UN agency donates electric buses to the Beijing Olympics

To help China with its goal of hosting a "green olympics" the United Nations Development Program (UNDP) has donated four lithium ion battery-powered buses for the effort. That brings the total number of electric buses in the Olympic fleet to 50. They are said to be able to carry 80 people at a time at speeds of up to 50 mph.and have a range of about 80 miles with the air conditioning engaged.The electric buses will use a large station during the games for parking and transfers as well as maintenance and battery charging. No word was given of the recharge times although we estimate the battery packs themselves to hold 130Kwh of energy.
The official buses are painted blue and green with the Olympic logo and will shuttle athletes between the Olympic Village and the Olympic Sports Venues. After the two weeks of athletic contests are completed the vehicles will officially enter the Beijing transportation system where they can officially carry people quietly about the city for (hopefully) years to come.

[Source: Gasgoo / UNDP China]