BYD delivers first electric coach to Greater Paris

The French town of Drancy hosted the handover ceremony, as BYD delivered a 13m e-Coach electric bus to local political representatives. Greater Paris has introduced new Low Emission Zones to curb emissions the capital.

The electric bus was locally manufactured at BYD France’s facility in Beauvais in the Oise region and has a 59-seat capacity. The 13-metre long electric coach will be put into service in the next few days. With a range of 200 kilometres, the bus can be recharged “in a few hours”, and is to be used for school, extracurricular activities and occasional transport services for citizens generally.

Mrs Lagarde, Mayor of Drancy, said, “In order to continue our commitment to a more ecological transport infrastructure, and to continue to provide a transport service to the people of Drancy while respecting the environment, we wanted to invest in a high-performance electric coach. Our new BYD electric coach has sufficient autonomy for our needs and has accessibility for wheelchair users, too.”

Funding for the single electric bus was provided by the Seine-Saint-Denis Prefecture with a public investment of €100,000, and the La Métropole du Grand Paris, which provided a subsidy of €129,000.

Mr Lagarde, Member of Parliament and Metropolitan Councillor said, “The Greater Paris Metropolis and the City of Drancy are working together to improve air quality and to make sure that our citizens are not exposed to pollution. The LEZ is the tool to promote the use of the least polluting vehicles. The Greater Paris Metropolis encourages and helps families to change their vehicles for less polluting modes of transport. Our cities must set an example.”

Source: Press release via email