These days, when the Chinese do something, they do it big. The northern Chinese city of Dalian has signed an agreement with EV-maker BYD to purchase 1,200 of the company’s electric buses – 600 in 2014 and another 600 in 2015. The agreement also mentions an initiative to make more than half of Dalian’s future taxi purchases “new energy vehicles.”

BYD also announced the opening of a new electric bus manufacturing facility in the Dalian Huayuankou Economic Zone to service the growing needs of northern China.

At an event commemorating the new agreement, BYD Founder and CEO Chuanfu Wang highlighted some statistics of the company’s electric bus fleets, which have now logged some 111 million miles in revenue service in several cities, including London and New York. He emphasized that electric technology is not just environmentally friendly, but efficient and profitable for fleet operators.

Source: BYD
Image: Julian Walker/Flickr