BYD Gets Record Setting Order Of EVs

BYD, maker of electric cars, buses, and taxis, has received a company record order of 3,000 EVs from Hangzhou, a Chinese city with a population of some 2.5 million people.

Hangzhou is located 110 miles southwest of Shanghai, and its 2.5 million peoplewill certainly make good use of the EVs supplied by BYD. China has been moving to increase ownership of EVs due to serious environmental concerns over sun-hiding smog that is causing a huge number of health problems.

BYD Auto was founded in 2003 and began production of their fully electric vehicles in 2008. The decision to dip into the EV market was initially a good choice for BYD, attracting a $230 million invest by none other thanWarren Buffet. By 2009 the six year old company had already sold over 448,400 cars in China and began exporting cars to Africa, South American, and the Middle East.

In its home market, however, BYD has faced a skeptical Chinese public kept at bay by high costs and a lack of charging infrastructure. Increased benefits from the government and investment by private enterprisescould tip the tide in favor of EVs though. China would certainly benefit from some zero emissions vehicles.

Source: Autoblog Green

BYD Denza Finally Debuts In Production Guise

Born from a union of Germany’s Daimler and China’s BYD, the importance of the BYD Denza to China’s EV future cannot be understated. The nearly $60,000 Denza may not be pretty, and its range may not be all that impressive, and it could take more than a day to fully charge but…uh…yeah, why am I impressed with this car again?

Oh right. I’m not. Granted, the 15 to 180 miles of rated driving range is about twice that of the Nissan Leaf, but those numbers can be fudged depending on the testing cycle and favorable conditions. What can’t possibly be sugarcoated is the 15 hours it takes to recharged the Denza from a public charging network that has yet to be built. Want to plug it in at home? Prepare to wait as long as 32 hours for a full battery. Even if you only need a half-charge, you’re talking about 16 hours just to top off.

Just a reminder, this is a $60,000 vehicle built by the owners of Mercedes and one of Warren Buffett’s darling green investments. Really? This is the best they can do?

While government subsidies could whack as much as $19,000 off the MSRP, even the most devout EV advocate has to admit that this vehicle is all but impractical for the lives of everybody but shut-ins. With the Tesla Model S beginning sales through its Hong Kong store last week, methinks this overpriced BYD EV is DOA.

Maybe they should stick to hybrids instead.

Source: Automotive News

Chinese Automaker BYD Could Go All Electric And Hybrid

Imagine if an American automaker like Chrysler announced that in two years time, it would cease building any car powered solely by gas engines. That would be quite the shocker, wouldn’t it? Well a new report suggests that Chinese automaker BYD, which is mostly owned by U.S. investor Warren Buffett, could produce only electric and hybrid vehicles within two years.

The move comes as BYD stock sank about 75% in the past year, as sales of green cars have not panned out as hoped. BYD sold just 458,000 vehicles in 2012, despite having an annual production capacity of 700,000 units a year. BYD’s first all-electric car, the F3DM, sold less than 2,300 units through the end of 2012.

BYD is one of the larger Chinese automakers, but it is not even on the same playing field as say, GM or Ford. Still, going all-green is a big risk, especially as Chinese consumers have been wary of buying hybrid or pure-electric vehicles despite generous government subsidies. BYD has managed to sell a fair amount of hybrids and EVs to local governments, but not nearly enough to keep the company viable.

But with their stock plummeting in value, BYD executives need to make a drastic about-face to save the company. Could the all-green lineup save BYD, or ultimately doom it?

 Source: Reuters

BYD Readies Electric Car Dealers for Late 2011 U.S. Launch

BYD e6 Electric Vehicle









The next big thing in the automobile industry is off to a small start in Glendale.

Chinese carmaker BYD Co. is using a Brand Boulevard dealership to help launch its American sales effort. For several months a handful of BYD workers have occupied an office off the showroom of Cars 911 at 400 S. Brand Blvd. They’re planning the North American debut of the company’s all-electric and gas-sipping economy cars.

The team also has been servicing a fleet of 10 BYD vehicles leased to the Housing Authority of Los Angeles.

Bill Wang, a business development manager in Glendale, said BYD has lined up about 10 dealerships across the country for fleet and consumer sales slated to begin in late 2011 and early 2012.

Michael Austin, Chicago-based vice president of BYD America, credited Onnik Mehrabian, owner of the Cars 911 lot, for welcoming his operation.

“Onnik’s a great corporate citizen,” Austin said. “He was willing to let us train our technicians and service the vehicles there.”

Mehrabian has expressed an interest in hosting a BYD dealership in Glendale, according to Cars 911 lot manager Patrick Shah. Austin said it is too early to comment on whether that will happen.

Mehrabian could not be reached for comment.

Meanwhile, BYD — fourth-largest carmaker in China — is building its North American headquarters on Figueroa Street downtown, using several alternative-energy and energy-saving features.

Despite a rough fourth quarter — a 94% drop in profits off of slumping sales in China — the company is staging an aggressive effort to enter the U.S. market. It also has a high-profile investor in Warren Buffett.

Austin said the company decided to establish headquarters in L.A. because of the city’s glamorous reputation in China, and because it’s a good place to launch a green technology business. BYD hopes to sell as many as 20,000 cars in the U.S. next year, about 4% of what it sold in China last year, he added.

The company’s all-electric E-6 can go nearly 200 miles without a charge and will sell for about the same price as a Nissan Leaf, Austin said. A new Leaf retails for roughly $32,000.

But breaking into the American market might not be easy.

“The paradigm of driving a Chinese car in the U.S. is going to be hard to break,” Austin said.

But he said Kia and Hyundai have proven that Americans will take to new makes and models, adding that high gasoline prices were stoking consumer interest.

“The American public has been tolerant through several entrances, and we are hopeful they are just as tolerant with us,” he said.



Source: Glendale News Press

BYD Abandons F3e Battery Electric Vehicle

The BYD e6 Electric Vehicle








BYD has decided not to put the F3e EV into production due to the lack of an enabling environment for electric cars in China, according to a report in China Business News which cited Wang Jianjun, deputy general manager of BYD Automotive Sales Co Ltd.

The Shenzhen-based automaker was initially engaged in development of all-electric vehicles, but changed its mind after a market investigation and consultation with the dealers for everyone thought there were still problems with the supporting infrastructure and market environment at the moment and what the company needed were transitional products. It therefore created the F3DM, a plug-in hybrid compact sedan, Wan said.

BYD Co, backed by US billionaire Warren Buffet, also established three charging stations as part of a pilot program in Shenzhen in 2007. Ia Hipping, general manager of BYD Automotive Sales Co Ltd. said then commercial production of the F3E would be achieved in three years and the price would be controlled below 150,000 yuan ($22,400). However, the BYD F3DM was somehow launched first in December 2008 and the F3e was abandoned, and the reason is just as Wan said—a problem of ancillary environment. It is infeasible to extensively promote all-electric vehicles before the supporting infrastructure is well improved in the country.