Buffett buys into Chinese electric car maker

The Warren Buffett-owned parent company of Pacific Corp. announced Monday it bought a 10 percent stake in BYD Co. Ltd., the Chinese company that is considering Portland as a test market for its electric automobiles.

MidAmerican Energy Holdings Co., a subsidiary of Buffett's Berkshire Hathaway Inc. and owner of the Portland-based electric utility Pacific Power, said it agreed to buy 225 million shares of Shenzhen-based BYD — a $230 million investment.

"We are thrilled to be partners with BYD and the people of China," Buffett said in a news release. MidAmerican Chairman David Sokol said they are attracted to BYD's commitment to make a "dramatic environmental impact with their products."

BYD Co. is the world's biggest maker of mobile-phone batteries. The company broadened into automaking in 2003, when it bought Shaanxi Qinchuan Auto Co. It's now working to develop its battery technology to bring a new breed of alternative fuel vehicles to the marketplace.

BYD Auto executives have visited Portland twice since April in the search for a U.S. test market for its planned plug-in electric and all-electric models. Some are hopeful that it will eventually make electric cars here.

In August, Henry Z. Li, general manager of the company's auto export trade division, met with Gov. Ted Kulongoski, Portland Mayor-elect Sam Adams and U.S. Sen. Gordon Smith, among other leaders in the business community, to discuss the company's plans.

Li said BYD's initial plans are likely to involve placing 10 of the company's vehicles into a corporate fleet, allowing them to gauge the vehicles' performance in a controlled setting.

While those plans may be small in scale, state officials may have larger plans.

Kulongoski on Friday created a working group that is tasked with creating policy and an alternative fuel infrastructure aimed at luring electric car manufacturers to the state. From Nov. 15-21st, Kulongoski will be in China and Japan where he will meet with exeutives from BYD, Toyota and Nissan to make the case for bringing manufacturing sites to Oregon.

"We have to move away from gasoline powered vehicles and move towards alternative power sources such as electric, natural gas and fuel cell vehicles — and Oregon is positioned to be a national a leader for this next generation of vehicles," Kulongoski said in a news release last week.