Plug-in hybrid goes on sale, in China only

A Chinese carmaker claims it's pulled off a coup: This month, BYD Auto will sell the world's first mass-produced plug-in hybrid. But it's only offered in China, and will likely stay there until Chinese cars are ready for global primetime.

The BYD F3DM will lands in showrooms at the end of the month. It's expected to cost roughly 150,000 yuan ($22,000), and go as far as 70 miles (110 kilometers) on electricity when fully charged.

Parent company BYD Co.—it stands for "Build Your Dreams"—claims to supply 65 percent of the world's nickel-cadmium batteries, and 30 percent of its lithium ion mobile phone batteries. In September, fabled investor Warren Buffett bought a 10 percent stake in BYD for $230 million.

Its auto arm has only been making cars for four years; it'll sell about 120,000 this year. Its hybrid batteries use iron-phosphate lithium-ion chemistry, rather than the higher-energy cobalt versions that can instantly combust from internal short circuits, a hazard that has generated widely circulated pictures and videos of flaming laptops.

In January, BYD Auto showed the F6DM—a larger plug-in hybrid sedan—at the Detroit Auto Show, quoting a 60-mile electric range. It hopes to sell cars in Europe and the US by 2010, but no Chinese carmaker has a firm date for US sales.