Martin LaMonica | Aug 25, 2009

BYD's e6, its high-end all-electric car it plans to bring to the U.S. in small numbers next year.
(Credit: BYD)
Chinese auto company BYD plans to bring an all-electric sedan in small
numbers to the US next year.
The company chairman Wang Chuanfu
told
the Wall Street Journal that the company, which is part-owned by investor
Warren Buffet, is now gearing up for a US push. It plans to raise money by
offering shares in the company in China to help finance the expansion.
BYD plans to offer a few hundred of one of its most advanced cars in the
US, the five-seat e6, which takes seven to 9 hours to fully charge and has
a 250-mile range.
Initially, it will make the US$40,000 car available to "government agencies,
utilities and maybe some celebrities" in a specific region, Wang told the
Journal during a factory tour of the BYD's lithium-ion battery factory.
Part of the goal with the car introduction is to raise brand awareness of BYD
with American consumers, he added.
BYD already sells plug-in hybrid sedans with a small gasoline engine that
charges the batteries to fleet owners.
Although BYD is still not well known with most consumers, the company has
gotten a
lot
of media attention, in part because of Buffet's $230 million investment.
Also, BYD appears to be one of the front-runners in making electric cars for the
mass market.
Other automakers betting on all-electric cars include Coda Automotive,
Mitsubishi, and Nissan, which introduced the Leaf
earlier this month.
Via
CNET Blogs
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