This has not been the experience in London which will soon have over 200 fully electric buses, most of which have BYD drivetrains. By all accounts, they have proven at least as reliable as their diesel counterparts.
This is bus technology, not rocket surgery. The BYD buses in Albuquerque had door malfunctions, cracked and missing welds, brake issues, exposed high voltage cables, etc.:
”The BYD buses in Albuquerque had door malfunctions, cracked and missing welds, brake issues, exposed high voltage cables, etc”
Much of London’s electric bus fleet uses the BYD battery & drivetrain in combination with an ADL (Alexander Dennis) bus body. These units seem to be reliable and well-regraded.
- Much milder winter temperatures. Certainly nothing like the -10F experienced in Indiana.
- Lower daily mileages. Even though London buses are operated intensively all day long, average speeds are low and a typical bus certainly wouldn’t exceed 200 miles in a day. There is plenty of buffer between what is demanded of the batteries and what they’re capable of.
Things may have improved recently, but that certain was not the experience in Hong Kong:
"Five Hong Kong electric buses pulled from service in under two weeks due to glitches"[1]
"Hong Kong electric buses pulled from the road for third time in nine months"[2]
"Trial run of five Hong Kong electric buses delayed indefinitely due to bus stop bell problems"[3]
"KMB electric bus runs into trouble on first day of trial"[4]
[1] https://www.scmp.com/news/hong-kong/economy/article/2038314/...
[2] https://www.scmp.com/news/hong-kong/economy/article/2038314/...
[3] https://www.scmp.com/news/hong-kong/education-community/arti...
[4] http://www.ejinsight.com/20170801-kmb-electric-bus-runs-into...