California Governor Gavin Newsom Test Drives BYD During Visit to China

California Governor Gavin Newsom started a visit to China from Monday, and their first stop is China’s southern province of Guangdong.

On Tuesday, Newsom and his team visited the Antuoshan Bus Station in Shenzhen, to learn about the development of electric buses in the city, and had a test ride on a BYD electric vehicle. Newsom experienced BYD’s “U-turn in place”, which allows the car to make a complete 360-degree turn without moving forward or backward. “This is another leap in technology…I can’t believe it. We got to get it into the United States”, said Newsom to Shenzhen Television.

In 2017, Shenzhen became the first city in the world to achieve 100% electrification of its public buses. In 2018, it became a leading city in the world in terms of its scale of promoting and implementing pure electric taxis.

This is Newsom’s first visit to China since being elected as the governor of California in 2019, and he has become the first American governor to visit China after the COVID-19 pandemic. Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Mao Ning previously stated that China welcomes Governor Newsom and his delegation’s visit, hoping that this visit will achieve positive results and promote exchanges and cooperation between California and China.

SEE ALSO: Shenzhen Opens 53 More Roads for Driverless Vehicle Tests