Will BYD again break its promise?

BYD has created its confident upstart image among the plug-in cars market, of course with its strong ambition. Chuanfu Wang, CEO of BYD has claimed for several times, “Our electric car technology can surpass that of those big names like GM and Toyota!”

The company hopes to be China’s No. 1 automaker in about five years and to be the world’s leading carmaker by 2025. And they plan to get there by selling green cars—as many as 9 million hybrid or plug-in cars a year by 2025. But up to now, almost all of its sales come from the traditional vehicles.

The tech chief of a global auto maker who recently drove BYD’s all-electric battery car, the e6, said that he was “truly astonished that they plan to sell such a half-baked car” in China later this year and in the U.S. next year, reported the Wall Street Journal.
The ride was “rough,” which indicates a problem with the car’s computer control technology, and its handling was “squishy,” the executive added.

Whether this anonymous report has underlying motives or not is unknown. But its significance is that it really drives us cool our minds on this Young brother of auto market.

Its high-capacity, high-power lithium-ion battery, one of electric battery cars’ key enabling technologies —— is still punishingly costly and considered still-maturing technologically. Its lithium iron phosphate unit is doubted by the media as similar to A123’s. The reason BYD calls it “iron” battery is to circumvent patent infringement lawsuit from A123.What’s more, amid its complicated dependence on the government incentives, the release of their F3DM to private customers seems not as smooth as they promised.

There is no doubt that BYD is ready to be on its way to achieve the prime time. However, before growing by leaps and bounds, BYD has a long way to go.