CHINA’S HORRIFIC air pollution is hardly a state secret, causing about 656,000 deaths annually, according to the World Health Organisation. But what is more of a surprise is the arrival of a new, local car manufacturer with breathtaking ambitions, supported by a government seeking to become a world leader in green technology.
BYD Auto – short for Build Your Dreams – was only founded in 2003, yet it has pulled off a global coup by mass-producing the world’s first plug-in, petrol-electric hybrid, the BYD F3DM. Under the bonnet, the car is more purely electric than any similar hybrids on the road today, and has made its debut at least a year ahead of similar models from the US and Japan.
The car, which can be charged using a normal household supply, is now on sale in China, where it costs just under 150,000 yuan (€17,400), a similar price to a mid-range petrol-powered sedan and just over half the cost of a Toyota Prius. BYD has come from nowhere to sell 24,107 vehicles in January alone, an increase of nearly 80 per cent from 2008, and aims to sell 400,000 models in China this year.
BYD aims to tap into the world’s fastest-growing auto market as China’s emerging middle class – now estimated to number between 100 and 150 million people – swap their bicycles for cars. While the economic crisis has sent vehicle sales tumbling around the world, Beijing alone is still adding more than 1,500 new cars to its gridlock daily.
And Chinese drivers are more open to hybrids as “more than 90 per cent drive in urban centres and travel less than 60 miles a day,” says Paul Lin, BYD Auto’s marketing manager. Hybrids come into their own in cities because of their limited range and top speeds. In queues, the car’s electric engine shuts down before restarting when the car moves again.
While the auto company is a newcomer, its parent company, BYD – which itself has only been around since 1995 – is the world’s biggest supplier of rechargeable batteries, giving them a huge jumpstart when it comes to the production of hybrid and electric cars.
BYD vehicles will be launched in Europe – provisionally Denmark, because of its friendly tax policies towards green technology – in 2011.
In China, electricity is cheap, though this is produced by burning coal. The company decided to avoid building expensive charging stations. “Most Chinese live in apartments and don’t have their own garages, so instead, drivers unplug the battery and charge it in their homes overnight,” says Lin.
The car has a range of 62 miles on a full charge, and once the battery runs out, the car switches into hybrid mode, with a 1-litre, three-cylinder petrol engine recharging the battery and offering support power if needed. The total combined output is estimated to be 167bhp. Lin claims the batteries will not degrade until they have been fully charged 2,000 times, which should take seven years and, even then, the battery’s capacity only drops to 80 per cent.
But one company won’t change China’s dirty habits, let alone those of the world, says Bradley Berman, editor of Hybridcars.com. “BYD deserves credit for producing plug-in hybrids. But to make a real dent in auto pollution, these cars will need to scale up to hundreds of thousands per year. So, it’s not who’s first with the first models. Environmental and economic success will come with high-volume production sustained over many years,” he says.
– Guardian