Chinese Automaker Unveils First Electric Car

JuliusSu writes "A Chinese auto manufacturer, BYD, is introducing today the country's first electric car, a plug-in hybrid vehicle. It plans to sell at least 10,000 cars in 2009 for a price of less than $22,000. This put the company ahead of schedule against other entrants to this market, such as Toyota, due to release a similar car in late 2009; and GM, whose Chevy Volt will be launched in late 2010. The company is best known for making cellphone batteries, and hopes its expertise in ferrous battery technology will allow it to leapfrog established car manufacturers."

Comments

Re:I'll believe it when I see it

[DeadDecoy]

I kinda doubt Warren Buffett would invest in vaporware....

Bye, bye GM :)

[djupedal]

Detroit wasn't interested...someone had to get on with it.

GM killed electric trolley public transportation on the East Coast decades ago, pushing for city buses made by GMC that used internal combustion. The VOLT was promoted using jazzy images of impressive body lines that promoted interest, only to release a breadbox as the final design. GM doesn't want the VOLT to succeed, and now with their imminent demise, they may get their wish.

BYD will be in NA in short time, and more like them will follow. I wish them best of luck.

Re:Charging an electric car

[eln]

My understanding is that most (all?) of these plugin hybrids are being designed to fit a standard household electrical socket. I would think if you have a standard GFI outlet in your garage (and I think just about everyone does) you should be fine. Honestly, I don't see how these things would take off if they required rewiring your house just to be able to recharge them.

Re:I'll believe it when I see it

[DeadDecoy]

Well that was a complete non-sequitur and kinda rude. My point was that Warren Buffet (one of the richest men in the world) has made his fortune by investing in companies that actually turn a profit as opposed to typical speculation. Because of his past success and a 10% stake, there's a chance that the Chinese car is not vaporware.

Now your comment implies that I am somehow responsible for the current financial crisis either because I make speculative investments or take out/issue bad loans, perhaps based on what Warren Buffet does. Those implications aren't true, nor do they have any bearing on the comment I made. So, I can only assume you're trolling for easy mod points.

You should stop because it only makes you look like an idiot.

Your "American" car is full of Chinese stuff

[EmbeddedJanitor]

That high quality American car is packed to the gunnels with Chinese made parts, including engines.

About the only thing that is truely american is the arrogance.

Re:Your "American" car is full of Chinese stuff

[Anonymous Coward]

True, but don't underestimate the challenges involved in actually assembling a good-looking car that's safe and doesn't break.
Remember the Yugo? Remember how Hyundai was (until recently, anyway)? Hell, (if you're old enough) remember how the Japanese cars once were?

BYD has shown they know how to build laptop batteries. They may be able to scale it up to automobile level (although this is not trivial).
However, they have years to go before they are capable of building automobiles that can compete on safety, comfort and reliability against existing auto makers. They may get there eventually, if they survive that long (Hyundai did, Yugo didn't); however, it's definitely not going to be with their first car. This has nothing to do with being Chinese, and everything to do with being new to market. I wouldn't trust Tesla's first car either, although charging $100K each may give Tesla an advantage in that it can afford to do more over-engineering and cherry-pick good parts than BYD can at its price segment.

Re:Your "American" car is full of Chinese stuff

[MukiMuki]

It's packed with Chinese-made parts that have to adhere to American safety regulations.

Is this batch of 10,000 going to do the same?

It's a serious question, btw. At $22k a pop this could very well be the case.

Re:Your "American" car is full of Chinese stuff

[Grimbleton]

True, but don't underestimate the challenges involved in actually assembling a good-looking car that's safe and doesn't break.

Remember the Yugo? Remember how Hyundai was (until recently, anyway)?

Remember Chevy? Remember Ford?

Yeah.

good luck getting support

[SethJohnson]

A big challenge to any new player getting into the electro-auto market is dealer support. Where is someone supposed to get parts for this thing or a Tesla? Sure, an electric vehicle design should require less maintenance, but even components will need to be replaced due to accidents and road wear.

I've heard people say the auto bailout money should go to a start-up like Tesla. The problem with completely abandoning the American automakers and putting public funds behind a startup is that the big three already have huge infrastructure in place. They already understand production. Bless the hearts of those Tesla idealists, but they're going to spend a BUNCH of money developing dealerships, parts distribution, training mechanics & sales people. And until their production numbers get big, the deals they'll cut with suppliers won't be as profitable as the ones Ford/GM/Chrysler make with their suppliers thanks to the economies of scale they're working in.

I'm not saying there isn't a place for smaller companies to come in and fill a niche demand. But now isn't the time to abandon the American auto companies and watch them perish. If that happens, Toyota, Honda, and Hyundai will assist in a huge transfer of wealth overseas.

Seth

Re:People laughed about Japanese cars, too.

[drsquare]

Or there's the fourth, American kind: the highly paid, unskilled factory worker.