Interview: Chinese electric automaker BYD expects mutual benefits in cooperation with Spain

Wang Chuanfu, chairman of China's leading electric vehicle maker BYD, has said the company will deliver more electric buses to Spain and buy more products from Spanish companies.

Wang told Xinhua in an interview in Madrid as he attended the inaugural ceremony of the China-Spain Business Advisory Board Tuesday night, saying that it will become a major platform for business cooperation between the companies from the two countries, and facilitate BYD to go abroad.

BYD started the business in Spain in 2014 with pilot electric bus systems. Now the company's electric buses run in several Spanish cities such as Sant Cugat, Valencia, Badalona and Badajoz.

The company has won the order of 25 e-buses in Spain, accounting for 16 percent of the total e-bus market. It is also the only Chinese e-bus maker with Spanish business. Wang expected BYD will get more orders for its e-buses in the country as Spanish economy keeps the recovery from decline.

"The world is facing unprecedented challenges as air pollution and traffic congestion have become common problems for major cities in the world," said Wang, adding that BYD's operations in Spain have gained achievements in cutting urban air pollution.

He believed that as the EU countries are facing pressure in emission cut and attach great importance in environmental protection, more and more environmental-friendly public transport systems are needed so that China and Spain, as well as China and the whole EU, have huge potential for cooperation in this field.

The company operates almost 400 e-buses in EU and is expected to reach 800 in 2019 and further double the number again in 2020, according to Wang.

"We will deepen the cooperation with Spanish partners in the environmental-friendly transport system and new energy, bringing green public transport solutions and the idea of electrification of public transport to Spain and other countries," he said.

"In this way, BYD will make contributions to improving the local environment with advanced technologies, products and services."

In the meantime, Wang said the company will also expand its import from Spain, buying more services and products from Spanish companies and strengthening cooperation with its Spanish partners in a bid to achieve mutual benefit.

BYD is cooperating with Spanish bus and coach services company ALSA, which runs hundreds of taxies in China with BYD's electric vehicles. It purchases tens of million yuan of automotive spare parts from Spanish company Gestamp's plants in China on a yearly basis.

As the cooperation is deepening and business is expanding, BYD expects that ALSA will run more BYD electric vehicles taxies in China and its purchase from Gestamp will reach 200 million yuan in two years.

"Trade and business relations are two-way and mutually beneficial," said Wang.

"With the platform sponsored by the governments of the two countries, we will strengthen cooperation with Spanish partners and take advantage of advanced technologies, in a bid to find solutions for public transport in Spanish and other European cities, and reach the win-win deal," he said.