Without any explanation, the BYD company in China, which released the F3DM plug-in hybrid to Chinese customers a couple of weeks ago, has no announced that they will be waiting an extra year to release the car to North America. So you won’t see the F3DM that Warren Buffet owns 10% of until 2011.
No reason was given, but it’s not hard to make a guess. The slack automobile market, lower oil prices, and a general economic slump are pretty easy to point towards. Meanwhile, the Asian market will be eating this one up to maturity for us. So maybe this is a good thing.
Well, it’s the end of the year, so it’s time for everyone to start rolling out their favorites lists and summing up what they saw during the year. This is our top five favorite electric cars that are either on the market or will be before 2010.
While this car has some drawbacks, namely the price tag, it’s got a lot going for it: great styling, beautiful concept, and a well-put-together package of performance and practicality. I really like this car and hope that other car makers stand up and notice it.
Although the car’s looks aren’t all that breakthrough and it’s definitely not getting the kind of publicity that the Chevy Volt and similar cars are getting, I feel that this car is probably the most innovative design to hit the roads so far. Released in limited numbers for testing to Hollywood celebrities and mogul types this summer, the car is quietly revolutionizing how people think about energy. If the car had been designed to look a little cooler, it might have made number one.
This is, design-wise, easily the most innovative car yet. Due to hit the roads soon, this car has all kinds of great things going for it. The hybrid version gets great mileage and is capable of long distances while the EV is practical enough to be useful. Either way, the aircraft design elements in this car make it extremely unique. That’s coming from me, who generally doesn’t like trikes.
This car and its design (as well as Tesla themselves) have had some real ups and downs this year: from Tesla claiming they’ll have the sedan model out in 2010 with a new factory to boot to their claim a couple of months later that they’re going bankrupt and need government money. The year for Tesla has been rocky at best. Still, this car is the benchmark to which almost all electrics are compared. That despite the exorbitant price tag the Roadster sports.
OK, not the most stylish or even innovative car out there, it’s still hitting the roads faster than most. Leave it to the Chinese to take a concept like “electric car” and make it affordable through mass production. I hope to see these on the road here in America on their promised 2010 release date. Meanwhile, we can watch the other side of the world drive them for a while. Work out the kinks for us, will ya?
There were others I wanted to put on this list, but most were either too far out to make the 2010 release or were just not quite good enough to really be counted. Even though electric vehicles are still considered “cutting edge,” there’s enough of them out there now and a long enough history that many “new” designs are really just rehashes of old ideas and a lot of “breakthroughs” just don’t give you the “wow” factor anymore.
The BYD F3DM unveiled at the 2008 Geneva International Motor Show.
BYD Auto is now selling the world’s first mass-produced plug-in hybrid. Designated the F3DM, the car is based on their popular F3 model (which looks roughly like a Toyota Prius and a Hyundai mashed together), the “DM” meaning “Dual Mode.”
Unveiling the new car at the 2008 Geneva International Motor Show, the car is set to hit show rooms at the end of November: in China. Don’t expect world-wide acceptance of this car anytime soon.
Why not? I mean, it’s a plug-in hybrid, the thing we’ve all been begging for. Right? Well, ya, but it’s made in China and Chinese cars have a reputation for being low on safety standards. In 2007, the third major crash test of a Chinese-made vehicle showed horrifying results—the crash-test dummy was so embedded in the wreckage that they had to cut it into pieces to remove it. Not good. See the video:
Recent crash tests of the F3 (called the EuroNCAP model) showed much better results, though only doing “fair” on the test. That’s still a big step up. One caveat, though: that test was on a EuroNCAP model, not the standard for-sale-in-China model F3 this new PIHV is based on. So again, don’t expect this car to export anytime soon. Here’s a video of the recent crash test:
Europe is downright fast and loose with their crash test allowances when compared with North America. The U.S.A. and Canada have much more stringent rules, which means even less chance the F3DM will ever be seen here.
On the other side of the coin, BYD is becoming a bigger player in the world market thanks to recent innovations and some very impressive R&D ideas and testing, especially with their “F6DM” research, which is showing promise. This is a hybrid-electric car in which the non-electric component is hydrogen-based, not gasoline-based. Don’t expect to see those on the road soon, if at all, but the development is what matters.
BYD F6DM on display at 2008 Detroit Auto Show.
Now consider that the MidAmerica Energy Holdings Company (a subsidiary of Berkshire Hathaway—that’s Warren Buffet) invested 1.8 billion HK dollars (about $230 million USD) at the end of September, gaining a 10% hold on BYD. MAEH is a very conservative investor and this kind of money shows that they’re interested in BYD and, most probably, the Chinese auto market as a whole. Statements at the press conference to announce this investment were very green-centric, touting BYD’s investments in future technologies developments as a major factor in the investment decision.
The F3DM has some impressive numbers, though no third-party verification has been made. These include a 70 mile range per charge before the engine kicks in. The price tag for this car is about $22k USD and the sedan model, which debuted in the Detroit Auto Show, will hit the market at the same time for a few dollars more. The company has voiced hopes to sell the cars in Europe and the US by 2010, but no firm dates are set.
BYD itself is more than a car manufacturer (having only made cars for four years now), claiming to supply 65% of the world’s nickel-cadmium batteries and 30% of its Li-Ion mobile phone batteries. The BYD name stands for “Build Your Dreams.”
Perhaps, by building the F3DM and getting it to market first, even if it’s only in China, BYD has lived up to its name. At the very least, they’ll go down in history as the first major manufacturer to put a plug-in hybrid to market.
When Warren Buffett buys stuff, people pay attention. Mr. Buffett, one of the richest men in the world, has the ability to move markets with his huge purchases - and it looks like he’s poised to influence another market - batteries for electric cars.
Mr. Buffett announced on Monday that he had agreed to buy a 9.89 percent stake in a Chinese battery manufacturer that plans to sell electric cars in the United States by 2010.
The MidAmerican Energy Holdings Company, which Mr. Buffett has an 87.4% stake, has announced that it will pay 1.8 billion Hong Kong dollars — or about $230 million — for the stake in the BYD Company, a Shenzen-based battery maker.
The president of BYD, Wang Chuanfu, said that the alliance with Mr. Buffett was not just about raising capital for the manufacturer, which relies heavily on short-term debt.
“If BYD were to enter the North American market, Mr. Buffett’s investment would enhance the BYD brand name,” Mr. Wang said at a news conference in Hong Kong late Monday.
He added that BYD would sell cars in the United States and might even move up its plans for entering the market in 2010, by using Berkshire’s money to accelerate research.
Mr. Buffett’s bet on battery technology is a strong indication that the electric vehicle market is set to explode over the next few years.
