Chinese automaker BYD will assemble electric buses in the central China city of Wuhan to win the local government's order for the vehicles, according to Chinese media.

The automaker's plan to build a 3 billion yuan plant (US$ 480 million) was disclosed after BYD chairman Wang Chuanfu met Wuhan city officials last week, reported a newspaper run by the city government.

The plant initially will build BYD's K9 electric bus with an annual output of 1,000 vehicles. Under a second phase, the plant will assemble BYD's other electric vehicles, according to the newspaper.

The report did not provide further details about the plant or its products.

Hangzhou will become the sixth city in China to land a BYD bus plant.

BYD builds K9 buses in the central China city of Changsha. It also has signed agreements with local governments to assemble the buses in Nanjing, Tianjin, Dalian and Hangzhou.

Chinese cities are reluctant to procure an automaker's EVs for their public transport fleets unless the vehicles are built locally.

BYD's K9 buses are 12m long and 2.5m wide. The vehicles, powered by the company's iron-phosphate batteries, have a range of 250 km and a maximum speed of 70 km per hour, according to BYD.

BYD, a private Chinese automaker partly owned by U.S. billionaire Warren Buffett, is headquartered in the south China city of Shenzhen and is listed on the Hong Kong and Shanghai stock exchanges. The company produces a mix of petrol-powered vehicles, plug-in hybrid cars and electric cars.