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More Mixed Messages From BYD, Claims E6 is U.S. Safety Ready

 
2,551 views May 19, 2010
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BYD e6

BYD e6

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Chinese battery firm and electric car company Build Your Dreams (BYD) have claimed their E6 all electric crossover SUV is ready for the U.S. market.  Following tightly behind an announcement at the start of May that BYD were opening a U.S. sales headquarters in Los Angeles, BYD public relation manager Du Guozhong has claimed the E6 has passed all necessary safety tests required to enable it to be sold in the U.S. market.

According to a report by Chinese website People's Daily Online, BYD are aiming to sell the five seat EV for around $40,000 and have conduced thorough safety testing on both batteries and car to enable it to be legally sold in the U.S.

Warren Buffett

Warren Buffett

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Backed by American businessman Warren Buffet, BYD have big ambitions on the number of vehicles they will sell. But in China the company have struggled in the past to achieve their ambitious sales estimates. In the eight months to September 2009, BYD sold less than 100 of the F3DM sedan, which uses a range extending engine similar to that used in the 2011 Chevrolet Volt. It had hoped to sell several thousands in that period.

While BYD have hopes to be the world's largest automaker by 2025 and have recently signed a deals to work alongside both Daimler AG and Volkswagen to produce electric cars for the Chinese market, the messages from company executives concerning the planned production of their electric vehicle have been mixed.

In March 2010 Bloomberg reported that BYD were planning to scale back their production plans for the E6, deciding instead to produce 100 E6s to be used as taxis in the Chinese city of Shenzhen, where BYD are based.

2010 Detroit Auto Show

2010 Detroit Auto Show

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BYD have previously set and missed their own deadlines for the introduction of the E6 into the U.S. market. Combine this with BYD's admissions that it likes to copy what other companies are doing rather than innovate for itself BYD's claimed position could seem suspect.

According to Chinese car news site Gasgoo.com, the E6, which shares a similar styling to the 2011 Ford Edge, has a claimed range of 185 miles and a top speed of 86 mph. While the range is more than impressive when compared to other electric cars reaching the market this year, the E6's top speed is a little close to freeway speed limits for comfort. Other sources cite the top speed and range closer to 140 miles per hour and 250 miles per charge.

While the E6 is an impressive sounding vehicle, BYD have yet to offer many test drives to either the public or auto journalists. Until that happens, many will remain skeptical about BYD's latest announcement, given their past track record.

[People's Daily Online]





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Comments (12)

  1. By Chris O Posted: 5/19/2010 12:38pm PDT

    Maybe it's time to face the facts: BYD's EV program is a basically a scam, aimed at attracting investments from the likes of Buffett and boosting stockprices with press releases and a show tour of (DIY grade) prototypes. Realistically: if the F3DM had really been in "mass production"as announced it would have sold by the thousands by now or there would be parking lots full of unsold specimens. There is no evidence of either, in fact I wonder if there is evidence of a single car produced besides a handful of prototypes (why produce a mere 100 of them?). Reporters who drove it (at driveway speeds) called the F6 a half baked car and even if BYD ever gets the technology right (by retro engineering a Leaf? Not impossible, retro engineering is BYD's strong suit...) and manages to mass produce it, who would pay $40K for this unproven Chinese contraption if a serious EV like the Nissan Leaf is available for far less money?
     
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  2. By Noel Park Posted: 5/19/2010 12:57pm PDT

    I for one am in no hurry for BYD and its Chinese compatriots to show up here. Unless we suddenly realize where our own enlightened self interest lies, as the Japanese so clearly do, BYD, et al, will drive the final nails into the coffin of the U.S. domestic auto industry, IMHO.
     
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  3. By Noel Park Posted: 5/19/2010 1:02pm PDT

    Chris O, #1 - Short term, I agree. Long term, if we give them unfettered access to our markets and buy their (eventually) cheap products, they will become a menace IMHO.
     
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  4. By Desertstraw Posted: 5/19/2010 1:17pm PDT

    Electric Taxis Hit Roads In South China City
    SHENZHEN, May 17 (Bernama) -- Some forty electric taxis or known as E6 cars ET (environment technology) began its operation here on Monday, is expected to be environment friendly, Chief Executive of BYD Wang Chuanfu said.
    BYD is the manufacture of the electric taxis.
    Believed to be the first to go into service in China, the E6 cars batteries give off zero emissions and cause no harm to the environment, Wang said, reports Xinhua news agency.
     
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  5. By Chris O Posted: 5/19/2010 2:01pm PDT

    Noel Park: I wouldn't worry about the Chinese too much. Well actually I would, but not about their car industry. They have tried to peddle some of their contraptions in Europe, but so far the only success these vehicles had was on YouTube starring in amusing recordings of catastrophic failures in crash tests. Chinese cars are not cheap. It's just not much product for not much money which isn't the same thing. By the time they get the quality, design, brand appeal, and safety right, paid the ferry man for hauling them across the ocean and paid the import taxes they won't be that competitive anymore. Unless they manage to bring something new to the market which is unlikely for an economy that relies heavily on photocopiers and industrial espionage for new ideas. I guess that's why their EV's are not working out...
     
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  6. By B-Man Posted: 5/19/2010 9:11pm PDT

    The BYD CEO is phenomenally smart and BYD will succeed. To sit here sucking on sour apples and praising what the U.S. produces, companies like Chrysler and GM, is not only retarded it's just plain fruitless as well. The future is all-electric and BYD is there, with a regular learning curve, which they will apply themselves to like ants in spring. They're not only on the way they're here, eco car-freaks.
     
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  7. By Chris O Posted: 5/20/2010 3:36am PDT

    I wouldn't deny that BYD's CEO Wang Chuan-Fu is a pretty clever guy. After all he is the richest man in china and Buffett made well over a billion on his share in BYD. Problem is though that his company is basically another gunman at the economic frontier that is China. It's success depends on retro engineering, substituting automated production methods for huge amounts of underpaid labour, abusive business practices and the already mentioned fraudulent claims about new energy vehicles that never materialise and that probably need to create an impression of a company that is looking towards the future rather than the opportunist racketeers they really are. Wang claims he will be the biggest carmaker in the world in 15 years. looking at his businessmodel I reckon it's a lot more likely that this company won't exist any more by that time once china's economic frontier days are over and consolidation sets in.
     
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  8. By Desertstraw Posted: 5/20/2010 4:51am PDT

    More BYD electric cars being put in service. They are on the street before the Nissan Leaf and Chevy Volt.
    http://www.businessweek.com/news/2010-05-20/byd-plans-to-deliver-560-electric-cars-to-shenzhen-taxi-fleet.html
     
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  9. By Chris O Posted: 5/23/2010 8:17am PDT

    Nissan has production capacity in place for 50K Leaf's per year soon to be ramped up to 200K units; GM is building capacity for 60K Volts. BYD: a couple of dozen E6 taxi's which are apparently on the street now and talk about a couple of hundred more vehicles, but what about serious mass production?
     
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  10. By B-Man Posted: 5/23/2010 10:29am PDT

    I agree, the onus is on BYD to show they can really mass produce all-electric cars and then be good boys and girls and lower e6 prices as a result. Eh?
     
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  11. By Inst Posted: 5/29/2010 7:06am PDT

    Chris O: BYD has been a consistent disappointment, but I wouldn't call them a scam. They're very adept in battery manufacturing, although a lot of it is based on manufacturing process innovation (adapting capital-intensive production to labor-intensive production to reduce costs. It's not as easy as it looks, machines are in fact a lot better than humans for precision production).
     
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  12. By pat255 Posted: 5/30/2010 8:12am PDT

    Folks in US should not buy BYD crap from China ...I will not buy it no matter what OR how cheap it is ...Buy US made products only ..even if it costs few $$ extra ..
     
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