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31 AutoData | September 2018 Storages, battery containers that replace diesel generators and store energy gene- rated by solar or wind systems. BYD has 450 employees today, with the automotive and energy divisions added together. The chassis factory in Campinas, in operation for about a year and a half, is expected to have sixty units assembled and delivered until the end of the year. Production capacity of three chassis per day, or 720 per year. ForWílson Pereira, senior vice president of bus sales, it is “a new segment, with Disclousure/Prefeitura RJ Bus chassis factory in Campinas, SP, should reached sixty assembled and delivered units until the end of the year. Capacity of 720 units per year. new technology, and that is whywe need to surpass resistance, convince markets, overcome crises. Even so the results begin to appear, and faster than we imagined”: the company closed deals with cities like Bauru, SP, Brasília, DF, Volta Redonda, RJ, São Paulo capital, and Santos, SP. The executive says that “therewere just tests and more tests before and todaywe have already sold vehicles. There is a good expectation for a bus bid, which is expec- ted to 2019, in São Paulo capital, to renew the fleet of 14,5 thousand buses, with a possible requirement of clean propulsion for at least half of the units”. For the electric trucks the strategy is different: initially, theywill all be imported. “Whenwe create a significant demand, we will be able to go from a progressive manufacturing starting from CKD, then SKD and later a complete assembly.” In Roma’s view, the commercial electric vehicle market begins necessarily with heavy-trucks in specific urban applica- tions, from city buses to waste collection, always in activities demanding high diesel consumption and strong need for main- tenance. The BYD’s strategy for all cases is to offer a full package, from battery supply to the infrastructure: “Recently, we have been able to close a deal with Corpus Saneamento e Obras (check box on the next page) for repre- senting a mature case: the company will use the solar energy generated by our panels, in our farms, to recharge the trucks. We are going to install the transformers and chargers, and the contract foresees fidelity for exclusive use of our energy for fifteen years”.