the supply chain.”
We flopped at vehicle manufacturing 50 years ago but we have a new opportunity with the rise in EVs yet the government does nothing to fund this and just buys foreign as usual.
Oh my god. Luckily not much bus ride a year.
The 100 and D3 BYD EV replacements are too big for the routes that they’re on, can someone EV restomod the Dennis Dart?
If the UK option is built in this country then the UK Gov should subsidise it. The benefit of higher employment would earn a lot of this money back via income and other taxes. It’s not as cut and dry on the total cost. These types of decisions need a more holistic view.
It’s a dirty practice by the Chinese government but equally a stupid decision by the Tories to not incentivize making them here.
I use these buses frequently and they feel cheaply made and seem to be catching fire every other week.