City of Windsor to buy ten BYD electric buses

The City of Windsor has signed a letter of intent to purchase about ten BYD 40ft electric buses for City transit services in 2012.

The letter of intent also opens talks to bring manufacturing of BYD buses to the Ontario region in the near future.

The BYD Iron-Phosphate batteries used in the electric buses contain no heavy metals, toxic electrolytes or use caustic materials in their production.

BYD and Enwin are also collaborating on a plan to repurpose the Windsor bus batteries into fixed energy storage stations when the buses retire.

Windsor Mayor Eddie Francis said, "One of our primary goals was to position Windsor among the first cities in North America to pioneer the efficient use of electric buses within its public transit authority and to establish Windsor as a hub for the development, manufacture and commercialization of energy products including electric buses."

BYD is in the process of completing FMVSS, CMVSS, and other certification testing in North America in 2012 with further plans for fleet sales and deliveries after the first Windsor bus deliveries.