Buffett-Backed BYD to open electric-truck plant in Canada

[kscarbel2]

Bloomberg  /  November 15, 2017

TORONTO -- BYD Co., the Chinese electric-vehicle maker backed by Warren Buffett, plans to open its first assembly plant in Canada, anticipating a surge in demand for electric trucks from municipalities and businesses.

BYD will open the plant next year in Ontario and hire about 40 people to start, BYD Canada spokesman Ted Dowling said in a phone interview. The Shenzhen-based company has decided to “significantly” accelerate its investment in Canada as growing demand for electric vehicles and provincial tax incentives create a more welcoming environment than the U.S. in the short-term, he said.

“There is less of a barrier to entry when it comes to having Chinese products in Canada compared to the U.S.,” Dowling said. The company, which is partly owned by Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway Inc., declined to say where in the province the plant will be, how much it plans to invest or any government incentives it was offered. It expects to make an announcement in a few weeks, Dowling said.

BYD’s plan comes as countries shift to electric vehicles to combat climate change and reduce health risks. The U.K. and France plan to ban sales of diesel- and gasoline-fueled cars by 2040, while China has said it will set its own deadline. Some Canadian provinces are offering thousands of dollars in rebates to electric-vehicle buyers, and companies are moving toward electric fleets, with grocer Loblaws Cos. unveiling its first fully electric truck last week.

A spokesman for Ontario’s Ministry of Economic Development and Growth declined to comment on any investment from BYD.

Garbage trucks

BYD will start its operations in Ontario by shipping technology and components from China and making short-range vehicles such as garbage and delivery trucks, said Dowling. The company intends to expand, hiring more people to add more Canadian content in the future, he said.

“BYD is a global company, but we like to localize,” Dowling said. “It doesn’t make sense to build everything in China and then ship it. It makes more sense to utilize the incentive programs and policy changes and create jobs in different markets.”

The company opened an electric-bus manufacturing plant in Lancaster, Calif., starting with less than 100 employees in 2013 and has boosted that to 700 workers.

New industry

A core attraction for Ontario is that the region around Toronto has many distribution centers within close proximity, so if one company goes electric and sees their costs reduced, other companies will start doing it too, he said.

If successful, BYD could be at the forefront of rebuilding a dormant truck-manufacturing industry, Dowling said. Canada has been losing auto investment to cheaper locations in the U.S. and Mexico with one of the last major commercial truck assembly plants closing in Ontario in 2011. Ontario is still home to Canada’s auto industry with General Motors and Ford Motor Co. among companies with plants in the province.

“We’re bringing back an industry and we’re doing it through electrification,” Dowling said. “It’s a totally different game.”

[VaPatentman]

Here are two US electric truck companies I have been following with interest. (http://workhorse.com)  and Unique Electric Solutions LLC

 Workhorse has an assembly plant in Union City, IN to manufacture new, medium-duty truck chassis in the 14,500 to 23,500 GVW class.

Unique Electric Solutions LLC, Smithtown, NY,   UPS and Unique Electric Solutions LLC (UES) will design, build, test, and make the conversions. In addition to producing a new, cost-effective all-electric conversion kit. UPS and UES may convert up to three UPS vehicles a day. This could lead to the conversion of up to 1,500 UPS delivery trucks, which is about 66% of UPS’s NYC fleet by 2022

[BC Mack]

Nothing new here..!!!  I grew up surrounded by electric delivery trucks... in the 60's, the milk was delivered on electric floats, all factories internal movements were on electric vehicles, they lasted far longer than any other form of propulsion.

it's just taken the rest of the planet 60 years to catch up.... https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Milk_float

I hope Buffet has done his research... we had a BYD (bring your dollars) all electric bus on demo, lasted three days before it busted a wheel bearing (no lube) and took a week to fly in tools and parts from China, fit and finish was crap... one hopes that building them here MAY improve QC but it seems that "warranty plus a day" is the new norm.

once electric takes hold watch our governments remove incentives and add "fuel taxes" to compensate for income loss from fossil fuel taxation.

remember, it was GM that bought up all the electric bus fleets in the US so as to replace them with their diesel engined products, many cities now regret the loss of the infrastructure for trollybuses and are now scrambling to find the right electric or hybrid.

BC Mack

 

 

 

[kscarbel2]

14 hours ago, VaPatentman said:

Here are two US electric truck companies I have been following with interest. (http://workhorse.com)  and Unique Electric Solutions LLC

 Workhorse has an assembly plant in Union City, IN to manufacture new, medium-duty truck chassis in the 14,500 to 23,500 GVW class.

Unique Electric Solutions LLC, Smithtown, NY,   UPS and Unique Electric Solutions LLC (UES) will design, build, test, and make the conversions. In addition to producing a new, cost-effective all-electric conversion kit. UPS and UES may convert up to three UPS vehicles a day. This could lead to the conversion of up to 1,500 UPS delivery trucks, which is about 66% of UPS’s NYC fleet by 2022

These are some quick notes I have on the subject.

In 2012, Amp Electric Vehicles purchased Navistar’s Workhorse (Cash-strapped Navistar decided to close the Union City, Indiana plant to reduce costs), and stopped converting cars.

(Workhorse was created in 1998 by investors who took over GM’s discontinued P-Series Stepvan chassis. Workhorse built chassis for stepvans and motor homes. Navistar acquired Workhorse in 2005, recalling the I-H Metro Van.of years past)

Advantage – AMP  builds their own chassis rather than buy it.

Disadvantage – Freightliner Commercial Chassis (Daimler) has deeper pockets to design a more refined chassis

To get a 100 mile range with 20,000lb trucks, AMP uses 100kWh battery packs

 

Workhorse E-100 (pure electric)

Narrow track W88 chassis

Amp-designed air-cooled 100 kWh lithium battery pack using Panasonic 18650 cells (Tesla) that provide power to a 2,200N.m (268 bhp) permanent magnet motor/generator powerful enough to eliminate the need for a transmission (which reduced weight).

 

E-GEN – extended range electric drive – introduced Sept 2014

Range-extending engine allows for smaller battery pack – reducing weight

Narrow track W88 chassis

Amp-designed air-cooled 60 kWh lithium battery pack using Panasonic 18650 cells (same as Tesla)

25hp generator – automatically turns on if battery level requires - when the truck is turned off

2.4L (GM Family II) gasoline, CNG or propane engine supplied by Power Solutions International (PSI)

* Recharging only occurs if the battery state of charge falls below a predetermined level, the emergency brake is on, the vehicle is in Park and the key is out.

Recharging is designed to occur while the driver is making a delivery, loading, or at lunch.

200kW/268hp/2,200N.m permanent magnet motor/generator

20mpg expected

 

2014 – UPS orders 18 E-100 pure electric delivery trucks

           

March 2015 - Amp Electric Vehicles changed its name to Workhorse Group.

Sept 9, 2015 - UPS purchased 125 additional Workhorse E-GEN hybrid electric delivery trucks as part of a broader program to deploy electric-powered vehicles with longer range and performance. The vehicle features a 60-kilowatt lithium-ion battery pack containing Panasonic 18650 cells, and have a 50- to 60-mile-per-day range. UPS said the new trucks will deliver fuel-economy equivalency gains with up to four times the fuel economy of a gasoline-powered vehicle, compared to a 10% to 15% improvement with previous hybrid designs. They will be deployed in Arizona, Texas, Nevada, Mississippi, Alabama, Georgia and Florida the first half of 2016. While the new electric vehicles will cost UPS slightly more than a similar truck with a conventional engine, the company said its sustainability commitment influenced the purchase decision. UPS began using hybrid-electric vehicles in 1998. The company did not provide the exact cost of the latest vehicles. Cincinnati-based Workhorse Group manufactured the vehicles and also manufactures electric drive systems for commercial trucks and can equip them with electric engines. “These vehicles are a bridge to the delivery trucks of tomorrow,” said Mark Wallace, UPS' senior vice president of global engineering and sustainability. “This investment will help create and grow the market for groundbreaking alternative propulsion systems that reduce environmental impact, reduce operating costs and save fuel.” UPS, with its suppliers, continues to work toward development of the next generation of zero-emissions trucks, the company said. UPS is collaborating with Workhorse to develop a more intelligent electric vehicle to determine when and where the batteries will be charged and recharged, the company said. The initiative is part of UPS’ Rolling Laboratory program, which seeks to optimize the use of alternative-fuel and advanced-technology vehicles. “These trucks are designed specifically to meet the stop-and-start needs of UPS’ urban delivery routes,” said Steve Burns, CEO of Workhorse Group Inc. “They rely on a very small internal combustion engine and lithium ion battery to deliver a 50- to 60-mile per-day range.”
 

[kscarbel2]

BYD launches electric bus output at 2nd North American plant

Automotive News China  /  July 1, 2019

BYD Co., China’s largest electrified vehicle maker, opened its second North American electric bus assembly plant, in Newmarket, Ontario.

The 45,000-square-foot factory will first focus on assembling buses for the Toronto Transit Commission, Canada’s largest transit operator, BYD said last week. 

Last year, BYD landed an order from the Toronto agency for 10 40-foot-long electric buses with an option for 30 more.

Prior to the opening of the plant in Ontario, BYD shipped electric buses from China to transit operators in other areas of Canada. They include St. Albert Transit, Grande Prairie Transit and two other transit operators in Alberta. 

BYD opened its first electric bus assembly plant Lancaster, Calif., in 2013. The factory now employs about 1,000 people. 

The Ontario plant is BYD’s sixth electric bus plant outside China. The company also assembles electric buses in Scotland, Brazil, Hungary and France. 

BYD, based in Shenzhen, is listed in Hong Kong and Shanghai. It is partly owned by U.S. billionaire Warren Buffett. 

For the first five months of this year, it delivered 119,082 electric and plug-in hybrid vehicles globally, more than doubling the tally a year earlier. The number includes 1,467 electric buses. 

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