Word: carli
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...electric car, so long promised, may finally be pulling into your driveway. In the U.S., a humbled General Motors just showed off one of its rare rays of light - the plug-in Volt, which GM says will get 230 miles per gallon when it hits roads in late 2010. Daimler is trialing an electric version of its baby Smart car and claims to get the equivalent of 300 m.p.g. In Japan this month, a confident Carlos Ghosn said that Nissan's upcoming, all-electric Leaf will get 367 m.p.g...
Compared with those experienced players, Chinese manufacturers are like teenagers just getting their car keys. When it comes to electric, though, that could be an advantage. Beijing knows that promoting electric vehicles could be a way to stem the country's rising dependence on foreign oil and clear its polluted air. At the same time, Chinese battery companies like Lishen and Shenzhen-based BYD are looking to leverage their technology and leap into electric cars. Foreign automakers may have a century-long head start on conventional cars, but Chinese companies can compete on new electric technology today - on cost...
Though Chinese automakers like SAIC and Chery have announced plans to produce electric cars, it is China's battery makers who have taken the first steps. BYD was already a major global battery producer, chiefly for mobile phones, when in 2003 it entered the car business by buying a defunct state-owned auto company. BYD proved a surprisingly quick study at automaking - its F3 sedan is a best seller in China, beating popular foreign brands - and now it has moved into electrics. The company is already selling the F3DM, a $22,000 Volt-style plug-in car with a backup...
...history of the electric car...
...from perfect - a concept car it revealed at the Paris auto show this year had its tires mounted backwards - but it received a boost last fall when American financial wizard Warren Buffett bought 10% of the company for $230 million, a stake that is now worth at least four times as much. "BYD is obviously way ahead of everyone," says Jack Perkowski, a Beijing-based businessman who has worked as an executive in the Chinese auto industry. "It has a core competency in the fundamental technology you need for electrics...