José Mujica, President of Uruguay, BYD, CTS and Buquebus officials signed a contract yesterday to begin bringing electric buses into Uruguay.

BYD’s GreenCity 12 meter Pure-electric Bus

"I am very pleased that Uruguay will have this environmental-friendly bus and new technology. I am looking forward to seeing electric vehicle technology in this country as we are very devoted to the protection of the environment", said President Mujica.

The contract signing ceremony

Mr. Juan Carlos Lopez Mena, President of Buquebus, Uruguay’s largest tourism company, stated, "I am ready to invest heavily in a natural Uruguay – I will replace my whole tourism bus fleet with new energy buses." BYD Senior Business Director Stanley Lin Tang commented, “Uruguay is an important tourism market yet it imports all of its petroleum. Promoting electric vehicles not only contributes to environmental protection and economic recovery, but it also improves Uruguay's energy security." Dr. Sasson Attie, President of CTS Auto S.A. represented the third partner of the project. The BYD GreenCity buses that CTS and Buquebus are purchasing are able to run 250 km (155 miles) on a single charge in urban conditions, with an energy consumption of less than 130 kWh per 100 km. The core technology of the BYD electric buses is BYD’s self-developed Iron-Phosphate battery technology boasting the highest safety, longest service life and most environmentally-friendly rechargeable chemistry. The BYD buses have been in service in four cities including Shenzhen, Changsha, Shaoguan and Xi’an accumulating over 7.4 million kilometers (or 4.56 M miles) by the end of June 2012. The first BYD electric buses will arrive in Uruguay before end of 2012 with targets to have over 500 buses running on roads by 2015.