With £30 billion worth of trade deals allegedly being signed during Chinese President Xi Jinping’s UK state visit, it wasn’t much of a surprise when Scottish bus maker Alexander Dennis (ADL) announced it had managed to get a share.
The Falkirk, Scotland-based bus maker has signed a deal for a potential £2billion with Chinese battery manufacturer BYD, or Build Your Dreams, one of the world’s largest.
“Today’s deal is essentially confirmation that we intend to take our alliance beyond the initial London contract for 51 single decks and are now working towards a long-range partner to include joint development of electric double decks,” said ADL spokesman Bill Simpson, who attended one of the London events held for the President Xi.
“Put together, the prospect represents business over the next decade worth circa £2billion.”
The first step was 51 electric London buses, which smashed the company’s order record of a fleet of 35 electric buses that it supplied to the Netherlands’ Schipol Airport in July 2014.
According to Chinese media, President and Chairman of BYD Wang Chuanfu is particularly pleased to be supplying batteries for London’s iconic red double-deckers, as they are so symbolic of the British capital.
The electric power systems and bodies of the buses will be put together in the Falkirk factory.
