Hong Kong’s prototype electric bus goes up in flames: Short circuit blamed

HK$3.8 million vehicle that had just passed extensive road tests and was ready to go into commercial operation reduced to a charred wreck

DANNY.MOK@SCMP.COM

PUBLISHED : Monday, 14 December, 2015, 7:00am

UPDATED : Monday, 14 December, 2015, 9:42am

Hong Kong’s protoype electric bus on fire Photo: Supplied

 

A HK$3.8 million prototype electric bus, the first to be designed in the city but built on the mainland, went up in flames yesterday.

The fire department believed the vehicle, which had just passed a road test and was ready for commercialisation, suffered a short circuit and overheated battery.

Police were alerted at about 5.30pm when a driver passing the parking site in Fuk Hi Street on the Yuen Long Industrial Estate noticed thick black smoke billowing into the air.

Firemen put out the flames shortly before 6pm but the bus was reduced to a charred wreck.

The prototype electric bus was designed to carry 75 passengers.A spokesman for the Hong Kong Productivity Council, which designed and made the bus unveiled in a promotional event on October 26, said last night the vehicle had been handed over a couple of weeks ago to the project sponsor Green Dynamic Electric Vehicle, a subsidiary of Hong Kong-listed China Dynamics (Holdings), for commercialisation after passing road tests.

He was surprised by the incident and said the council would investigate.

READ MORE: First Hong Kong-designed electric bus rolls out

The 11.75-metre-long, 12.5-tonne single-decker electric bus was assembled on the mainland by the council’s experts.

Researchers had spent two years completing the project, which was jointly funded by the government’s Innovation and Technology Fund and Green Dynamic.

Made of lightweight T6-grade aluminium alloy, it weighs 10 per cent less than earlier electric buses. Its rechargeable lithium polymer batteries are designed to save energy, with 16 sets fitted behind the driver’s seat and at the rear of the vehicle.

It can cover 380km on a four-hour charge and travel at up to 70km/h with 75 passengers.

Before coming to Hong Kong, the bus underwent nine months of tests in Chongqing and Dongguan.

Green Dynamic’s CEO Andrew Yung Ka-wo said at the event in October that he hoped it could be launched in the market early next year.

The council’s chairman, Stanley Lau Chin-ho, said the bus would hasten the growth of the local electric vehicle industry.

http://m.scmp.com/news/hong-kong/health-environment/article/1890986/hong-kongs-prototype-electric-bus-goes-flames