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Alcoa developed an all-aluminum space frame and bus design for BYD that has reduced the weight of the new BYD Electric Bus body by 40% vs. traditional steel buses.

Alcoa's Huck Fasteners were part of the weight reduction for the bus prototypes unveiled in China in 2011. "The effort with BYD was a joint effort by our Rolled Products business and our fasteners group – along with our R&D team who helped design the bus," Kevin Lowery, a director of corporate communications, told GlobalFastenerNews.com.

The new buses use 10 mm diameter Huck Bobtail fasteners for most connections between the aluminum upper structure and steel chassis.  Within the aluminum structure 8 mm Huck BOM blind fasteners were used. Bus weight reduction totals 1.2 tons and include Alcoa forged wheels and Huck Spin fasteners. The combined weight savings will increase bus range 10% to 300 kilometers (188 miles) on a full charge.