Chery Auto to launch electric car QQEV this month

Shanghai, December 4 (Gasgoo.com) Chery Auto is set to unveil its own electric vehicle QQEV at the end of this month, sina.com said yesterday, citing a company executive. The car will be priced at 40,000 yuan ($5,860) to 50,000 yuan.

The electric car will have a speed range of 60-70 km/hour. It will take about eight hours to recharge the fuel cell and the electric cars can run for more than 100 kilometers between two charging sessions, said Fang Yunzhou, an executive of Chery's new-energy auto branch.

Fang said that low-priced QQEV is likely to be more popular in rural areas, due to the current lack of fuel-cell recharging stations in the city. Chery has six models of electric vehicles, including two-seaters and mail delivery vehicles, he added.

In early September, Fang said that Chery Auto would start selling its first plug-in electric car model S18 around June 2010. The car will cost as much as 130,000 yuan. Chery unveiled the S18 model in February.

China has been supporting its automakers' investments in new-energy vehicles to curb oil imports, reduce pollution and to help the local industry challenge global automakers' products.

Reportedly, Chery is in talks with the State Grid Corp of China about the building of recharging stations for electric vehicles.