BYD, one of China’s largest companies whcih specializing in battery technologies, announced yesterday that the city of Campinsas, in the São Paulo region of Brazil, has been selected as the home to the company's newest factory.
It is the company’s first South American manufacturing facility.
"BYD chose Campinas because of this city's spirit of innovation and their goal of building a cleaner society," explained BYD Founder and Chairman, Wang Chuanfu. "Along with the buses and batteries, our dream is to buildsolar panels and energy storage systems here to help the region achieve their zero emissions goals."
The factory is slated to open in 2015, will create 450 new jobs.
According to the BYD the facility will launch the manufacturing and assembly of the world’s only long range pure electric transit bus in South America as well as the first fire safe and recyclable Iron-Phosphate battery packs.
"In the first year of operation (starting in 2015), the plant will have a maximum production capacity of 1,000 electric buses as well as all of their batteries," said BYD Brazil's General Manager Tyler Li. "This is the first stage of manufacturing expansion."
In addition to the 32,000m2 and 20,000m2 manufacturing facilities on campus, BYD also plans to open a research & development center for their Photovoltaic, Smart-Grid and LED Lighting businesses in the second phase of site development.
"In February of this year, we visited BYD in China and observed cutting edge technology and the quality of their products," said President of Invest Saint Paulo, Luciano Almeida. "The arrival of BYD in the state strengthens the role of São Paulo to always be at the forefront of new technologies. "
