BYD won an order to deliver another 406 battery-electric buses to the Colombian capital of Bogotá, coming shortly after a previous announcement on 17 December of the delivery of the 470 pure electric buses to the city. (Earlier post.) BYD will co-work with Superpolo, a Colombian bus manufacturer, on the body part of the buses for such order.

The buses were tendered by the Bogotá City Public Transport Authority (TRANSMILENIO S.A.). A joint venture between Colombian business group Fanalca and international public transport operator Transdev used BYD’s integrated E-bus solutions to bid and successfully won the tender.

The buses are expected to be deployed along 15 routes in Bogotá’s Fontibon district in 2021 and thereafter 150,000 residents along the routes will be able to enjoy pure electric and zero-emission transportation services.

Along with the previously-announced 470 buses, the new batch includes 9m- and 12m-long buses.

There are currently 483 electric buses in TRANSMILENIO S.A, and when all 406 buses are in operation next year, Bogotá will have 889 pure electric buses, of which 876 will be from BYD— for more than 98.5%.

—Lara Zhang, Regional Director of BYD Latin America

BYD entered the Colombian market in 2012 and made several milestone achievements: building the first pure electric taxi fleet in South America in 2013, entering the Bogotá BRT system in 2017. It has also delivered 64 electric buses to Medellin in 2018, and delivered 470 units for the largest pure electric bus fleet in Colombia in 2020, and won another order for 406 electric buses in Bogotá recently.

Throughout Latin America, BYD’s new energy vehicle footprint has spread to major markets including Chile, Colombia, Ecuador, Brazil, Barbados, Panama, Costa Rica, Uruguay and Argentina. Globally, BYD’s green transport offerings have spread to more than 300 cities, operating in more than 50 countries and regions.