Instead of trying thread-hijack the Chevy Volt thread, I'll try to create a separate thread here. BYD Auto has the potential to be the first significant Chinese technology company, in that their technology is highly-regarded and used around the world. Haier's specialty is converting niche-markets to mass markets with their cost advantage, and Lenovo's ruined the Thinkpad, check the build on the T61.
BYD started out as a battery maker and continues to control around 33% of the Li-on battery market. Their founder got it into his head to get into the electric car business, and they bought out defunct Chinese automakers. Starting with Toyota knockoffs, they eventually migrated over into Toyota knockoffs with electric batteries. Their present technology uses a relatively unique Li-on Iron Phosphate technology, which is safer than conventional Li-on batteries, but has lower energy capacity. The Chevy Volt's rejected the Iron Phosphate technology from A123 and opted for more dangerous and higher-capacity batteries, expecting to work out the safety issues between now and 2010.
Currently, the hybrid electrics BYD Auto is producing is limited to the F3DM. It's a small car, but it's the only mass-market plug-in electric on the market. BYD Auto is also supposed to come out with a F6DM model, a larger version of the F3DM, but I haven't heard a word about it in the English-language press for a while. BYD is also planning to produce a pure electric called the E6.
I'm just curious, if anyone has any information on these topics, could you please post them here on the thread? Right now, I'm interested in reviews for the F3DM; while the technology is groundbreaking, I don't think any Western reviewers have been able to evaluate it, its safety features, and its vehicle performance (supposedly 12 seconds from 0 to 60). I'm also interested in international expansion plans, which I'm told consist of introducing the larger F6DM to international markets, the progress of the E6 pure electric sedan, and BYD's future battery technologies. I don't think I've mentioned this yet, but BYD's vehicles deep-cycle their batteries, severely impacting their lifespan. It means that BYD's vehicles get 150% the range of the promised Chevy Volt, but it also means that the batteries have to be replaced around 6 years into their lifespan, assuming daily use. This may seem like an unacceptable proposition for the average consumer, but first, in its home market, the average usage life of vehicles is 5 years. It's not bad. Second, electric vehicles are a growth field. ICEs have been around for ages and new improvements to the technology are slow and laborous. Since electric vehicles are an untapped field, improvements to the technology will come faster, and consumers will be less outraged at upgrading their batteries than they would be at replacing their batteries.
BYD started out as a battery maker and continues to control around 33% of the Li-on battery market. Their founder got it into his head to get into the electric car business, and they bought out defunct Chinese automakers. Starting with Toyota knockoffs, they eventually migrated over into Toyota knockoffs with electric batteries. Their present technology uses a relatively unique Li-on Iron Phosphate technology, which is safer than conventional Li-on batteries, but has lower energy capacity. The Chevy Volt's rejected the Iron Phosphate technology from A123 and opted for more dangerous and higher-capacity batteries, expecting to work out the safety issues between now and 2010.
Currently, the hybrid electrics BYD Auto is producing is limited to the F3DM. It's a small car, but it's the only mass-market plug-in electric on the market. BYD Auto is also supposed to come out with a F6DM model, a larger version of the F3DM, but I haven't heard a word about it in the English-language press for a while. BYD is also planning to produce a pure electric called the E6.
I'm just curious, if anyone has any information on these topics, could you please post them here on the thread? Right now, I'm interested in reviews for the F3DM; while the technology is groundbreaking, I don't think any Western reviewers have been able to evaluate it, its safety features, and its vehicle performance (supposedly 12 seconds from 0 to 60). I'm also interested in international expansion plans, which I'm told consist of introducing the larger F6DM to international markets, the progress of the E6 pure electric sedan, and BYD's future battery technologies. I don't think I've mentioned this yet, but BYD's vehicles deep-cycle their batteries, severely impacting their lifespan. It means that BYD's vehicles get 150% the range of the promised Chevy Volt, but it also means that the batteries have to be replaced around 6 years into their lifespan, assuming daily use. This may seem like an unacceptable proposition for the average consumer, but first, in its home market, the average usage life of vehicles is 5 years. It's not bad. Second, electric vehicles are a growth field. ICEs have been around for ages and new improvements to the technology are slow and laborous. Since electric vehicles are an untapped field, improvements to the technology will come faster, and consumers will be less outraged at upgrading their batteries than they would be at replacing their batteries.
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