Will China’s BYD car maker put the final nail in the Big Three’s coffin
By Susan Wilson
Yet one more item in the American economy may have “made in China” stamped on its underside: the family car. A Chinese car manufacturer Build Your Dream (BYD) has created an affordable “duel-mode” car with great distance and a battery that doesn’t pollute.
According to EV World, BYD has three electric plug-in dual-mode vehicles in the works. At least one of those models will rival the Chevy Volt in size, but will go farther and cost less. The Volt will hit the market in 2010. The cheaper BYD vehicle is expected in 2011.
What makes the BYD so special is “ETpower”, the battery pack at the heart of its cars. This proprietary iron ferrous battery pack provides twice the power of NiMH batteries and is cheaper to produce. The battery pack contains no hazardous materials, “is thermally stable” and will go approximately 600,000 miles before it needs to be replaced. Since BYD makes the ETpower proprietary battery system, BYD appears to be holding the game changing piece of the puzzle of the future of the automobile.
The F3DM (F3Dual-Mode) sedan combines a gasoline powered generator coupled with the ETpower. This four passenger sedan is a range extended electric car. In electric-first driving mode, the car will travel 62 miles on electric power alone. After that first 62 miles, the electric generator kicks in and the car is able to go an additional 236 miles for a total of almost 300 miles.
The car has two charging ports. One charging port uses regular 110 volt household current and the second is a quick charge port that allows the car to be charged in about 10 minutes at a high voltage charging station.
Although the F3DM will not be released in the U.S. until 2011, it went on sale December 15, 2008 in China making it the first cheaply mass produced extended range electric car. By the time the car hits the American market most of the new car kinks will have been worked out.
A larger car, the F6Dm is already underway as are purely electric versions of both vehicles.
What should have the Big Three shaking in their boots is that the F3DM is selling for $22,000, much less than the Volt, and has attracted such big investors like Berkshire Hathaway.
As with so many things, the era of the cheap family sized electric car appears to be coming from China.
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Stumble It!
December 31st, 2008
While the BYD will provide very stiff competition for the Volt. Chinese cars have a pretty rotten reputation to overcome and the claim about a 600,000 mile battery and 10 minute recharge time, are both pure fiction. The battery pack, in fact will last about 1/2 as long as the Volt’s, which will last 10 plus years. And if the battery pack could be recharged in as little as 10 minutes, there would be little need for an EREV version. get your facts straight before publishing
your error -filled articles, please. This is embarrassing.
December 31st, 2008
As far as I know, the car will take 7 hours to recharge with a home power plug.
The battery can be charged half full with special high voltage station which you don’t find in your house.
January 2nd, 2009
The 600k miles is referring to the battery pack in the all electronic version F3E, not F3DM. F3E’s battery is three times bigger than F3DM. But F3E is not released yet.
Volt’s battery pack is based on inferior technology. Either LG or A123’s battery pack will be over-priced and less mature compared to BYD’s offerings. The game in EV or HEV is battery pack production quality, which BYD is undoubtedly leading the pack.