Just short of two years ago, the global force that is BYD decided to establish its own commercial vehicles division in Australia. Prior to that, BYD buses were sold through a local agent, selling its first bus in the country in 2016 to airport transport company Carbridge for a Sydney Airport bus contract.
This change to establish its full factory backed commercial vehicle division for buses and trucks in Australia and New Zealand has quickly paid off as BYD has evolved as an emerging force in the local industry.
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“There’s been plenty of changes made since we first formed the commercial vehicles division in Australia,” BYD commercial vehicles director Jon Tozer told ABC.
“We first sought to repair our reputation in the local sector as a respected bus manufacturer, investing in our aftersales team and product support to help local customers.”
In the past 18 months, BYD’s commercial vehicles team has grown from two people to 12, with spare parts and aftersales staff recently boosting the Australian contingent of the global powerhouse. In recent times, it has also established its very own national parts distribution centre in Melbourne alongside a parts centre in Sydney, highlighting its recent growth and commitment to serving Australian operators.
Now with more than 200 buses on the road in Australia for major partners such as Transit Systems, Ventura and Kinetic, just to name a few, BYD has made a move in its product range, discontinuing the D9RA chassis and replacing it with the new BC12B1 chassis.
“The BYD chassis is the only electric chassis on the market with a fully integral E-driveline – we’re the only manufacturer that manufactures the full drive system from the electric batteries, motors and the control systems for our chassis,” Tozer says.
“It means the chassis is a one-stop shop solution.”
New Zealand
In the past year, BYD’s solidified presence in Australia has allowed Tozer and the commercial vehicles team to look at refreshing its product range. Late last year, BYD introduced the B70 model to the local market as an ideal replacement for the old Hino Poncho.
“The B70, with its low floor design and overall length of seven metres, comes with a seating capacity of up to 18 passengers, or 16 with a wheelchair,” BYD Australia commercial vehicles sales executive Steve Glenny told ABC.
“Based on tried and tested, last-mile and first-mile feeder routes using similar-sized bus platforms throughout Europe and Asia, the BYD B70 appeals to a broad market, from local government to small shuttles and the private sector.”
The design behind the latest generation BC12B1 chassis was to develop a metropolitan city bus model that provides solutions to common issues raised by customers on the D9RA chassis and introduce the latest technology and component upgrades.
“The BC12B1 is a culmination of us listening to customer and bodybuilder feedback and putting these solutions into the actual design of our latest chassis,” Tozer says.
“For example, we received some feedback on the power steering being heavy, so BYD R&D investigated the issue and upgraded the steering components to improve it. The feedback we have had from the operators is that it is a vast improvement. This improvement was due to us listening to customer feedback.
“The new chassis features less batteries, yet we have increased the overall capacity to 382kWh of power, giving us a range of well over 400 kilometres. The new chassis design also allows for improved seating capacity and is lighter, further improving the overall carrying capacity.”
The revamped BC12B1, alongside the release of the B70, form some of Tozer’s largest highlights at the helm of BYD’s local commercial vehicles division since assuming the role 18 months ago. Besides the improved aftersales support, these new releases partner the unveiling of the national parts distribution centre to get the wheels in motion in BYD’s plan to grow in the Australian market.
However, Tozer says BYD is only roughly a quarter of the way through this plan, meaning there’s plenty more to come in the next few years from BYD.
“It hasn’t been easy to date, but it takes a long time to turn a ship around – what we’ve done has been incredibly effective,” he says.
“There’s a lot more to come that we’re very excited about, but we can’t reveal much currently, so watch this space.”
Tozer says that with BYD, it is not all about the product. He says the brand is also very conscious of people’s concerns around privacy, data security and concerns with
data storage.
“We were one of the first Chinese bus manufacturers to achieve certification to UN Regulation 155 ‘Cyber Security Management’ and UN Regulation 156 ‘Software Update Management’,” he says.
“Further to this, we only store our data here in Australia and any diagnostic data sent to HQ is destroyed within days to ensure compliance with our requirements.”
It’s this international influence that has Tozer and his team confident that BYD’s bus technology is at the forefront of innovation in Australia. Since joining the company just under two years ago, Tozer’s philosophy has been to use his knowledge and experience, having worked in all aspects of the Australian bus industry from operational through to supplier side for over 39 years, to complement BYD’s technological capabilities.
In a short space of time, this focus has already began paying off, with the national parts distribution centre and a growing legion of spare parts and aftersales team members highlighting BYD’s commitment to local customers.
“The key focus for me has always been aftersales – we identified it as a big issue when we decided to form the commercial vehicles division in Australia,” he says.
“We knew improving our aftersales reputation wasn’t going to happen overnight, so we’ve still got a long way to go, but we’ve improved so much from where we were.
“We’ve also rolled out an upgraded training program for our customers with a BYD certified trainer. It’s been widely accepted and we will keep expanding it.
“We’re lucky to have wonderful support from the factory too. They trust me in what I want to do and I‘m so lucky to work with a company as large as BYD.”
Tozer says BYD’s recent growth means it works differently to other international powerhouse companies. While others may require plenty of processes to introduce new models or update existing vehicles, Tozer is able to directly communicate with BYD’s R&D team to continue improving the local product.
For 2025 and beyond, BYD is planning the release of two new bus models this year that will include the brand’s next generation Blade 2 batteries. From the end of the third quarter of this year, BYD is planning to release its articulated chassis model and school bus chassis.
The use of the Blade 2 battery design allows for the batteries to be located in the chassis structural frame in the floor. This lowers the vehicle centre of gravity by more than 40 per cent, significantly improving vehicle stability and handling.
BYD is also looking to ensure it doesn’t forget its friends over the ditch in New Zealand. The brand is planning to unveil upgraded designs incorporating the new Blade 1 battery to the existing chassis sold in the country. From there, it will also launch its B70 bus in the New Zealand market while looking at bringing in an electric truck bus model there too.
“We have so many products to get excited about, but we’re also focusing on continuing to improve our aftersales service offerings,” Tozer says.
“There’s plenty more to come from us this year, including the introduction of BYD trucks into Australia and New Zealand, so stay tuned.”
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