Go Auto, the company behind Haval vehicles in Malaysia, has plans to “transform Malaysia into a regional manufacturing hub for electric vehicles and its components” and will soon deliver electric buses to its first customer.
Go Auto’s executive director Datuk SM Azli SM Nasimuddin Kamal said the EV prototypes are near completion. “Go Auto has been given the trust to supply electric buses worth RM30 million by the Melaka state government. The first batch of the vehicles is expected to be handed over in the end of 2017. Go Auto is also in its final talks for several new projects involving the supply of electric buses,” he said.
“We are proud for being given the trust. We are committed in developing the EV components for the Malaysian and ASEAN markets. To ensure that the production of the components goes smooth, we have decided to collaborate with companies like Microvast, a battery manufacturer for EV vehicles from the United States, and Higer bus manufacturer,” Azli said.
According to its website, Microvast is a fast-growing market leader in design, development and manufacturing of ultra-fast charging, long-life battery power systems with superior safety for EVs. The company was founded in 2006, is headquartered in Texas, and has a manufacturing plant in Zhejiang province, China.
Higer is a maker of buses based in Jiangsu, China. According to the company profile, its products are available in more than 100 countries across the world, and its 2016 revenue was RMB 9.066 billion (RM5.77 billion).
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The first batch of the Electric buses is expected to be handed over in the end of 2017. That is super fast. Lets hope Selangor/FT replace the older buses with this new one in 2018. This is something worth Cheering.
Welcome to the future
So whats the range of these buses? Normally buses drive the whole day around town, can the battery last? Or do they have to have a lot of spare busses at the depot and drivers have to change the buses mid day?
Byd buses have a range of 250 km per charge of 5 hrs.
Good job GoAuto, looking forward to seeing EV buses on the roads in the near future. We need to get rid of all those ancient, smoky buses in KL especially. They’re bad for health, the environment, and business (tourism).
The local bus building industry is actually quite vibrant. Not many Malaysians know it, but buses built in Malaysia are exported far and wide, even to the U.S.. There are quite a few local bus builders like SKS, Gemilang, SHL, Pioneer, Super Coach etc.. The only problem is that the volume is quite small, but the potential for growth is certainly there.
Problem is not volume small, but the players too many. What U mentioned above is only the top 5 makers, but below there r dozens of smaller coachbuilders and even more workshop bengkels that makes very basic buses.
And then theres the long time taken to build a bus as compared to a car.
A quick read on the battery, with 6 minutes fast charge the daily range is practically unlimited! They are also highlighting the battery safety. This is super important. Just google “ev fire incident”