China
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Sometimes Twitter is pretty wonderful. Amidst all the fluff and links and LOLs, some real gems can land. We honestly don't recall who first alerted us to an article about Chinese electric-car maker BYD from Caixin Online, but we thank you. It's an excellent article, and highly worth reading top to bottom. With the delightful title of "How Manufacturing's Mockingbird Sings," the lengthy article lays out BYD's early history and its business plan for both its battery-cell and automobile arms. Focus, brazenness, precision It's simple: Copy, copy, copy. The article hones in on BYD's "focus...
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2010 Detroit Auto Show: Chinese BYD e6 Electric Crossover To Come To U.S.Nearing the end of our 2010 Detroit Auto Show coverage brings us to a vehicle that got a lot of media attention, though it's unclear when it will actually arrive in the U.S. That's the BYD e6 electric crossover, which could become the first Chinese vehicle sold in the U.S. The crisply styled...
John Voelcker -
U.S. and China Announce Joint Electric Vehicles Initiative
President Obama and Chinese President, Hu Jintao, couldn't agree on everything when they met on Monday. In a town hall meeting, Obama pressed the Chinese to relax stringent government controls on their citizens' Internet usage. A Chinese blogger later claimed that a transcript of the meeting was...
Robert Scardino -
Surprise, Surprise: That GM Plug-In Hybrid Is a Buick After All
Well, the other shoe finally dropped. General Motors said today that the plug-in version of its Two-Mode Hybrid system would be fitted to a Buick crossover to be introduced next year, with the plug-in arriving in 2011. That'll be at least a few months after the arrival of the 2011 Chevrolet Volt...
John Voelcker -
BREAKING: Cash for Clunkers Passed By Senate
All that's left now is for President Barack Obama to sign the bill. Late last night, the US Senate voted 91 to 5 to pass a $106 billion supplemental spending bill for US troops in Iraq and Afghanistan that includes $1 billion in "Cash for Clunkers" funding. Earlier, the Senate had barely defeated...
John Voelcker -
Chinese Automaker BYD Pushes Back US Plug-in Car Target Launch Date to 2011
Chinese automaker BYD has officially launched its plug-in electric vehicle, the F3DM, in China last week. The car sells for around $22,000 USD equivalent, travels 60 miles per charge, and has an on-board electric generator which can also operate in parallel. BYD has been hopeful that that will at...
Lyle Dennis -
As China makes its evolution from mass-producers of cheap low-tech junk (think thin plastic shower caps and SpongeBob toothbrushes) to high-tech designers and manufacturers, one big step in that direction is being played out at a company called BYD (Build Your Dream). From their humble beginnings as a small cell phone battery manufacturer a mere 13 years ago, BYD now has seven plants in China with 130,000 employees, all focused on one thing: producing a high-quality electric vehicle. Their EV is called the F3DM, a plug-in gas-electric hybrid with a battery-only range of 80 miles, released as...
