Ukraine Buses - February 2017

Electron 100% Electric Bus

Picking up on the 2016 Top 10 Countries in the EV Revolution post, where some readers were surprised by the relevance of the Ukranian EV Miracle, on the next day the article was published, it came to my knowledge that the local EV Revolution is not confined to passenger cars, but also to Buses, as the local Electron company started to make BEV Buses (With 240kms range(!)), alongside Trams and Trolleybuses.

This year alone, they already delivered 25 eBuses, if this sales trend continues, they might become one of the leading eBuses brands in Europe this year.

With this, it seems the Ukraine could be even higher in the ranking for 2017...

China PHEV Buses 2016

Complementing this report, which focused solely on BEV Buses, with PHEV sales data now in hand, we have a clearer picture of where the eBuses market is going in China, while BEV buses continued to grow in 2016, albeit in a more moderate rate, last year PHEV buses have actually seen their sales decrease.

Has PHEV technology peaked in 2015, like HEVs did in 2013?

China Buses by Technology

			2012	2013	2014	2015	2016
		BEV	1904	1672	12760	94260	115700
		PHEV	313	2637	16500	23051	19376
		HEV	5825	6111	797

(China) Buses & Batteries 2016

With Chinese brands and market responsible for more than 95% of the global BEV Buses market, basically speaking of eBuses is synonymous with the Chinese market, so i have decided to recover the "China Buses" report and add a few lines regarding the other 5% of the market below.

Electric Buses Sales in China

Pl	Brand	2016
1	Yutong	21.428
2	BYD	14.903
3	Nanjing	7.921
4	Zuhai e)	6.000
5	Hunan	3.410

e) Estimate

Ending a series of articles on China, i left the juiciest of them to the end, Electric Buses.

In the end of 2015, China had 170.000 of the 173.000 ebuses circulating in the World. That's right, 98% of them were in zooming in The Big Red Giant, which i think says it all about the role of that country on the change happening towards eMobility.

For more on how that came to be, please click here.

But, what about in 2016?

Just focusing on all-electric Buses, sales grew to 115.700 units in 2016, which represents some 20% market share, with Yutong still in the lead, followed by BYD and Nanjing.with the first growing 36% YoY and the second more than 50%.

With this kind of growth and market share, it is expected that China goes all-electric in this category in less than 10 years, maybe five, so it is no wonder that large cities like Shenzen are already envisioning an all-electric 15.000 fleet of Buses...In 2017.

Regarding Batteries, CATL produced 5.250 MWh of batteries for Yutong Buses, while BYD added 4.828 MWh of batteries to its already impressive score (4.020 MWh) in passenger cars, ending the year with an amazing 8.848 MWh of batteries.


Source: http://m.nev.ofweek.com/2017-01/ART-71011-8420-30092804.html


And now a few words on the Europe eBuses scene, fleet numbers are in the hundreds, with BEV sales being leaded by BYD (Alone or with ADL help) and the Polish brand Solaris. Other important players are VDL and Volvo, both betting more on PHEVs.

In the USA, the market is even smaller, with BYD being the major driving force there, owning more than half of the market.

First Look: The fantastic VW Buses of the brand new Greenlight Vdub Series...

Is there anyone who doesn't get a little boost of joy when they see a VW Bus?

Vintage VW's do that.  Beetles, Karmann Ghias, Sciroccos, Fastbacks, you name it, it conjures up something.  Hot Wheels' Caddy has done that this year, as did Matchbox's Type 34 Karmann Ghia.  I have also posted pics of Tomica Limited Vintage's Golf GTI on Instagram, and the masses have responded.

You say vintage VW, and most will think of the Beetle, but the Bus, at least to me, is the coolest.  No need to get into why, because I probably can't even verbalize that.  We just know it is super cool.

And diecast companies know it.  As much as I don't like it, there is no denying Hot Wheels' Drag Bus is as iconic as any Hot Wheels model.  The Kool Kombi is following suit.  And Matchbox has been producing VW Buses for awhile now, most notably the T2 just a few years ago.

Now Greenlight has jumped in.  We have said many times before that Greenlight is hit-and-miss when it comes to proportion and detail.  As many times as they hit a home run, there are as many times that they strike out.  So when we heard they were doing a series of Volkswagens, we completely held judgement until we had them in hand.

Well, we just received a set from Wheel Collectors, and we are happy to say Greenlight hit a home run.  This set of three Kombis is fantastic.

It starts with the proportions.  Greenlight sometimes makes their wheels too large and too thick, but that is not the case here.  The wheels are perfect.  As is the stance and height.  There are a few flaws in the paint work, but that only shows up in the closeups.

There are a few things that Greenlight has done lately that have really excited us, like the Hitch & Haul series (the Airstream in particular), and many of their vintage Police Cars.  Add that Vdub Busses to that list.  If we feel like a model holds its own next to Tomica Limited Vintage, it is definitely a winner.  That is totally the case with these.

The Westfalia is the star, but the cleanliness of the '68 and '77 Type 2's make them must-haves as well.  We highly suggest you get them, and they are all available at Wheel Collectors right now (including some killer Green Machine versions)...

1977 Type 2 Champagne Edition

1968 Type 2

1968 Type 2 Westfalia Campmobile