Unfortunately, these Chinese bus makers have an unfair advantage over their European counterparts. This is because they can offer advanced tech for a significantly lower price, as companies such as Zhongtong, King Long, Golden Dragon, Yutong, CRRC, and BYD are all funded by the Chinese government, leading to significantly lower bus prices.
I find that Chinese manufactures have very big differences in quality between them. Because so many companies have started selling to Europe in a very short period of time, it makes it a complete minefield in knowing which ones are actually good. Many Chinese manufactures are appealingly bad. So many companies are only interested in making knockoff products with no quality control. These are not just knockoff of western companies, but also knockoffs of Chinese companies. One example is "Hankvision cameras", which is a knockoff of Hikvision. Hankvision are appealingly bad, the software has a hardcoded admin password that can not be changed. Then all of the consumer cctv cameras they produce have been indexed on a public database. If you have one of these cameras on your property, you literally have the camera open for anyone and everyone to log in and spy on you. If you see you camera randomly start turning for no reason, it is probably some bored teenager messing with it and spying on you for fun. However, at the same time there are some Chinese companies that are unexpectedly excellent. For example, Xiaomi phones. They suddenly came out of nowhere and started selling phones online. Not only are their phones as good as Samsung, they are a fraction of the price, and have excellent quality. The issue here is finding the good Chinese manufactures amongst the many companies trying to sell you crappy products. A lot of it is trial and error. Plus China has no trademark protections, so if a Chinese company does get a good reputation, it is likely that other companies will start impersonating them. With electric buses, it might take many years before bus operators learn which manufactures can be trusted. Years ago there was the electric bus trials in London, which BYD won. Their buses were many times better than any of the competition. There were only two Chinese companies in the trial, BYD and Yutong. In the end no Yutong buses were purchased. Yutong manufactured every singe part of their buses. There is no parts in their buses that could be brought from anywhere else other than directly from Yutong. This made them a too much of a risk for bus operators. In the present day, there are so many electric bus manufactures. I had not heard of Zhongtong before. I could not stop laughing at this name. Did they not do any market research into how stupid that name sounds? Its like a crap ripoff of Hong Kong. At the moment in London more buses are being purchased from BYD than any other company. BYD are better than any English manufacture. It is easy to complain that manufacturing is being outsourced to China, but whats the alternative? There are no European companies that can manufacture electric buses to the same standard, and countries are in a rush to buy them due to the climate emergency. The best we can hope for is for more collaborations, such as the BYD Alexander Dennis collaboration.
As someone from Varna, ever since I started watching your channel some 9 years ago, I always thought of you when riding the KONE EcoDisc MX20 lifts in Grand Mall (my favorite type of lifts, they're sooo smooth). This video is the crossover I never thought I needed.
Wow, what a memory zone. Damn. 7 years since I've last been in Varna. So here are some things I could explain. At 7:57 that's a "добрич", aka the generics I've seen in Kranevo. Some of them can have an LCD inside, but who cares. Some have square buttons. Grand Mall brings back memories. Only been there twice. I don't remember seeing K floors, but oh well. Can I ask you if the arrivals passport control queue was big? I remember that one being super long.
On BBC2 on Wednesday the 30th October at 7 (1900) a programme about lifts! The runner showed a car top, which is probably a first for a TV programme excluding movies and dramas.
Unfortunately, these Chinese bus makers have an unfair advantage over their European counterparts. This is because they can offer advanced tech for a significantly lower price, as companies such as Zhongtong, King Long, Golden Dragon, Yutong, CRRC, and BYD are all funded by the Chinese government, leading to significantly lower bus prices.
I find that Chinese manufactures have very big differences in quality between them. Because so many companies have started selling to Europe in a very short period of time, it makes it a complete minefield in knowing which ones are actually good. Many Chinese manufactures are appealingly bad. So many companies are only interested in making knockoff products with no quality control. These are not just knockoff of western companies, but also knockoffs of Chinese companies. One example is "Hankvision cameras", which is a knockoff of Hikvision. Hankvision are appealingly bad, the software has a hardcoded admin password that can not be changed. Then all of the consumer cctv cameras they produce have been indexed on a public database. If you have one of these cameras on your property, you literally have the camera open for anyone and everyone to log in and spy on you. If you see you camera randomly start turning for no reason, it is probably some bored teenager messing with it and spying on you for fun.
However, at the same time there are some Chinese companies that are unexpectedly excellent. For example, Xiaomi phones. They suddenly came out of nowhere and started selling phones online. Not only are their phones as good as Samsung, they are a fraction of the price, and have excellent quality. The issue here is finding the good Chinese manufactures amongst the many companies trying to sell you crappy products. A lot of it is trial and error. Plus China has no trademark protections, so if a Chinese company does get a good reputation, it is likely that other companies will start impersonating them.
With electric buses, it might take many years before bus operators learn which manufactures can be trusted. Years ago there was the electric bus trials in London, which BYD won. Their buses were many times better than any of the competition. There were only two Chinese companies in the trial, BYD and Yutong. In the end no Yutong buses were purchased. Yutong manufactured every singe part of their buses. There is no parts in their buses that could be brought from anywhere else other than directly from Yutong. This made them a too much of a risk for bus operators.
In the present day, there are so many electric bus manufactures. I had not heard of Zhongtong before. I could not stop laughing at this name. Did they not do any market research into how stupid that name sounds? Its like a crap ripoff of Hong Kong. At the moment in London more buses are being purchased from BYD than any other company. BYD are better than any English manufacture. It is easy to complain that manufacturing is being outsourced to China, but whats the alternative? There are no European companies that can manufacture electric buses to the same standard, and countries are in a rush to buy them due to the climate emergency. The best we can hope for is for more collaborations, such as the BYD Alexander Dennis collaboration.
As someone from Varna, ever since I started watching your channel some 9 years ago, I always thought of you when riding the KONE EcoDisc MX20 lifts in Grand Mall (my favorite type of lifts, they're sooo smooth). This video is the crossover I never thought I needed.
I actually went to a Tesco and it’s the only Tesco I know of to have A SCHINDLER D SERIES
Or whatever it is called I can’t remember it had been bodged with dewhurst on the outside but the inside is original
Wow, what a memory zone. Damn. 7 years since I've last been in Varna.
So here are some things I could explain.
At 7:57 that's a "добрич", aka the generics I've seen in Kranevo. Some of them can have an LCD inside, but who cares. Some have square buttons.
Grand Mall brings back memories. Only been there twice. I don't remember seeing K floors, but oh well.
Can I ask you if the arrivals passport control queue was big? I remember that one being super long.
Great video as always, Beno!
13:04 the trolleybus sounds a lot like the juniper emu's. Possibly built by the same manufacturer.
Sounds like a Solaris / SOR electric bus to me
I have to admire the artwork in the beginning of the video 😂
On BBC2 on Wednesday the 30th October at 7 (1900) a programme about lifts! The runner showed a car top, which is probably a first for a TV programme excluding movies and dramas.
6:10 Are these old german IC cars?
they are, we recently got a bunch of them delivered; sadly those are among the best train cars in Bulgaria, it only gets older than that
@@nicolanicolov3614 bdzh just bought 25 new modern trains from skoda last month. they will be delivered in 2026
Most of the old tower block elevators looks like Asea-Graham or a license based of it.
Ahh lovely city Varna! Hope you enjoyed it!
4:01 there has been recent death on stairs like those. I forgot where exactly, but the poor girl filmed herself to fall. Sad.
Never realised that those (ER33) toilets exist in Europe!! At 5:26.
i watch a lot of Roscoe McGillicuddy But i sometimes come back to see this fine channel
Are you considering to organize a cheap flight adventure to Ankara, Turkey?
Also I believe the shopping centres are designed for posh tourists, given that the lift voices are in english!
In Lytham St. Annes in England there's a café that was made from a train
Coral Island in Blackpool in England has a great casino
hey austin this is guys
Cool
First!