BYD will show off electric or plug-in car at Buffet's meeting
Click above for high-res image gallery of the BYD e6
In September 2008, Warren Buffett's holding company bought a ten percent stake in Chinese automaker BYD. BYD, which stands for Build Your Dreams, has been moving forward with electric drive vehicle and lithium ion battery development, beating American and Japanese rivals to market with a plug-in hybrid. It's these eco-technologies that attracted Buffett's company in the first place. Now, BYD said it will show off its cars in the U.S. in May at Buffett's general shareholder meeting in Omaha. BYD will display either the F3DM (a plug-in hybrid, seen in the gallery below) or the E6 (an elecric vehicle with a 250-mile range, above) at the event. The F3DM has been on sale in China since December. BYD also displayed its cars at the Detroit Auto Show this past January.
Gallery: Detroit 2009: BYD F6DM and F3DM
[Source: News.cn]
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
jharlan 7:15PM (3/30/2009)
Late again! We just can't seem to get it done. Even the Chinese are kicking our ass. When is the Volt due?
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Yikes 9:24AM (3/31/2009)
I think by the time the Volt hits the market, public reaction will be. How nice to see GM FINALLY building a plug-in like everyone else.
scammer-killer 8:18PM (3/30/2009)
The chinese are on a roll. They know what they're doing. I just hope their vehicles have some quality to them. I'm not looking for anything "audi-esque". But ford/gm quality would be nice.
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NeilBlanchard 10:29PM (3/30/2009)
Hiya,
The e6 looks pretty good -- I wonder what the Cd is? The roof in the rear could be sloped down a bit more, but the nose appears to only have a small inlet (below the bumper) -- I wonder what it is for? Air vent, or A/C cooler?
The weight is pretty steep (~2,020-2,550KG = 4,454-5,622 lbs) -- the batteries certainly do weigh a lot!
Neil
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olhat 10:40PM (3/30/2009)
They have been selling (according to their own statements and press releases) their plug-in for more than a quarter now but no official sales numbers have come out. Every other model has been accounted with the exact number.
When I deducted the number of all other models sold by BYD from their total number of registrations for February I ended up with 3 (three) cars not accounted for. These might be the F3 DM total number of registrations or maybe I made a mistake in my calculations.
Anyhow, the Chinese registration statistics that are publicized in papers account even for slow sellers like Prius around fifty vehicles last month. The F3 DM does not show there. My guess is that they do not actually have any battery driven cars production ready, these vehicles doing the rounds in the exhibition circuit are only there to drive up the sales of their ordinary gas powered cars, phone batteries and such.
It has not been test-driven on public roads by any journalists. The only test drive I know of is of some Business Week reporter driving it in the factory yard. So, if this car is in mass production even in limited numbers they must have a really really perfect way of hiding them. But why would anybody in their right mind do that?
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Nick 11:36PM (3/30/2009)
Thanks for doing all that research. It definitely sounds fishy, I haven't even been able to see more than a couple videos of it in action.
Throwback 10:57AM (3/31/2009)
Good investigative work. I was curios if anyone has driven one of these "production" vehicles. Can't wait to see what they show Buffet in May.
Epyx 11:34AM (3/31/2009)
Cool, Ill be at the BH annual meeting this year. Cant wait to see this exhibit and buy some new Ginsu Knives! (another WB holding)
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Bill 11:46PM (4/02/2009)
BYD makes some amazing claims for their batteries.
Wait until someone else confirms them.
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shihan 9:40PM (4/18/2009)
hey guys, I just found a test driving article of F3DM, in Chinese
http://club.bydauto.com.cn/bbs/read.php?tid-234907.html
you can translate this webpage into English by using the the google translator.
The tanslation is not perfect, but by using some guessing you can get the general idea. :)
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Pandora 12:50AM (7/31/2009)
I would not say we are behind the Chinese in building vehicles with such modern technology........they're stealing all their advances from the West. Pale immitation is all they are good for. I for one would never even consider these vehicles as a purchase. I'd rather pay more for one made in the West, at least I know that I am getting a quality product.
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