Ideanomics has announced a new vehicle order through its MEG subsidiary from rental and leasing services company Beijing Silk Road Rainbow Car Rental Group Co., Ltd., the leading bus operator in Northern China for several major metro markets, including Beijing.

The order is for 5,000 full size electric buses, for use in various locations. The vehicles have an average cost of 800,000 Renminbi (approx. $115,000 USD) per unit, with the order totaling 4Billion Renminbi, or approximately $575 Million USD.

The vehicles will be procured from a number of manufacturers within MEG’s partner alliance and will be subject to a rolling delivery schedule throughout 2020 until 2022. MEG has identified commercial EV buses as a strategic segment of its business, and one in which it feels it can derive significant revenues in the next few years as EV buses deliver significant ROI for tour bus and city bus fleet operators in terms of fuel savings.

“This order is a pivotal moment for our organization, as we move to EV for our bus operations” said Xu Yingcai, Chairman of Beijing Silk Road Rainbow. “Our transition to clean energy is important to our organization, but also for our customers who depend on our transportation services and rely on us to make the best decisions for the environment. We are delighted to work with Mobile Energy Global and their Qingdao sales hub to fulfill this order and bring our auto bus fleet to a cleaner and more energy efficient future”.