Chery releases its first electric car
Feb 20, 2009 Auto Tech
Chery S18
Chery Motors, the largest car manufacturer from China, has unveiled the S18, an all-electric car based on its QQ2. The car can go up to 150kms on a full charge of its lithium iron phosphate batteries, that takes 4 to 6 hours, while those in hurry can opt for a quick charge in 30 minutes that gives a 85% charge.
The S18 boats of a 54 hp motor to take it up to the electrifying top speed of 120 kph.
With another Chinese manufacturer BYD already having the world’s first plug-in hybrid F3DM on sale last year and planning its own all-electric E6, buyers in China will soon be able to ‘chery’ pick from an assortment of green cars! Read the rest of this entry »
Tags: BYD, Chery, China, electric cars, S18
First mass produced plug-in hybrid on sale — and guess what? it is from BYD, China
Dec 18, 2008 Auto Tech
BYD F3DM
While GM is still showing off its Chevy Volt prototypes, China’s BYD has gone ahead and launched the world’s first mass-produced plugin hybrid, the F3Dm. Though the design won’t win any beauty pageants, its cost of 149,800 yuan ($22,000) will surely help, when you compare it with Toyota’s Prius, which costs from 259,800 yuan.
A plug-in hybrid has an electric motor and a conventional (like gasoline) engine, just like the Toyota Prius or Honda Civic or other current hybrids on sale, but its batteries can be charged by connecting it to an electric socket at your home or office and this can be used to extend the range of the vehicle. The Chevy Volt is supposed to be a plugin hybrid, to be on sale in US from 2010, but amidst the current financial crisis, GM faces an uncertain future and has just announced temporary halt of construction at the factory scheduled to produce the Volt’s engine.
The F3Dm can run upto 100km on batteries only. It operates in three distinct modes: a battery-powered EV mode,a series-hybrid mode whereby the gas engine recharges the batteries while the electric motors drive the wheels, and a parallel-hybrid mode whereby both motor and engine drive the wheels. BYD Auto’s parent company is making lithium batteries for the car using lithium iron phosphate cathodes–a safer design than the lithium cobalt oxide cathodes used in cell-phone batteries. BYD is China’s largest maker of rechargeable batteries and it recently got investments from famed investor, Warren Buffet. Read the rest of this entry »
Tags: BYD, China, hybrid, plugin hybrid