BYD, a China-based electric vehicle company backed by billionaire Warren Buffett, announced an expansion of its electric truck effort in North America with its first plant in Canada.
The company’s electric passenger vehicle division is primarily based in China, but its electric truck division has a strong presence in California.
Now the firm says that it anticipates a surge in demand in Canada, which is why they are investing in their own facility in the country.
BYD Canada spokesman Ted Dowling said (via the Globe and Mail):
“There is less of a barrier to entry when it comes to having Chinese products in Canada compared to the U.S.,”
They say that the plant will open as soon as next year in Ontario and will employ about 40 employees.
At first, the plant will assemble “electric garbage trucks and electric delivery trucks” made with parts imported from BYD’s Chinese factory.
Dowling added:
“BYD is a global company, but we like to localize. It doesn’t make sense to build everything in China and then ship it. It makes more sense to utilize the incentive programs and policy changes and create jobs in different markets.”
For example, they said that the BYD Truck plant in California started out with 100 employees and they now have over 700 workers manufacturing full trucks.
They will build trucks like a 3.9-ton garbage truck with 100 miles of electric range that they unveiled last year – pictured above – and an all-electric yard truck.
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