Build Your Dream (BYD), has repealed its decision to push it’s electric vehicle launch in North America back. It has now been reset to its original launch time of next year.
The announcement that BYD’s electric vehicles would be back on schedule could have to do with the increasingly competitive electric car market. Most recently, the announcement of the Nissan Leaf with its 100-mile range and low price tag, has added to the mix of low price, long range electric vehicles coming into the US market in 2010.
The Chinese automaker has a few a aces up its sleeve coming into the electric vehicle market in that its backed by the Oracle of Omaha, Warren Buffet, and specializes in battery technology.
The first BYD all-electric vehicle expected to his the US market will be a five seat e6 crossover. Due to the BYD’s experience in battery technology, it is expected to an impressive range of 186 miles. While the cost is expected to be around $40,000, don’t expect to be picking one up anytime soon. Initial launch will see only a few hundred vehicles spread through select markets as well as to government agencies, utilities and some eco-friendly celebrities.
August 24th, 2009 at 8:59 am
Personally, I’m excited to see smaller businesses getting involved with electric cars. The big auto companies have dropped the ball pretty hard on electric cars, and they are too closely associated with oil companies. Take for example, GM. GM is finally coming out with the chevy volt soon, but it’s going to be too expensive for most people. Over a decade ago, GM built the GM EV-1, a 100% electric car that went over 100 miles on a charge. GM leased a few hundred of them (to the likes of danny devito, bill nye, among others), but then decided to not renew the lease, and drove them all to the desert and crushed them. GM then sold the patent to the NiMH batteries they were running on to Chevron, who has refused to let anyone else use those batteries in 100% electric cars. Now, auto manufacturers are stuck using lithium-ion batteries, which are MUCH more expensive, untested, and untried. To learn more about why electric vehicles are so important, and how they have been suppressed in the last decade, I recommend the book “Two Cents Per Mile” by Nevres Cefo, which you can check out at http://www.twocentspermile.com or read reviews and excerpts of on Amazon at http://www.bit.ly/2centspermile