A SHENZHEN company helped make electric-vehicle history Thursday in the American heartland.

BYD Heavy Industries, the U.S. subsidiary of the Shenzhen-headquartered BYD Co. Ltd., announced the delivery of four 9-meter-long battery-powered coach vehicles to the Kansas City International Airport — billed as the first electric buses for airport passenger service in the United States.

The buses will shuttle passengers to terminals at the airport, which is situated 24 kilometers northwest of downtown Kansas City, in Platte County, Missouri.

The zero-emission buses were built at BYD Heavy Industries’ coach and bus manufacturing facility in Lancaster, California, and customized with luggage racks. The Kansas City Council approved the bus order in November 2016.

“BYD is proud to work with Kansas City International Airport to provide these four buses with zero tailpipe emissions, giving airport passengers a cleaner and healthier ride,” said BYD Heavy Industries senior vice president Macy Neshati.

“Kansas City International Airport will enjoy savings by using the BYD battery-electric buses, because they reduce fuel and maintenance costs by tens of thousands of dollars over the lifetime of the bus,” he said.

BYD recently completed an expansion of its coach and bus manufacturing facility in California. The move will allow the company to eventually build up to 1,500 electric buses a year.

BYD has delivered more than 140 battery-powered buses to customers across North America. The company also makes automobiles, medium- and heavy-duty trucks, SkyRail monorail and forklifts and is involved in energy storage and solar power generation.

Founded in 1995 by Wang Chuanfu, who is the chairman and CEO, BYD has more than 27,000 buses in service around the world. The company has more than 220,000 employees and US$15 billion in annual revenue. (China Daily)