Beginning this week central London commuters on the 507 and 521 routes might catch the first two fully electric and emission-free buses in service in the city.

Made by Shenzhen-headquartered BYD, the 12-meter buses were handed over to fleet operators Transport for London and Go-Ahead last week.

The electric vehicle model has already been road tested in Paris, Bremen, Bonn, Madrid, Barcelona, Salzburg, Warsaw, Amsterdam, Brussels and Budapest, according to BYD.

It said the trials demonstrate that the range of the model - whose name is simply the ebus - comfortably exceeds 250 km on a single charge in real urban conditions.

The performance has also been proven through extensive operations in China.

In Shenzhen 220 BYD ebuses have been in service since January 2011, traveling more than 20 million km, each carrying up to 120 passengers during rush hours with full air-conditioning in use.

The ebus not only produces zero emissions, it also offers huge savings in operating costs.

BYD said the bus uses about 130 kWh per 100 km in urban conditions.

The ebus battery takes four to five hours to charge from a totally exhausted state, which costs the equivalent of about $32 in the UK when using peak-hour electricity, a savings of up to 75 percent compared to a diesel bus, said the company.

BYD added that its battery is designed to have a life of more than 4,000 charges, enough for 10 years or more under normal operating conditions.

"The mayor of London has made it a top priority to further reduce the environmental impact from the city's bus fleet," said the mayor's senior environment and political adviser Matthew Pencharz.

"Alternative technologies such as these electric buses will bring genuine long-term benefits in tackling carbon dioxide and particulate matter emissions."

"The arrival of these pure electric buses complements a whole range of measures the mayor is supporting including hybrid and hydrogen technology that are already delivering improvements to air quality," he added.

Isbrand Ho, managing director of BYD Europe, said that "we are convinced that widespread adoption of the BYD ebus could have a dramatic effect on lowering pollution levels in major cities, so this development in London, one of the world's top cities, is of tremendous importance".

"We look forward to a long and positive relationship with Transport for London and Go-Ahead and to further deliveries in London and other UK cities," Ho said.

One of the world's leading battery suppliers, BYD has created a "Green City Solution" that aims to electrify urban public transport systems by transitioning from gasoline and diesel power.

BYD also provides related services such as charging facilities, charging station monitoring systems and after-sales services.

The Dutch island of Schiermonnikoog has already converted its entire bus fleet to pure electric BYD ebuses. A fleet of 35 of the buses has been ordered for Amsterdam's Schiphol Airport.

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