Chinese manufacturers continue to dominate the Latin American electric bus market, with BYD having won cumulative orders to supply over 1,000 units of  pure-electric buses to the capital of Colombia, Bogota.

Under the Green Movil project, local currency loans equivalent to US$150 million will be extended by Proparco and Financiera de Desarrollo Nacional (FDN) to two special purpose vehicles jointly owned by Colombian business group Fanalca and international public transport operator Transdev.

Agreements were signed in Paris in July to finance the latest batch of 406 buses and associated support infrastructure.

Proparco is a subsidiary of Agence Francaise de Developpement (AFD) focused on private sector development. The transition towards electric mobility is a strong strategic orientation of the AFD Group.

Last year Proparco and FDN granted a loan to Electribus Bogota consortium to finance the first fleet of 259 electric buses in the Colombian capital, replacing an obsolete and highly emissive fleet of diesel buses.

The tender for 406 new vehicles, from the Bogota City Public Transport Authority (TransMilenio), was won by a joint venture between Fanalca and Transdev.

Transdev is jointly held by Caisse des Depots Group (66%) and the Rethmann Group (34%).

BYD provided the integrated e-bus solutions. It worked with Superpolo, a Colombian bus manufacturer, on the body parts for the vehicles.

Directly related to the project is the installation of an e-bus depot, the largest of its kind outside of China.

The Green Movil project is in line with Bogota’s efforts to fight climate change. The city, with over 9 million people, aims to cut its greenhouse gas emissions by at least 15% by 2024, compared to 2020 levels, and by half by 2030, with the target of achieving net-zero carbon emissions by 2050.

The 406 new electric buses will enable Bogota to reduce its carbon levels by 17,000 tonnes a year.

Colombia aims to have 600,000 electric vehicles deployed by 2030, up from just  1,321 units at present.