Having been supplying the city of Harbin with buses since 2010, and with 600 of its new energy buses already in service in the area, Yutong has won a contract to supply a further 200 12-metre plug-in gas-electric hybrid buses to the city. Purchased by the Harbin Public Transportation Group Co. Ltd. (Harbin PT), the buses were funded by a loan from the World Bank. Harbin PT chose Yutong on the grounds of the reliability of the current fleet and Yutong’s low-temperature performance, which is vital in the region which faces extreme low temperatures in winter; Harbin, which is located in China’s north-eastern Heilongjang Province, is known as ‘the city of ice’, and regularly sees temperatures as low as -30 degrees Celsius. The new buses feature a number of safety and performance upgrades and are claimed to provide an energy saving of up to 60%.
