16 Jan 08
Chinese company BYD - a subsidiary of Chana, which has joint-venture operations building the Ford Focus, Volvo S40 and Mazda3 for the Chinese market - builds a large saloon called the F6. This is currently on offer with either a Mitsubishi-sourced 2.4-litre or BYD's own 2.0-litre petrol engine, and BYD is now proposing a hybrid for the range.
Handily enough, another part of BYD's business is making batteries for mobile phones, and thus it has the know-how to develop power storage systems for cars as well. It has created a new type of fully recyclable, heavy-metal-free ferrous battery with plug-in rapid-charge facility; this battery is also recharged by the petrol engine acting as a generator, giving an operating range of over 250 miles.
The BYD F6 DM (dual-mode) can also do 60 miles in electric-only mode, and its batteries can be recharged to 50% capacity within ten minutes. BYD hopes to supply this powertrain system, and its batteries, to larger global car-makers, as well as building its own cars; it sold over 100,000 cars last year, and intends to put the F6 DM into production in 2010. It also plans to bring a number of its cars, including the F8 coupe-cabriolet, to the Geneva Motor Show next spring.
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