Today is the one year anniversary of the world’s largest all-electric vehicle Taxi fleet supplied by BYD. In conjunction with this anniversary, BYD announced results of several of its electric vehicle pilots – the F3DM, e6 and eBUS-12 fleet testing across the world. Fifty (50) of the BYD’s e6, five(5)-seat crossover vehicles, each with a range of over 160 miles (250-300 Km) and a top speed of 88 mph (or 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) while being rapid charged in 20-30 minutes. The distance traveled for single fleet vehicles has reached ~63,000 miles each (or 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 eTaxi’s are being delivered to the International University in Shenzhen before August this year and officials believe that the per-car-fuel-savings is over $1167 per-Taxi-per-month or 7519RMB per-car-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 avoided by this fleet in this first year.
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 electric vehicles and superior battery longevity in rapid-charging regimes, ever since it launched its first dual-mode, electric and plug-in-hybrid electric vehicles in December 2008. BYD now feels that it has proven its Iron-Phosphate battery technology with fleet test results and can discuss on-going vehicle charging efficiencies, consumption efficiencies, EV ranges over time and with rapid-charging regimes.
BYD further 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 (or 60 Km) all-electric but can be engaged to act as a Hybrid-Electric (HEV) to extend its range up to 300 miles. HACLA fleets have 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 believes that 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 (or 16.8 Kg) of carbon-dioxide per-day-per-F3DM when driven to the EV range.
BYD launched a Chinese approved all-electric bus fleet with the eBUS-12 (click for video link) in Shenzhen and Changsha China January 2011. These fleets have already accumulated 28,802 all-electric miles (or 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 (or 18417 RMB per month). 300 more buses will be delivered to Shenzhen in August of this year. BYD’s all-electric eBUSes avoid about 708 lbs (or 322Kg) in carbon-dioxide 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 the rapid-charging. BYD vehicles are estimated to have already saved $360,000 in fuel costs and over 2.776 million lbs of carbon-dioxide. BYD launched consumer sales of the F3DM September 27th, 2010 and anticipates very good demand for the BYD e6 and all electric vehicles in China, based on city policy changes in cities like Beijing who announced, “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)."