The Asian Development Bank (ADB) has approved a multi-million US dollar financing package for a Chinese company to provide electric bus batteries for a “green public transport” initiative.
The bank said its total US$400m package for Minsheng Financial Leasing (MFL) would be used to finance the leasing or purchasing of green buses, including batteries.
“These buses should either be energy-efficient and new-energy buses— hybrids or battery-only electric buses, fuel-cell electric buses, and ultracapacitor buses— or buses running on cleaner fuels,” the ADB said.
A loan of US$200m is included in the overall package, which is to be funded by commercial co-financiers “to help MFL finance green vehicles, as well as batteries and charging stations for electric vehicles”, the ADB said.
MFL, established in April 2008, was among the first five financial leasing enterprises approved by the China Banking Regulatory Commission.
Every five weeks, 9,500 new electric buses— “the equivalent of the entire London bus fleet”— take to the roads in China, according to a recent report by Bloomberg New Energy Finance.
Pictured at the US$200m loan agreement signing in Beijing are the director of ADB’s Private Sector Financial Institutions Division Christine Engstrom (left, seated) and MFL president Wan Xiaofang (right, seated). Senior staff from ADB and MFL also attended the ceremony.
