While many electric vehicle manufacturers are busy focusing on the US market, Chinese automaker BYD has started operations at its new plant in Brazil. BYD has opened its first lithium iron phosphate (LiFePO4) plant in the South American country.
In total, this is BYD's third manufacturing plant in Brazil. In 2015, the EV maker established its first factory in the country. The company began by producing electric bus chassis and selling electric vehicles in the state of São Paulo. Later in 2017, BYD opened its second photovoltaic module factory. Now the automaker has come up with another factory with new technology.
According to sources, BYD plans to use these batteries in its electric bus fleet across the country.
Learn more about the new BYD factory in Brazil
Image: Electric car reportThis new production plant is located in the state of Amazonas, Brazil. The main objective of this plant is to produce and install lithium iron phosphate (LFP) batteries on the chassis of electric buses. For this plant, BYD made an initial investment of 15 million reais ($ 2.7 million) with the aim of promoting the electrification of mobility in the country.
The factory is built on an area of 5,000 square feet and has a production capacity of 18,000 modules per year. However, the current production rate is 48 battery modules per day.
Tyler Li, director of BYD Brazil, said the operation was quick and technical. The infrastructure is automated and robotic to produce batteries quickly and safely without compromising quality. In addition he said "Our proposal is to popularize and facilitate the electrification of mobility and equipment in the country."
BYD has a great reputation in electric buses and we hope this next step will make it even better.
Final thoughts
Earlier in 2020, we saw the electric vehicle maker showcase LFP batteries in its BYD Han electric car. These electric batteries are cheaper due to their low cobalt content. At the same time, these have low energy density leading to low performance. Therefore, many electric vehicle manufacturers avoid using LFP batteries.
However, BYD has overcome this flaw by developing its own integrated CTP (Cell-to-Pack) technology. BYD used this technology in its Han electric car for the first time. For more information on this technology, you can click here.
Now, it looks like BYD will use the same CTP technology in the batteries it produces in Brazil, as this is the most innovative method to get the most out of LFP batteries.
Considering the above facts, we can assume that BYD can make a significant contribution to making electric buses more economical and efficient.
What do you think? Share your opinions in the comments section below.
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