BYD electric car

The BYD electric car for now is the e6. This car has been much publicized and displayed in auto shows over the past few years. The e6 is the BYD flagship electric vehicle. After much publicity, the car was slated to go on sale in 2009.

Vehicle specs are impressive:
Published e6 specifications say that the car can charge to 50 percent capacity in just 10 minutes and can reach go from zero to 60 in 8 seconds, with a top speed of 100 mph and a 249-mile range per charge. Lately there has been mention of lowering the range to 205 miles per charge. Retail price has been mentioned at around $40K.

Too bad that you probably won’t see the e6 driving around much just yet. It appears that the car is undergoing some refinement. Comments on prototypes of the past few years have not been very positive. The BYD Hybrid seems to be in similar shape.

However, BYD China claims to be on track for a fall 2010 release of the cars in the US. If BYD can produce the e6 to western standards and to the specifications it has given, it looks like a winner. If not, there are plenty of customers in China and time to make refinements.

40 BYD e6 taxicabs have begun operation in Shenzhen City, Guangdong Province, China. The cabs specs are close to those published. They report
87 mph/140 kph top speed, 187 mi/300 km range, and 215 kWh/km efficiency. Time and field experience should help the e6 along.

The e6 is now to be part of a car sharing fleet. BYD has inked a contract to provide 100 e6 models to the Austrian concern Denzel AG.

BYD has had extraordinary sales success in years past. However, sales increased 17% in 2010, compared to a 32% industry average. So far, 2011 sales have dropped 20% according to JD Power.

Perhaps 2012 will see the first e6 cars imported to the US. They now are on sale in slelect markets in China for about $57,000 USD.

It appears that in addition to the anticipated e6, BYD will release an electric bus. The K9 bus can be fully recharged in 6 hours or 50% charged in 30 minutes. The first K9 hit the streets of LA late in 2010.

The BYD taxi test program is a rousing success. A fleet of 30 e6 taxis in Shenzen, China, has successfully logged 2,300,000 all-electric miles.
The taxis were short charged daily 20-30 minutes per charge. In addition,
BYD is providing a fleet of 20 BYD electric busses in that city.

BYD-Mercedes Joint Venture

Daimler AG/Mercedes will hook up with BYD to create a an EV brand called Denza. The 50-50 team plans to saart making EVs next year. Preliminary comments indicate a car based on the Mercedes-Benz B-Class platform.
Denza roughly translates to "rising power" and "momentum."

BYD Electric Car