BYD K series

The BYD K series bus are a line of battery electric buses manufactured by the Chinese automaker BYD, powered with its self-developed lithium iron phosphate battery, featuring a typical operating range of per charge under urban road conditions. It is available in several different nominal lengths, from and also as a bus. The rear axle is powered by two electric traction motors; the battery capacity and motor power of each model varies depending on the nominal length and passenger capacity.

History and development

The first BYD battery electric K-series bus was manufactured on 30 September 2010 in Changsha city of Hunan province. Previously, BYD had built electric vehicle models like F3DM, F6DM and e6. K9 has a 12-meter body length and 18-ton weight with one-step low-floor interior. It is reportedly priced at 2–3 million yuan.
The K-series bus has been bought by operators in Mainland China, India, Japan, Hong Kong, United States, Colombia, Chile, Spain, Netherlands, Denmark, Aruba, Malaysia and Singapore.
The company extended its production base in Tianjin, China at the end of July, 2012 and may plan to manufacture in Brazil and Windsor, Canada. BYD built and operates an electric bus factory in Lancaster, California, US. The new factory started production in October 2013. Los Angeles has already introduced electric buses for the metro authority and has primarily relied on BYD buses for this plan, which as a company has become the top electric bus manufacturer in North America. In December 2014, another manufacturing plant began operation in Dalian, Liaoning, China.

Specifications

BYD model numbers include K and a number.
Various letter suffixes have been applied, including:

M: North American market
R: right-hand drive
S: Double-decker bus
ER: Extended Range

;Notes
BYD's official published specifications for its K9 electric bus include:

Electric power consumption: less than 100kWh/60mins
Acceleration: 0–50 km/h in 20s
Top speed: 96 km/h
Normal charge: 6h for full charge
Fast charge: 1h for full charge
Overnight charging: 60 kW maximum power for 5h full charge
Range:
Length × Width × Height:
Standard seats: 31+1
Weight:
Clearance between one-step entry and ground:

Two or more versions of this bus have been delivered. The two-door version is in service in China's Shenzhen, Changsha, Xi'an and Shaoguan while the 3-door version operates in Shenzhen, Bogota etc. for test and demonstration purposes.

Battery and powertrain

The K-series buses are powered by LiFePO₄ batteries developed by BYD, which also have been applied to BYD e6, BYD DESS and other energy storage products. BYD claims that the chemical materials contained in the battery can be recycled without any toxins. Battery capacities range from approximately 100 to 600 kWh, depending on the fitted drive axle and bus size. As tested at Altoona for the United States market, consumption and range were 1.36 kWh/mi and , 1.74–2.45 kWh/mi and, depending on the operating cycle, 1.99 kWh/mi and , and 2.09 to 3.74 kWh/mi and, depending on the operating cycle.
The drivetrain uses an in-hub motor and reduction gear for each wheel on the drive axle. At least three distinct axles are offered:

2× and 2×
2× and 2×
2× and 2×

Solar panels fixed on the vehicle were once reported to supplement the onboard batteries. They were included on demo units, but not on units sold commercially.

Safety

Safety features include unitary construction body, 4-wheel disc brakes, ABS+ASR, one-step easy-pass with special footplates for wheelchair access and non-step inside.

Body and interior design

The body comes silver, yellow or green. In the silver version the front windscreen occupies two-thirds of the front of the bus for maximum visibility. It includes adjustable leather seating for driver and red and black leather seats for passengers. The battery cabins are laid in the bus rear on both sides. While the Battery housing are located at the front.

Costs

BYD calculates that a BYD ebus over 8 years saves about $190,000 in energy costs. In 2012, the price for a BYD ebus was 380,000 Euros, 100,000 more than a comparable diesel bus.

Evaluations and comparisons

To qualify for federal subsidies in the United States, heavy-duty transit buses must be assembled domestically and pass durability testing for an accelerated equivalent 12-year period at the Pennsylvania Transportation Institute in Altoona, Pennsylvania. To meet these requirements, BYD has opened a bus production facility in Lancaster, California in 2013 and K7, K8, K9, and K11 buses have been tested at Altoona.
In addition, LADOT and Long Beach Transit have conducted long-term comparison tests between BYD battery-electric buses and similarly sized buses fueled with compressed natural gas. In general, the BEBs were more efficient than the CNG buses, with energy consumption measured approximately, equivalent to ; the consumption of the CNG buses was measured at an equivalent or . It was noted that consumption increased during summer months, presumably due to the use of air conditioning systems. In addition, the BEBs were less reliable, being taken out of service more often than the CNG buses and requiring more frequent roadcalls over a shorter distance traveled; the mean distance between roadcalls for the Long Beach BYD evaluation fleet was, compared to for the CNG comparison bus fleet.

Policies

At a press conference in Beijing on 4 November 2012, BYD announced "Zero vehicle purchase price, Zero costs, Zero emissions", to promote the sale of its e6 and K9. The initiative is supported financially by China Development Bank from a fund totalling over 30 Billion RMB, and allows buyers to finance 100% of the purchase price with no down payment, paying a lease rate that effectively costs less than regular monthly operational expenses.
Under the scheme, available in China, public transport operators can choose the ownership model from three different options:

Model	Financing body	Lease period	Ownership
Financial Lease	Finance Company	A complete operational life cycle	During the lease period, the financial organization owns the vehicle. The taxi company pays the lease in installments. After the lease period ends, the taxi company owns the vehicle.
Operational Lease	Third party vehicle lease company	A complete operating life cycle or a shorter period	During the lease period and thereafter, the vehicle lease company owns the vehicle. The taxi company and the vehicle lease company sign an operational lease contract.
Buyer's Credit	The Taxi Company		The taxi company owns the vehicle. The taxi company pays monthly installments to the financial institution.

The company explained the concept of "Zero Costs" by comparing difference between the five-year cost of running a conventional taxi in Shenzhen, as against its all-electric taxicab. It came to the conclusion that "if the car runs for 5 years, and the total saving over 5 years is deducted from the higher cost of the vehicle and the interest on multiple payments, it can save 326,400 RMB. The company also claimed that if enough distance is covered, "the vehicle payment will be entirely offset". BYD also promoted the "Zero Emission" feature of its renewable-energy vehicles by stating that "an e6 electric taxi saves 14,120 litres of fuel per year, with 32 tonnes fewer CO2 emissions", and "169 million litres of fuel could be saved with CO2 emissions reduced by 38.62 million tonnes per year" if all Chinese taxis were to be replaced with its electric vehicles.

Global deployment

Worldwide

In both 2011 and 2012, BYD obtained orders from amounting to 1200+ units. More than 200 K9s in service in Shenzhen had accumulated over by the end of August 2012.
In 2015, BYD sold about 6,000 of these buses worldwide. BYD became the world leader in the sale of electric vehicles in 2015.

Mainland China

200 units were delivered to the Shenzhen public transmit system to serve the Universiade 2011 in August, 2011 and remained as part of this city's transport system. This electric bus fleet had reportedly accumulated over by the end of August 2012. By 2017 the fleet had increased to 780, covering more than.
2 buses began trial service in Changsha 100 more were expected to begin service there in 2012. BYD's Changsha facility was to produce 20,000 passenger vehicles and 400 pure electric buses, increasing to 3,000 electric buses and 100,000 passenger vehicles in 2013.
3 K9s began service in Shaoguan, Guangdong province on November 3, 2011.
4 K8s began service in Xi'an in August 2012 with another 46 units expected to join them around the end of 2012.
Haikou City began testing K9s in August 2011.
In July 2012 BYD and Tianjin Public Transportation Group Ltd agreed to set up a joint venture to produce new energy vehicles. It became the company's second K9 production site in mainland China.
The largest K9 fleet since 2014 was in Dalian, 600 units. A further 600 vehicles was planned to arrive in 2015.
In May 2014 BYD announced an order of 2000 ebuses and 1000 eTaxis for Hangzhou. As of 2014 China about 500,000 conventional city buses were in daily use. BYD sold in 2014 in the first quarter more than 4,000 vehicles, while sales of former market leader Daimler dropped by 20% in 2013.
North America

In the North American transit bus market, the K-series bus is sold with several different nominal lengths, powertrain options, and battery capacities.
File:BYD K-9 electric test bus 0060 in NYC.jpg|A North American-spec BYD bus in New York City with MTA Regional Bus Operations.|thumb

BYD announced its bus in the US at the 16th BUSCON in Chicago on September 13, 2011. BYD supplied one K9 bus to be retrofitted with WAVE's wireless charging pad under the bus, developed by the Utah State University Energy Dynamics Laboratory in 2012.
The city of Windsor, Ontario signed a letter of intent to order as many as 10 BYD electric buses in May 2012. The plan failed with no plant built in Windsor and no orders made by Transit Windsor.
BYD has supplied the Los Angeles Metro system with buses since 2015. A 2018 investigation by the Los Angeles Times found serious reliability issues with the BYD buses.
Aruba plans to use BYD by 2020. The country signed a memorandum of understanding with BYD to place four BYD buses and one e6 electric taxi for public/government use, to be in service by the end of September 2013.
The Denver's Regional Transportation District purchased 36 BYD K10MR buses for use on their MallRide service.
TransLink, which services Vancouver, British Columbia began a three-month trial of BYD bus in May 2017.
University of California, Irvine acquired 20 BYD electric buses for its Anteater Express shuttle service in 2018 in a $15 million lease-to-own deal, becoming the first college in the US to convert to an all-electric fleet.
Anaheim Transportation Network, which serves the Disneyland and Disney California Adventure theme parks with its Anaheim Resort Transportation service, awarded a 40-bus order to BYD in May 2019, including a mix of K7M, K9M, and K11M buses. The contract was later increased to 42 buses, and the first two were delivered in 2020.
Toronto Transit Commission received their first two K9M buses in January 2020 and remaining 8 in February 2020.
The San Francisco Municipal Railway procured three BYD K9M buses as part of a battery-electric bus evaluation during 2021 and 2022. In total twelve BEBs will be evaluated during the pilot program, including buses from competitors New Flyer, Proterra, and Nova Bus.
IndyGo purchased 13 BYD K11M Electric Buses for its Red Line in 2018. A 2021 investigation conducted by WRTV found battery range issues in the BYD K11Ms used on the Red Line. They purchased 28 more for the Purple Line.