Chinese electric car manufacturer BYD Auto has announced they are to expand their European presence with the launch of three zero-emission commercial vehicle lines. The launch took place in Murcia, Spain, and is the first time that the vehicles have been available in Europe.
The offer is made up of the BYD T3 van, the BYD pedestrian pallet truck, BYD Q1M yard tractor (46T GCWR), BYD counterbalance forklift and the BYD T6 light truck (7.5T GVW).
The van and trucks were already being sold in China and several other markets, but not in Europe. The forklifts, especially designed for use in ports, airports and distribution centres, count their European sales in the thousands.
BYD electric vehicles
BYD T6 light truck, BYD counterbalance forklift, BYD Q1M yard tractor, BYD pedestrian pallet truck, BYD T3 van. Image: BYD
The launch event in Murcia was jointly hosted by BYD and local dealership Tomi Maquinaria, a provider of electric forklift trucks in northern Spain.
BYD have said that this launch of trucks and vans is just the beginning of a full range of 100% electric light and heavy electric vehicles.
Patricio Valverde, Counselor of Development and Infrastructure of the Murcia region, said: “We thank Grupo Tomi for their efforts regarding sustainability and innovation as a tool to reduce the environmental impact, but also to reduce costs and mostly the importance of logistics to achieve those objectives.”
Isbrand Ho, Managing Director, of BYD Europe, said: “This is a highly significant step for BYD – the introduction of a whole range of proven and competitive zero emission vehicles spanning key sectors of the commercial vehicle sector. Our previous pure electric products have cemented their position in their respective categories – taxis, city buses (we are now the market leader in Europe and have recently produced our 50,000th ebus worldwide) and forklifts (this year we expect to have completed deliveries of 3,000 units to European customers). We are confident that this fourth product range – etrucks – will also win sales success even though the European CV sector is intensely competitive.”
Antonio Martinez, General Director of Tomi Group added: “Today we are the pioneers in Spain bringing the cleanest technology in the market to our roads. Now it is everyone’s duty to take advantage of it and make achievements together and become an example for the rest of Europe.”
Javier Contijoch, Vice President of Sales at BYD Europe, said: “BYD established its European electric truck division in 2018 and has since tested two of its prototype electric trucks across Europe. Spain was chosen as the first pilot market. The premiere of the BYD electric trucks is the start of the roll-out in Europe. Other European regions are soon to follow.”
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