Made in China: A plug-in hybrid for the masses
The F3DM is based on BYD's F3 (shown here). While it may look generic, the car's technology as a plug-in is innovative.
(Credit: BYD Auto)BYD Auto's plug-in hybrid electric vehicle, the F3DM, is now on sale in China, the company announced this week at a press conference in Shenzhen, China.
The F3DM, which will retail for 149,800 yuan ($21,200), can travel 100 km (63 miles) on its battery before needing to be recharged, according to BYD Auto.
The car can be plugged in to any average Chinese 220-volt wall outlet to be recharged.
While there are other plug-in electric hybrid cars available for sale, BYD Auto's F3DM is the first one in China to be mass-produced and, therefore, widely available to the general public, according to both BYD and The Wall Street Journal.
BYD Auto told reporters at the press conference that it expects to sell 350,000 F3DM cars in 2009. It also plans to launch an all-electric vehicle in 2009.
BYD Auto is not 100 percent Chinese-owned.
In September, Berkshire Hathaway CEO Warren Buffet announced that MidAmerican Energy Holdings Company, a Berkshire Hathaway subsidiary, had bought $230 million worth of stock in BYD, giving it a 10 percent interest in the company.
Average Americans may also soon have a chance to buy a piece of BYD. The company also announced that it plans to begin exporting the F3DM to the U.S. in 2010.
Many automakers, including General Motors and Toyota, have been working on plug-in electric vehicles for mass production. All have said that the battery technology for this type of vehicle has been the most challenging aspect of the development process.
It should be no surprise then, that the Shenzhen, China-based company which is now a major player in the Chinese auto industry, started out in 1995 as a cell phone battery manufacturer.
Despite the obvious economic crises faced by many automakers, 2008 has also been a year of innovative firsts finally being brought to the mass market.
In June, Honda began selling the FCX Clarity, the first commercial production car to run on electricity from a fuel cell battery powered by hydrogen fuel. While not truly available for mass consumption, the car is available for lease in parts of California and Japan.
This year also ushered in the birth of the first chain of electric battery exchange stations. Better Place signed deals with Australia, the California Bay Area, Hawaii, and Japan to build stations where electric vehicles could stop to swap drained car batteries for fully charged ones.
In a software-driven world, it's easy to forget about the nuts and bolts. Whether it's cars, robots, personal gadgetry or industrial machines, Candace Lombardi examines the moving parts that keep our world rotating. A journalist who divides her time between the United States and the United Kingdom, Lombardi has written about technology for the sites of The New York Times, CNET, USA Today, MSN, ZDNet, Silicon.com, and GameSpot. E-mail her at candacelombardi@gmail.com. She is a member of the CNET Blog Network and is not a current employee of CNET. 
From what I've gleaned, Honda it is doing so in the same way GM did the EV1 - Honda maintains sole ownership of all the vehicles, and will only permit anyone people to drive them within the terms of a lease contract - at the termination of the lease, there is no ownership option, Honda retains full rights to collect them back.
GM did this with the EV1, and when the leases were up, they took every one of them back - and destroyed them. I mention this, because leasing a vehicle under terms of contract similar to this is far different than my lease on my Hyunday Sonata, which has an attractive purchase offer at the end, or should I choose not to, the dealer essentially puts it on a lot for sale to someone else. These leases are not intended to end in sales as far as we currently know, even extrapolating time out past the lease period.
This kind of vehicle should be more usable in US, with easy charging in the family garage. Most people live in apartments in China with street parking or shared public parking, so I wonder how they charge.
It is a shame that Volt is taking so long to develop, costing so much, and with GM in trouble, it will probably take even longer. If Volt costs $20K (like F3DM), it will be a huge hit. At 40K, it is just waiting for the Chinese makers to eat its pie like what the Japanese did 30 years ago.
- by matthewbulat January 4, 2009 8:48 PM PST
- This car would suit most people in urban areas. The running costs of electric cars is still much less than petrol. I have made an online calculator to work out the savings at http://www.matthewb.id.au/media/Electric_Vehicle_Calculator.html It can work with gallons or liters. Compare your current car against current electric or plug in hybrids cars that predominately use electricity . Fuel costs can exceed the purchase price of the petrol car over time.
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