Roundup: With Chinese-built vehicles, Bogota boasts LatAm's second-largest electric bus fleet

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BOGOTA, Dec. 19 (Xinhua) -- Colombia's capital Bogota now boasts Latin America's second-largest fleet of electric vehicles, only behind Chile's capital Santiago, after taking delivery of 120 electric buses from the Chinese company BYD.

The buses were included into Bogota's bus-based mass transit system, known as "Transmilenio," at a ceremony on Thursday.

The 120 buses are part of a larger purchase of 470 BYD units set to help slash pollution levels in the city.

Bogota Mayor Claudia Lopez, who was present at the ceremony held at the main charging station in the southeast of the city, noted that polluting vehicles are a leading contributor to global warming and unnecessary deaths, since "this type of transport emits particulate matter that ends up stuck to our lungs and kills thousands of people a year."

Thanks to the purchase of the electric fleet, Bogota residents can look forward to an increase in their general welfare, the mayor said.

The "100 percent electric" vehicles, which can run for 300 km on a single charge and provide access platforms for people with disabilities, offer high standards of technology, safety and comfort, with such features as Wi-Fi service, smart surveillance cameras to protect both drivers and riders, USB chargers for mobile devices and a panic button for emergencies.

"They will undoubtedly provide an excellent service to the citizens of Bogota," Lara Zhang, BYD regional manager for Latin America, told Xinhua.

Zhang said the company is willing to contribute to Bogota being a leader today in the field of electric mobility and clean transport service.

"In addition to this fleet, we have 64 of our buses operating in (the city of) Medellin, and other smaller fleets in Cali and Manizales," she added. With the purchase of these vehicles, the Colombian capital now has a total of 889 electric buses.

"We are happy. With these 889 electric buses we completed a fundamental step towards improving the operation of the system, since we will have greater operating capacity, and also towards improving the city's environment, by eliminating 2.5 tons of particulate matter each year," Felipe Ramirez, general manager of Transmilenio, told Xinhua.

The 120 BYD buses, manufactured at the company's production plants in the cities of Nanjing and Hangzhou, China, will go into operation on Dec. 26. Enditem

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