Yutong: The world’s biggest bus maker you’ve probably never heard of

“At this moment I can already say that 100% of city buses are already electric in China, and they are already going from EV to second generation EV, not from diesel to EV.”

That comment from Kent Chang, the Asia-Pacific CEO for China’s Yutong best underlines the extraordinary gaps in the road to electric transport in a country like Australia to what has already occurred in China.

Yutong is the world’s largest bus maker by sales volume, and recently invited The Driven to China as part of their Asia-Pacific Standards Exploration Journey. It’s a brand most people have never heard of, even though it is the number 2 provider of buses in Australia, behind Volvo.

On the visit to Yutong’s headquarters in Zhengzhou, Henan province, we got to see their world leading factory, extensive testing facilities and also rode in some of their autonomous buses.

I was aware of Yutong after reading a previous article written by Sam Parkinson, and listening to Sam’s podcast interview last year with Kent Chang from Yutong. However, this trip was particularly enlightening for someone like me who usually focuses on passenger electric vehicles, and knew very little about buses beforehand.

My lack of bus knowledge must be fairly typical, as not many family or friends had even heard of Yutong when I told them about my trip. I guess most people just take the bus without paying much attention to the badge on the front.

Globally, Yutong has been number 1 in terms of bus and coach sales since 2016, well ahead of Daimler and King Long in 2nd and 3rd place. Yutong was founded in 1963 and has sold their buses to over 100 different countries since exports began in 2005, making them a truly global company.

Yutong currently holds 10% of the global market share and 30% of the domestic market in China. Unsurprisingly, they are also the world’s largest manufacturer of electric buses and coaches, which make up around 30% of their global and domestic sales at the moment.

Aside from the wide range of battery electric buses and coaches as shown in the image above, Yutong also makes both light and heavy electric trucks, rotary drilling rigs and mining trucks. The Yutong mining truck looks small compared to the giant Liebherr trucks Giles Parkinson wrote about that are destined for Australian mines.

Yutong is number 2 in Australia

Focusing on Australian data for 2024, bus and coach volumes are much smaller than passenger vehicles with just 1,907 total yearly sales. Yutong was number 2 in terms of chassis sales with 326 units, well behind Volvo in first place with 639 units. Yutong was also number 2 for body builders with 325 units compared to Volgren with 567 units.

Sara Clark, National Sales Manager for Vehicle Dealers International (VDI) who have been partners and sole distributors for Yutong in Australia since 2017, says the electrification of bus fleets are heavily dependent on changing government policies and targets.

Government requirements for locally added content also play a part, meaning imported bus chassis and bodies are often fitted out with seats, floors, air conditioning and driver protection barriers in Australian factories.

Chances are high that you have already ridden on a Yutong bus, given they have been operating in Australia since 2012, and possibly electric too. Among the notable companies using Yutong’s electric buses are Tropic Wings, a tour operator in Cairns that first took delivery of a fully electric Yutong E12 in 2019, since joined by their D7E and C12E models.

As for where else you might see Yutong electric buses in Australia, they have been deployed all over the place in various roles outside of private tour operators, from electric city bus trials in Brisbane to wider rollouts in the ACT which often leads the country in terms of EV uptake.

Yutong has partnered with major global sporting events in the past including the 2022 FIFA World Cup in Qatar where they successfully provided over 1,500 buses, 888 of them battery electric. Yutong also provided 148 electric ICE12 buses for the 2024 Paris Olympic Games.

Another exciting product we got to see first-hand was Yutong’s new U12DD double decker electric bus, originally designed for the Singaporean market. Once approved in Australia, this model may potentially be used on the busy Sydney eastern suburbs route where its 120 passenger capacity and 3-door, 2-staircase layout will be put to good use.

Efficiency is a highlight of the new U12DD, consuming just 0.81 kWh/km under SORT2 conditions. Standardized On-Road Test Procedure is like WLTP but for electric buses. A large 621 kWh battery pack enables up to 670km range, and maximum 350 kW charging via a standard EU-compliant dual-gun provides a full charge in just 2 hours.

Only electric buses can be fully autonomous

During the trip we got to ride on some of Yutong’s autonomous buses and also witness their automated charging technology in action. Firstly, we visited one of their automated bus depots featuring pantograph charging, where autonomous buses can position themselves to charge and then park themselves again afterwards.

This depot demonstrates why only fully electric transport can be completely automated today, in the absence of humanoid robots or other technology such as Autofuel that may enable automatic refueling of internal combustion vehicles. Wireless charging of electric vehicles is another option, although Yutong has no plans that I’m aware of in this area.

Next up, we were taken for a ride on one of these autonomous buses around a short city loop in Zhengzhou. There was still a driver present, but they were mostly just observing as can be seen in the bottom left of the image below. The driver took over briefly when we came to some roadworks and temporary barriers which required navigation.

Later on during the factory tour we also got to ride in one of Yutong’s Xiaoyu 2.0 buses pictured below, which won a Red Dot Design Award in 2021. This small bus is completely autonomous without any steering wheel, pedals or safety driver like the larger bus we rode on above.