LONG BEACH, Calif.,
Aug. 2, 2015 /PRNewswire/
-- This week the largest Special Olympics ever was
hosted in the City of Long Beach – thousands of athletes,
coaches, dignitaries and families descended upon Los Angeles for what was a spectacular week of
uplifting camaraderie, sportsmanship and competition. Handling the
transportation and logistics of more than sixty-five hundred (6500)
athletes required importing charter bus operators from across the
nation as well as utilizing as many local resources as possible.
One significant local resource was California's Coach & Transit Bus
manufacturer BYD Motors. "World Games Host Town and
the City of Long Beach is grateful
for the buses and drivers that BYD provided to transport our
athletes while touring Long
Beach," stated Long Beach Community
Foundation President & CEO, and 2015 Host Town
Transportation Coordinator Marcelle
Epley. "BYD stepped up majorly as one of our
key supporters and their tremendous efforts made our athletes feel
welcomed. We depended on them, and they came through
100%."
At the Opening Ceremonies on Saturday evening presided over by
First Lady Michelle Obama and
Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti, BYD Motors President and CEO
Stella Li commented, "BYD could not
be more proud to be a transportation provider for the 2015 World
Games. With athletes competing tomorrow we are happy to see
our Zero-Emissions electric buses operating both here and now in
service at LA Metro hopefully providing a cleaner
environment for these magnificent athletes to compete in."
Both the cities of Los Angeles and
Long Beach have opted to purchase
100% battery-electric transit buses from BYD Motors in each of
their latest procurements. "Los
Angeles led the way years ago with the mass adoption of
clean-air natural gas transit buses, and we are excited to again be
the first large American city taking this final step to
Zero-Emissions transportation by electrifying our fleet," said LA
County Supervisor Michael Antonovich
at a press event in May.
BYD's Battery Electric bus employs many advanced technologies
developed in-house by a staff of more than 15,000 R&D engineers
including the advanced, BYD Iron-Phosphate battery which boasts the
only 12-year-battery warranty in the industry. Combined with
BYD's proprietary in-wheel hub motors and regenerative braking
system, the BYD battery electric bus offers the lowest life cycle
cost of ownership. The BYD electric bus delivers a host of
operational and environmental benefits for public transit riders,
bus operators and residents of the community – it is very quiet and
ensures a comfortable ride without vibrations, jerks or the noise
associated with the conventional buses and combustion engines.
The bus can also drive for more than 155 miles even in heavy
city traffic on a single charge. As of April 1st, 2015, BYD bus fleets have
completed greater than 38 million miles "in revenue service" and
have been evaluated by more than 110 cities in 36 countries around
the world. To date, BYD has sold just over 5,000 electric buses
globally, making it by far the most popular electric transit
vehicle on the planet.
ABOUT BYD Motors Inc.:
BYD Motors Inc. is an American manufacturing company and a
wholly-owned subsidiary of BYD Company Ltd, the largest
domestic auto-manufacturer and electric-bus manufacturer
in China. BYD is a publicly traded company, with
the Hong Kong listed stock 60% of which is owned by
U.S. investors, and Warren Buffett's Berkshire
Hathaway as the largest single shareholder at 9.9%. BYD
Motors established its headquarters in downtown Los
Angeles in October 2011 and has now hired over
130 Americans to support BYD Electric Bus and Energy Module
factories in Lancaster, California. There are over 40 American
research and development and sales support personnel at the Los
Angeles headquarters.
Contacts in China: Sherry Li
pr@byd.com tel:
+86-755-8988-8888-69666
United States:
Micheal Austin
micheal.austin@byd.com tel: 1(800) BYD-AUTO
Europe: Penny Peng
penny.peng@byd.com tel: +31-102070888
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SOURCE BYD Motors Inc.