Recently, brand new pure electric minibuses from Xiamen Golden Dragon Bus Co., Ltd. (hereinafter referred to as "Golden Dragon") have often been seen driving through the streets of Addis Ababa, the capital of Ethiopia. These pure electric XML6496 were exported to Ethiopia in a CKD (Completely Knocked Down) form, assembled locally, and introduced to the market. This year, 150 Golden Dragon XML6496 were once again delivered to Ethiopia in CKD form, following a previous batch of 216 vehicles in 2023.

150 units electric Golden Dragon XML6496 delivered to Ethiopia

Ethiopia, with an average altitude of nearly 3,000 meters, is known as the "Roof of Africa". Addis Ababa, the capital, stands at an altitude of about 2,400 meters, making it the highest city in Africa. In the local language, "Addis Ababa" means "fresh flowers". However, the severe vehicle exhaust pollution in the area makes it difficult to associate the city with the title of "City of Flowers". According to incomplete statistics, Ethiopia has about 1.2 million vehicles nationwide, most of which are second-hand imported from Gulf countries with a vehicle age of over 20 years. The aging of these vehicles has exacerbated vehicle exhaust pollution.

In recent years, the Ethiopian government has encouraged the development of electric vehicles and promoted related technology transfer. In Ethiopia, the import tariff for complete vehicles is about 15%, while the import tariff for electric vehicles in CKD form is almost zero. Importing electric vehicles from China in this way can significantly reduce transportation costs. Electric vehicles have broad application prospects in Ethiopia, and as more and more Chinese electric vehicles enter the local market, it will help Ethiopia achieve energy conservation and emission reduction.

"The Ethiopian KD project has been in preparation since 2019," Huang Ji, Deputy General Manager of Xiamen Golden Dragon Bus International Trading Company, told the journalist. Due to the epidemic, the construction of the local plant in Ethiopia was delayed for some time. "Starting in the second half of 2022, our sales team and KD team worked together to overcome the epidemic and various local instabilities, completing the installation and debugging of KD factory equipment in a short period of time." The vehicles exported to Ethiopia are designed and crafted by Golden Dragon based on road spectrum collection of local road conditions in Ethiopia, making them more suitable for local conditions in terms of load capacity and battery life.

Golden Dragon pure electric XML6496 operating locally in Ethiopia

Giving someone a fishing rod is better than giving them a fish. By setting up a factory in Ethiopia, Golden Dragon has brought a large number of jobs to the local area. At the same time, Golden Dragon has also established a technical training school in the area to help Ethiopia cultivate qualified electrical engineers. This not only enhances Ethiopia's local industrial level but also injects new momentum into the local economic development. This type of cooperation not only promotes the development of automobiles and clean transportation systems, providing more pure electric bus products for the African market and creating high-quality public transportation services for African people's travel, but also shares the achievements of China's new energy bus development with the people of the African continent. All of these have greatly promoted the friendship between China and Ethiopia.

Moreover, with the advancement of the KD project, Golden Dragon has also become a "matchmaker" for the Chinese automobile industry to go global. "In the KD project in Ethiopia, Golden Dragon's design team selected domestic high-quality suppliers of three electrical systems based on field research data, achieving 'group export'," Huang Ji said. "Currently, the charging facilities for commercial vehicles imported into Ethiopia all adopt Chinese standards, and Chinese national standards have also become the bidding standards for commercial vehicles in Ethiopia."

Currently, these pure electric XML6496 exported to Ethiopia are already in smooth operation, providing urban public transportation services to the Ethiopian people and commuter services to various government agencies, which have been highly welcomed by the local people.

It is understood that in addition to assembling pure electric minibuses, the local CKD factory is also assembling a 12-meter pure electric bus imported from China to meet the growing demand for electric vehicles in Ethiopia.

Source : www.chinabuses.org

Editor : Isabella

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