BYD bets heavily on electric cars

Shanghai. October 17 (Shanghai)--BYD, a Chinese automaker which plans to sell iron-battery powered plug-in hybrid sedans in late 2008, is betting heavily on the electric vehicles while mulling over A share listing, according to Shanghai Securities News.
 
"We have already started mass production of iron-batteries," said Xia Zhibing, vice general manager of Auto Sales Co. "We spent a lot of time improving technology to ensure that the innovative iron-batteries are safe," Xia added.

BYD's upcoming “dual-mode” sedan can switch between an on-board fuel engine and rechargeable iron-battery depending on driving conditions. This plug-in hybrid use iron-batteries rather than the lithium-ion batteries which are now favored by other manufacturers like Toyota and GM. As the company said, this type of batteries is all new to China and has successfully attracted customers because of its low cost and safety.

BYD is scheduled to make its first U.S. appearance at 2008 North American International Auto Show in Detroit where the company will display its "dual mode" hybrid that can run 60 miles in electric mode and nearly 270 miles by using the gasoline engine as a generator to charge the battery pack. Its maximum speed will reach 100 mph and the batteries can be recharged to 70 percent of capacity in just 10 minutes.

As the world's largest maker of cell-phone batteries, BYD set foot in the automobile industry by taking over an auto making company in 2003 and then launched its first car F3 two years later. Now BYD has a couple of models like F3, F5, Flyer and F8. The company aims to sell 100,000 cars this year, up 67 percent from last year's 60,000 units.

"We are also studying the possibility of A share listing for the automobile division when the profitability of the business gets better," said Xia, adding that BYD Automobile Co. is expected to float on the mainland market other than Hong Kong where BYD as a whole has already been listed.