BYD’s Andino-12 electric bus has concluded two weeks of intensive testing in Bogotá, Colombia, and passed with green flags flying. The operational testing was carried out by Sistemas Sustentables and the International Sustainable Systems Research Center (ISSRC) on behalf of the Colombian capital’s public transport authority, which is considering deploying some of the battery-powered buses.

The 40-foot BYD bus, which has a capacity of 80 passengers and a specified range of over 250 km, was tested on a 700 km route for a total time of 40 hours, under various traffic conditions, road surfaces and gradients, both fully loaded and with a 70% load.

According to Sistemas Sustentables and the ISSRC, the Andino-12 The bus “did not present any problems in terms of range and regeneration and was completely reliable.” The range was confirmed between 270 and 280 km, which complies with the transit authority’s requirements. Efficiency was 1.13 km/kWh, which exceeded BYD’s specifications of 1 km/kWh. Passenger perceived noise (61.44 dB and 66.87 dB with the windows closed and open) was considerably below the maximum standard of 80 dBA.

Source: Sistemas Sustentables and the ISSRC, via Green Car Congress