Cape Town leads the way to a green economy by introducing the first electric bus in Africa

Electric bus service promises to boost Cape Town’s economy in 2018

Last Update: 7 December 2016

On 6 December 2016, Executive Mayor Patricia De Lille announced that leading electric bus manufacturer, BYD, will be opening an electric bus manufacturing plant in the City of Cape Town in 2018. The announcement was first made at the C40 Mayors Summit in Mexico last week.

Once again, Cape Town leads the way as the first African city to implement an electric bus system under the flagship of the MyCiti public transport system. After a competitive bidding process, the City of Cape Town was awarded the contract for the first fleet of electric buses to BYD.

Build Your Dreams, commonly known as BYD, is the largest manufacturer of rechargeable batteries. The green Chinese energy firm will collaborate with the City of Cape Town to introduce electric buses. The project promises to have a massive effect on the economy, as some of the conditions of the contract include partly assembling the buses in Cape Town, as well as sourcing some of the components from local suppliers. “This will create a number of jobs and it will be the first time that electric buses are assembled in Cape Town”, says Mayor Patricia De Lille. The City has been strategizing this investment since 2012.

“As a progressive city committed to enhancing our climate change action projects, this is a major step on our journey to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and support the green economy”, says De Lille. With a specific focus on renewable energy generation, BYD  is happy to collaborate with Cape Town on this particular project, and he sees more green economy projects in the future. Mr Chuanfu Wang from BYD states: “BYD is really happy to collaborate with a leading city like Cape Town in your climate changing efforts. In the near future we are planning to establish a local production plant for our electric buses in Cape Town. This will not only help to protect the environment, but will also provide jobs to people in Cape Town”.

By Marian Volkwyn
Source: Timeslive
Images Credit: MyCiti

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