BYD e6
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How would you like an all-electric wagon with five seats, a rear liftgate, and 187 miles of EPA-rated range? Sounds pretty good, right? You'd think such a vehicle might sell well, since it would have more rated range than any other electric cars on the market except the Chevy Bolt EV and anything from Tesla. Well, such a car has been certified by the EPA for four separate model years, since 2012, but it's not formally on sale and you can't buy it. DON'T MISS: UberX Drivers To Test BYD e6 Chinese Electric Cars In Chicago (Mar 2015) The vehicle in question is the BYD e6, a Chinese-built...
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Who Sold The Most Plug-In Electric Cars In 2015? (It's Not Tesla Or Nissan)
Five years after the Nissan Leaf and Chevy Volt first went on sale, plug-in vehicles represent slightly less than 1 percent of U.S. new-car deliveries. With about 200,000 sold, the Leaf is the world's most popular electric car. But which carmaker sold the most cars with plugs last year, worldwide?...
John Voelcker -
UberX Drivers To Test BYD e6 Chinese Electric Cars In Chicago
The BYD e6 wagon is the battery-electric car that never quite made it onto the U.S. market. Despite various plans and announcements over the last five years, the e6 was never offered for retail sale in North America. Very quietly, that's now changing; the company hopes to lease around 200 BYD e6...
John Voelcker -
2016 BYD Tang: Plug-In Hybrid SUV Is First Of Four To Come
It's been more than six years since fabled investor Warren Buffet bought 10 percent of BYD Autos, one of the few independent Chinese automakers. At that time, the company had big plans to become China's largest producer of plug-in electric vehicles--and then export them to the U.S. DON'T MISS: BYD...
John Voelcker -
BYD's Rising Electric-Car Sales Swamped By Falling Gas Models
Chinese automaker BYD was the first car company in the world to put a plug-in hybrid passenger car into production, a couple of years before the Chevrolet Volt range-extended electric car hit the road. Despite several hybrid, plug-in hybrid, and battery-electric product lines, however, the vast...
John Voelcker -
BYD Plans Electric Supercar, More Powerful Plug-In Hybrid
BYD Auto hasn't been in the news much lately, but the largest privately-owned Chinese carmaker hasn't backed away from its ambitious plans. According to China Car Times, BYD will launch a new plug-in hybrid model next year, to be called the Tang, to be followed by an electric supercar. Both...
John Voelcker -
It might not be going on sale to U.S. consumers, but the BYD e6 will eventually appear in the U.S. in commercial fleets--perhaps to a taxi stand near you. Taxi duties seem to be the e6's true calling, and it's already operating in China in just such a role. Now it's going on duty in Hong Kong too, where pollution dogs the city's streets and the government is placing increased emphasis on cleaner, greener vehicles. The city announced plans late last year to curb pollution, with commercial vehicles in particular--unhindered by modern pollution standards--to blame for the city's choking smog...
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BYD e6 Chinese Electric Car Won't Be Sold To Consumers In U.S.
BYD, a company struggling to sell its e6 electric crossover in its home market, has decided it won't be sold at all to private customers in the U.S. Instead, says the ChinaEV blog, the e6 will be a fleet-only vehicle in the U.S, as the company instead concentrates on its electric bus sales in North...
Antony Ingram -
BYD To Build Only Electric Cars, End Production Of Gasoline Cars?
Chinese automaker BYD, or 'Build Your Dreams', could be on the verge of abandoning convenionally-fueled car production in favor of electric vehicles. Already known for electric vehicles like the e6 crossover, BYD is aiming for a "re-birth" plan to counter a recent slump in sales. Reuters reports...
Antony Ingram -
BYD e6 Electric Crossover Will Be London Taxi, Still MIA In U.S.
The city of London, England is set to have its first all-electric taxi fleet from the second quarter of 2013. Taxi company greentomatocars and Chinese carmaker BYD have signed a Memorandum of Understanding that will see greentomato cars running a fleet of 50 BYD e6 electric crossovers...
Antony Ingram -
High-Speed Impact, Not Batteries, To Blame In BYD Electric Car Fire
The post-impact electric-car fire which led to the death of three people in Shenzhen, China earlier this year was not caused by the car’s battery pack, crash investigators have concluded. The tragedy happened in May, when a BYD e6 all-electric taxi was hit early one morning by a speeding...
Nikki Gordon-Bloomfield -
BYD, China's Electric-Car Star, Faces Steeper Challenges
Chinese carmaker BYD is facing tough times ahead, following reports that its stock has fallen 43 percent since its February high. As China's figurehead for electric vehicles, BYD is best-known in the U.S. for its e6 electric crossover, and being part-owned by billionaire entrepreneur Warren...
Antony Ingram -
Over the weekend we heard the disturbing news that a BYD e6 electric taxi in Shenzhen China had burst into flames and killed three of its occupants after being hit by a speeding drunk driver. According to eyewitness reports, the BYD e6 taxi, one of around 400 e6 electric taxis being used in the area, was hit at around 3am on a popular downtown route by a Nissan GT-R driven by a drunk driver traveling at 112 mph or more. The impact was so great that the e6 was sent slamming into a tree, whereupon it burst into flames. ChinaAutoWeb says local television stations report its occupants, two women...
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Updated BYD e6: First Drive Of Chinese Electric Crossover
Most Chinese carmakers have backed away from plans to attack the U.S. market, and their hopes of dominating electric cars have slowed. But Chinese maker BYD continues to develop and test the e6 all-electric crossover utility it hopes to sell in the U.S. within a couple of years. Now, we've had the...
John Voelcker -
BYD e6 Electric Crossover: Now Coming In 2013, Fleets First
You don't hear as much worrying these days about the threat of Chinese automakers entering the U.S. market with inexpensive cars. Nor do you hear concerns over Chinese electric-car makers swamping sales of the Nissan Leaf and Chevy Volt, which have racked up more than 23,300 sales between them...
John Voelcker -
2011 Think City Lives On, Still On Sale In Chicago Alongside BYD e6
In June last year, Norwegian electric automaker Think filed for bankruptcy for the third time in its 20-year life. Since then, Think’s misfortunes have caused battery maker Ener1 to also declare bankruptcy while its own future is now in the automotive equivalent of limbo. In one small part of...
Nikki Gordon-Bloomfield -
BYD To California: You Don't Have Enough Electric Car Charging Stations
Over the years, we’ve heard lots of excuses from electric car companies as to why they’ve had to delay the launch of a car. Ranging from delays in the part supply through to last-minute improvements and modifications to comply with new regulations, we think we’ve heard them all...
Nikki Gordon-Bloomfield -
Hertz Says 'We Need More Electric Cars' After Year Of Rentals
Hertz has now been renting electric and plug-in cars for almost a year, and the company has learned some lessons along the way. Among them: "We need more electric cars!" Specifically, "We've got about 50 electric cars in our fleets now, and we could use another 2,000 to 3,000 if we could just get...
John Voelcker -
This year hasn’t been easy for Chinese automaker BYD, thanks to abysmal performance on the Chinese stock-market, accusations of copyright infringement and a launch schedule that it just can’t seem to keep to. But over the summer the automaker has been busy, trying to turn its reputation around and updating improving some of its vehicles in order to make them more appealing to both the Chinese domestic and U.S. markets. Among them is its E6 electric crossover. Currently only available to fleets -- where it has primarily been used as an electric Taxi -- the original BYD e6 hasn't...
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Is China Backing Away From Electric Vehicles?
(EDITOR'S NOTE: This article offers another look at China's evolving plans for electric cars, also covered last week: China's Electric Car Plans Unrealistic, Focus Now On Hybrids) China's ambitious goals for electrification of its automotive fleet call for 10 percent of the cars expected to be...
IEEE Spectrum -
China's Electric Car Plans Unrealistic, Focus Now On Hybrids
China appears to have abandoned its plans to gain an early advantage on Western carmakers by beating them to the market with mass-produced electric vehicles. As China develops more and more as a nation the demand for cars is increasing at a huge rate. The Chinese government had initially intended...
Antony Ingram -
BYD e6 Electric Crossover Won’t Be Here Until Mid-2012
We’ve known about Chinese firm BYD for some time now. In fact, its all-electric e6 was unveiled before the word Leaf became the name of an electric car. But despite unveiling a car long before many of its rivals, BYD won’t be bringing the e6 to the U.S. until the middle of next year. If...
Nikki Gordon-Bloomfield -
BYD Fails to Electrify Chinese Stock Market, Gets a Buffeting
Chinese electric car and battery firm Build Your Dreams (BYD) has announced that its Initial Public Offering (IPO) on the Shenzhen Stock Exchange raised just $219 million, 65% of what the Warren-Buffet backed firm had hoped to raise. But was the $177 million delta between the actual money raised...
Nikki Gordon-Bloomfield -
Can Small Electric Cars Cut It As Taxi Cabs? BYD Says Yes.
When you think of a Taxi, especially if you live in the U.S., you probably think of a Ford Crown Victoria. That stereotype holds true, especially in urban settings like Chicago, San Francisco, L.A. and New York. The problem with that is the lack of economy from those vehicles and the impact on the...
Jonathan McGrew