Comments on: BYD’s Plug-in Cars Face Technical Hurdles

By: laptop ac adapter

laptop ac adapter — Thu, 12 Nov 2009 01:51:41 +0000

By: Big Green Chief

Big Green Chief — Wed, 04 Nov 2009 13:46:54 +0000

China is currently making rapid progress in materials science, chemistry, and physics. This is largely driven by the explosive growth in research.

For those who are a little bit more mature, the following article should be of some interest:

http://www.iwr.co.uk/information-world-review/news/2252431/china-set-supersede-research

BYD rocks! Warren Buffett is going to make a killing in the long run.

By: sean t

sean t — Thu, 29 Oct 2009 22:49:49 +0000

I guess BYD may have had a "breakthru" in technology and wants to keep it secret? They're well known for that.

By: Wendy Solberg

Wendy Solberg — Thu, 29 Oct 2009 17:00:06 +0000

My thinking exactly. A certain demographic of the U.S. public will buy anything if the price is right. We could go back to an era of disposable cars…

By: Stephen Wilhelm

Stephen Wilhelm — Thu, 29 Oct 2009 04:35:07 +0000

The whole game, in my opinion, for BYD is how good their batteries are, not how good their cars are. If their batteries perform as advertised, they will eventually produce good cars or they will sell batteries to another car company like VW with whom they have an agreement. They will recover from a crappy car and the bad press that comes with it.

So, how good is the BYD battery? I have not seen any hard specifications on it. Just the claim that the car can go 250 miles on a charge, and be recharged very quickly.

Anybody have any hard specifications/proof that the BYD battery is truly a revolution? Also, what is the capacity of the battery in the E6, where is it located in the car, and how much space does it use?

Why is all this information such a mystery?

By: Douglas Hall

Douglas Hall — Wed, 28 Oct 2009 14:46:13 +0000

Remember - that BYD is a battery company first and a car company second. It's the new technology that will make a difference in the 'electric car race', not the comfy ride.

If they can demonstrate a better technology, they can

a) make cars with it
The ride and the handling can be improved quite easily and rapidly.
Toyota didn't sell 1 million Prius units because of the sweet ride.
Say nothing of the original Honda Civic....

and they can
b) sell the tech to other companies,
Which might be where the real money lies.

By: David

David — Wed, 28 Oct 2009 14:32:59 +0000

Hmmm.. Will they be the next Hyundai (initial quality problems now overcome) or the next Yugo (initial quality problems that only got worse)?

By: Dan L

Dan L — Wed, 28 Oct 2009 05:27:15 +0000

If BYD really has a lead in battery technology, they are destroying it by tying their batteries to their lousy cars. My guess is that their batteries are not really that great, and they are using their even worse cars to draw attention away from the fact.

By: ex-EV1 driver

ex-EV1 driver — Wed, 28 Oct 2009 00:55:45 +0000

Good point tw8s. I certainly hope the US automakers don’t get complacent based upon that report.

By: tw8s

tw8s — Tue, 27 Oct 2009 23:22:28 +0000

Seems odd that the tech chief didn’t say anything about the characteristics of the electric motivation of the vehicle, or the dutiful reporter ignored that part. Was the chief picking on the ride and handling to divert attention away from a capable competitive drive system? (and btw: there are plenty of good ride/handling cars available for copying.)