Joining the developed world in the fight to become more environmentally responsible, Thailand is making moves to embrace electric buses.
Last week saw PM Prayut Chan-o-cha board and inspect the brand new BYD K9 pure-electric bus, reports Mass Transit, before giving it his wholehearted seal of approval.
BYD is one of China’s largest companies, the world’s largest manufacturer of rechargeable batteries and a specialist in battery technology. They partnered with local Thai company Loxley Group to launch this first in electrified transportation technology; developing the K9 during 2015 before last week’s big reveal.
Prayut Chan-o-cha declared the vehicle embodies the performance and excellence required for quality public transportation and praised the fact that it was fully assembled in Thailand.
The K9 was also inspected and given a test drive by senior leaders in the Ministry of Transport, as well as professionals from the industry, including the president of the Bangkok Mass Transit Authority (BMTA).
Going forward, BMTA will be embracing the concept of electric buses and environmentally-conscious transportation, with plans to systemically replace Bangkok’s bus fleet with ‘new energy’ buses.
Prayut Chan-o-cha made clear that Thailand would not be left behind in the global adoption of electrified transportation and announced a first batch of 200 electric buses would be put out to tender within the next 3 months.
What do you think – fancy a ride on an electric bus in Bangkok?
Featured image is of PM Prayut Chan-o-cha on the BYD K9, via the BYD website
