Beijing to become a paradise for electric vehicle sales

I often wondered why Chinese auto makers would push forth with their electric and hybrid concepts at auto shows, its not as if there is a huge market for them in China, from China Car Times own articles you can easily see that sales are rather weak, this article states that only 54 hybrid and new energy vehicles were sold between January and October 2010, butBYD cleared sales of 74 BYD F3DM’s in March which goes some way to showing that the market is improving somewhat for hybrid vehicles and China seems to be slowly moving away from the No Demand for Hybrids in China headlines.

Yesterday morning I received an email from The Truth About Cars Bertel Schmit, he wanted me to join his campaign to persuade the Beijing government to offer free license plates to EV buyers in a bid to boost the local car market. Beijing killed its local car market this year after nearly 800,000 cars took to dusty capitals roads in 2010, for 2011 the government offered just 20,000 license plates per month that could be gained via a lottery. Of the 20,000 lucky winners in January, just 2000 people went on to buy a car, they do of course have three months to buy a car before their license plate ticket gets thrown back into the pool. What Bertel didn’t realize is that just as he posted his plans for free license plates for EV buyers in Beijing, is that the Beijing Municipal Govt announced the very next morning that they were going to do exactly what Bertel was suggesting.

Beijing has announced that its ’125 Project’ has already received official approval and will begin the creation of a strategically important electric car industry within the capital.

The ’125 project’ was initiated by Beijing Automotive Industry Organisation and was quickly approved by Beijing Municipal Economic and Reform Council, by 2015 the production of electric cars in Beijing is to reach the 100,000 units per year barrier.

According to what we have learned so far, pure electric vehicles, (EV’s) are to become the major benefactor from the new plan. Beijing’s own local manufacturers such as Foton and Beijing Auto are expected to gain the most from the new plans, as both of these companies already have electric vehicles ready to role. Foton has introduced its Midi electric van into the market as a taxi and BAIC are planning to launch electric variants of their Saab based products and also the C30 hatchback. (BAIC actually has the following electric vehicles in development: Q60FB、C30DB、701EV、C71EV)

The biggest news is obviously for the end consumer, instead of dreaming about getting the much coveted Beijing tin plate for their gasoline based car they will be able to buy the EV straight off the shelf without having to wait in line for a lottery, they wont be subjected to the odd/even license plate restrictions that Beijing has introduced and more importantly they wont have to pay sales tax on their EV – the biggest kicker of all will be the 120,000rmb subsidy that Beijing is offering to buyers of electric vehicles.

Why the absence of hybrids in this plan? It appears that Beijing Govt is wise to Chinese automakers and their attempts to roll out mild hybrids, essentially cars with larger than normal alternators that allow for stop and start systems, Beijing is clearly looking to jump the hybrid generation and go straight for the EV jugular.

So will the EV sales begin to fly in Beijing? Not quite so fast, there is still a severe lack of showroom ready EV’s, you cannot walk into a dealership yet and buy the BYD E6 or the Riich M1 EV or any of the other Chinese made EV’s as of yet.

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BYD partner with AD Motors(Korea)

AD모터스, BYD 전기차 국내 상용화 추진

사진설명:유영선 AD모터스 사장(오른쪽)과 헨리 리 BYD오토 총경리가 14일 BYD오토 본사 회의실에서 전기차 상용화 업무협약을 체결했다.

AD모터스(대표 유영선)는 전기차 상용화와 안정적 수요처 발굴을 위해 중국 전기차 제조업체인 BYD오토와 국내 및 해외 전기차 상용사업 모델 개발 업무 협약을 체결했다고 15일 밝혔다.

양사는 이번 업무 협약으로 한국에서 BYD 전기차를 이용한 택시·렌터카·버스 운행 등 상용차 사업모델사업을 공동 구상, 개발할 계획이다.

AD모터스는 BYD의 전기차를 국내서 운행하기 위해 자동차 성능인증 및 테스트, 수입허가 절차를 전담하기로 하고 우선 전기차 300대를 상용사업모델 개발에 투입할 예정이다.

이 회사는 전기차 상용모델사업에 필요한 관제센터, 충전설비, 보험 및 금융지원, 애프터서비스 등 인프라 구축을 위해 기존에 업무협약을 맺은 국내외 업체들과 컨소시엄을 구성한다는 계획이다.

또 국내사업을 통해 검증된 상용사업모델을 기반으로 해외시장에 공동으로 진출할 계획이다. AD모터스와 협력을 맺은 BYD는 연구인력만 1만5000명이 넘는 전기차 전문 업체로 올해 2차전지와 자동차 기술을 접목한 전기자동차 ‘e6’를 개발·출시했다. 최근에는 워런버핏으로부터 약 2억3000만달러를 투자받았다.

유영선 사장은 “이번 제휴로 국내에 맞는 최적의 비즈니스 모델을 마련해 국내 전기차 시장의 활성화를 도모하고, 국내 경험을 발판으로 해외시장으로도 사업을 확대해 나갈 것”이라고 말했다. 이경민기자

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Related News
AD Motors on October 2010: Distributor Agreement with 'BYD 'for LED products


Companies Involved
BYD
AD Motors

AD Motors is operated by R&D specialists that had worked for electric vehicle powertrain development for several decades. 


AD Motors is also working for various grand-scale government research projects, such as Energy's Parts & Material Technology Development Project and Futuristic Automobile Development Project under the Ministry of Commerce. 


AD Motors is doing its utmost to develop electric vehicles based on the technologies accumulated through well-experienced R&D specialists.

Electric Car Dreams

Watch the full episode. See more NOW on PBS.

Timeline: History of the Electric Car

1832-1839
Scottish inventor Robert Anderson invents the first crude electric carriage powered by non-rechargeable primary cells.

1835
American Thomas Davenport is credited with building the first practical electric vehicle -- a small locomotive.

1859
French physicist Gaston Planté invents the rechargeable lead-acid storage battery. In 1881, his countryman Camille Faure will improve the storage battery's ability to supply current and invent the basic lead-acid battery used in automobiles.

1891
William Morrison of Des Moines, Iowa builds the first successful electric automobile in the United States.

Thomas Edison and an electric car. Courtesy of the Smithsonian

1893
A handful of different makes and models of electric cars are exhibited in Chicago.

1897
The first electric taxis hit the streets of New York City early in the year. The Pope Manufacturing Company of Connecticut becomes the first large-scale American electric automobile manufacturer.

1899
Believing that electricity will run autos in the future, Thomas Alva Edison begins his mission to create a long-lasting, powerful battery for commercial automobiles. Though his research yields some improvements to the alkaline battery, he ultimately abandons his quest a decade later.

1900
The electric automobile is in its heyday. Of the 4,192 cars produced in the United States 28 percent are powered by electricity, and electric autos represent about one-third of all cars found on the roads of New York City, Boston, and Chicago.

A Ford Model T

1908
Henry Ford introduces the mass-produced and gasoline-powered Model T, which will have a profound effect on the U.S. automobile market.

1912
Charles Kettering invents the first practical electric automobile starter. Kettering's invention makes gasoline-powered autos more alluring to consumers by eliminating the unwieldy hand crank starter and ultimately helps pave the way for the electric car's demise.

1920
During the 1920s the electric car ceases to be a viable commercial product. The electric car's downfall is attributable to a number of factors, including the desire for longer distance vehicles, their lack of horsepower, and the ready availability of gasoline.

1966
Congress introduces the earliest bills recommending use of electric vehicles as a means of reducing air pollution. A Gallup poll indicates that 33 million Americans are interested in electric vehicles.

1970s
Concerns about the soaring price of oil -- peaking with the Arab Oil Embargo of 1973 -- and a growing environmental movement result in renewed interests in electric cars from both consumers and producers.

1972
Victor Wouk, the "Godfather of the Hybrid," builds the first full-powered, full-size hybrid vehicle out of a 1972 Buick Skylark provided by General Motors (G.M.) for the 1970 Federal Clean Car Incentive Program. The Environmental Protection Association later kills the program in 1976.

Vanguard-Sebring's CitiCar

1974
Vanguard-Sebring's CitiCar makes its debut at the Electric Vehicle Symposium in Washington, D.C. The CitiCar has a top speed of over 30 mph and a reliable warm-weather range of 40 miles. By 1975 the company is the sixth largest automaker in the U.S. but is dissolved only a few years later.

1975
The U.S. Postal Service purchases 350 electric delivery jeeps from AM General, a division of AMC, to be used in a test program.

1976
Congress passes the Electric and Hybrid Vehicle Research, Development, and Demonstration Act. The law is intended to spur the development of new technologies including improved batteries, motors, and other hybrid-electric components.

1988
Roger Smith, CEO of G.M. , agrees to fund research efforts to build a practical consumer electric car. G.M. teams up with California's AeroVironment to design what would become the EV1, which one employee called "the world's most efficient production vehicle." Some electric vehicle enthusiasts have speculated that the EV1 was never undertaken as a serious commercial venture by the large automaker.

1990
California passes its Zero Emission Vehicle (ZEV) Mandate, which requires two percent of the state's vehicles to have no emissions by 1998 and 10 percent by 2003. The law is repeatedly weakened over the next decade to reduce the number of pure ZEVs it requires.

1997
Toyota unveils the Prius -- the world's first commercially mass-produced and marketed hybrid car -- in Japan. Nearly 18,000 units are sold during the first production year.

1997 - 2000
A few thousand all-electric cars (such as Honda's EV Plus, G.M.'s EV1, Ford's Ranger pickup EV, Nissan's Altra EV, Chevy's S-10 EV, and Toyota's RAV4 EV) are produced by big car manufacturers, but most of them are available for lease only. All of the major automakers' advanced all-electric production programs will be discontinued by the early 2000s.

2002
G.M. and DaimlerChrysler sue the California Air Resources Board (CARB) to repeal the ZEV mandate first passed in 1990. The Bush Administration joins that suit.

Crushed EV1 electric cars

2003
G.M. announces that it will not renew leases on its EV1 cars saying it can no longer supply parts to repair the vehicles and that it plans to reclaim the cars by the end of 2004.

2005
On February 16, electric vehicle enthusiasts begin a "Don't Crush" vigil to stop G.M. from demolishing 78 impounded EV1s in Burbank, California. The vigil ends twenty-eight days later when G.M. removes the cars from the facility. In the film "Who Killed the Electric Car" G.M. spokesman Dave Barthmuss states that the EV1s are to be recycled, not just crushed.

2006

Tesla Motors publicly unveils the ultra-sporty Tesla Roadster at the San Francisco International Auto Show in November. The first production Roadsters will be sold in 2008 with a base price listing of $98,950.

2008

January

A Better Place charging spot

The Israeli government announces its support for a sweeping project to promote the use of electric cars in Israel. The effort will be a joint venture between Better Place, a Palo Alto start-up founded by software maven Shai Agassi, and French automaker Renault-Nissan. Agassi's plan is to create an extensive network of charging spots and to sell EV drivers mileage in their cars like minutes on a cell phone plan. The first Renault electric cars are scheduled to hit the streets of Tel Aviv and other cities in 2011. Better Place announces a host of partnerships to support electric vehicle projects in Denmark, Canada, Japan, Australia and the U.S.

July
Gas prices reach record highs of more than $4 a gallon and car sales drop to their lowest levels in a decade. American automakers begin to shift their production lines away from SUVs and other large vehicles toward smaller, more fuel-efficient cars.

August
On the campaign trail, presidential candidate Barack Obama says he will push to have one million plug-in hybrid and electric vehicles on America's roads by 2015.

November
Struggling to remain profitable during the economic downturn, executives from the Big Three American automakers go to Washington to make the case for a $25 billion Federal bailout of the U.S. automotive industry.

December
BYD, a Chinese battery manufacturer turned automaker, releases the F3DM, the world's first mass produced plug-in hybrid compact sedan. Though they pack less energy than more conventional lithium ion batteries, BYD opts to power the F3DM with a more stable lithium iron phosphate battery. BYD plans to release the F3DM in the U.S. in 2011, but some industry insiders have doubts about whether the car is ready for the U.S. market. Though sales of the car remain sluggish, Warren Buffett's Berkshire Hathaway purchases a 10% stake in the company.

The National Bureau of Economic Research states officially that the U.S. has been in a recession since December 2007. The economic downturn is global in scope and will continue to exert financial pressures on the already battered U.S. auto industry.

2009

February
The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 allocates $2 billion for development of electric vehicle batteries and related technologies. The Department of Energy adds another $400 million to fund building the infrastructure necessary to support plug-in electric vehicles.

April
Prime Minister Gordon Brown announces that the British government will promote the use of electric vehicles in the U.K. by offering a £2,000 subsidy to purchasers. A high-ranking government official estimates that 40% of all cars in Britain will need to be electric or hybrid for the country to reach it's goal of cutting 80% of its CO₂ emissions by 2050.

Chrysler files for Chapter 11 bankruptcy. As part of its restructuring, Chrysler forms a partnership with the Italian car maker Fiat.

May
President Obama announces a new gas-mileage policy that will require automakers to meet a minimum fuel-efficiency standard of 35.5 miles a gallon by 2016.

June

The Tesla Roadster

The Department of Energy awards $8 billion in loans to Ford, Nissan, and Tesla Motors to support the development of fuel-efficient vehicles. The automaker loans are the first distributions from a larger $25 billion fund created under the Energy Independence and Security Act of 2007.

General Motors, the leading producer of automobiles for most of the 20th Century, files for bankruptcy protection. While strong GM brands such as Chevrolet, Cadillac and GMC are slated to continue, smaller names like Saturn, Hummer and Pontiac will be sold or closed. The federal government will hold a 61 percent stake in the reborn General Motors.

August
Nissan unveils its new electric car, called the LEAF ("Leading, Environmentally Friendly, Affordable, Family Car"). The LEAF is capable of a maximum speed of more than 90 mph, can travel 100 miles on a full charge, and has a battery that can be recharged to 80% of its capacity in 30 minutes. Similar to the Better Place initiative in Israel, Nissan plans to work with the Japanese government and private companies to set up charging station networks across several countries. The first production LEAFs are scheduled to go on sale in Japan, Europe, and the U.S. in the fall of 2010.

Late 2009
Though a few electric cars and plug-in hybrids are currently available on the market, several new models including the Nissan LEAF, Chevrolet Volt, and Mitsubishi i MiEV are scheduled to hit the streets in the near future. Toyota, creator of the popular Prius hybrid, has thus far declined to deliver a fully electric car.

Despite promising signs, the electric car will need to navigate a bumpy road before it can become a viable option for many drivers. Challenges to mass adoption include high sticker prices, limited battery life and travel range, and building charging stations and other infrastructure to support electric vehicles.

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BYD to Market Battery Car in U.S. Next Year

Chinese battery and car maker BYD Co. plans to start test-marketing an all-electric battery car in the U.S. next year, after almost a year's delay, and is in talks with officials in Los Angeles to supply e-buses that could eventually lead to a manufacturing plant in the city, a senior company executive said.


Originally, the e6 vehicle was supposed to launch in the U.S. this year. The delay has been a setback for the global ambitions of China's auto sector, which wants to use electric-vehicle technology to close the distance with more-established global car makers.

Stella Li, BYD's senior vice president and head of its U.S. operations, said the holdup was caused by BYD's efforts to make the car roomier, especially its rear-seat area that was cramped thanks to a beefy battery pack that needs to be stored under the seat.

In a recent telephone interview, she denied that the delay had anything to do with a possible intellectual-property infringement on certain battery technology by BYD.

Still, an individual close to BYDsaid the postponement was in part a result of fear of potential intellectual-property infringement involving lithium powder. The powder is a critical raw material in high-power lithium-ion batteries that help propel all-electric and plug-in electric hybrid cars, such as the Chevy Volt and the Nissan Leaf, as well as BYD's e6 car.

The individual said, however, that BYD appears to have resolved the problem by securing a legal way to produce or procure lithium powder.

Ms. Li said "BYD's formula [for lithium powder] is different," and the company isn't worried at all about any patent infringement with its technology. "We have our own IP," she said.

She said BYD plans to ship as many as 50 e6 electric cars by the end of next year to fleet customers in Southern California, including the municipal government of Los Angeles. BYD earlier this year began selling e6 cars to taxi operators in the southern Chinese city of Shenzhen and is collecting field data to improve the car.

Ms. Li said BYD will make the e6 available for purchases by private buyers in the U.S. in 2012. She declined to forecast demand, saying it "will depend on gasoline prices and other peripheral factors."

BYD Chairman Wang Chuanfu has said his Shenzhen-based company plans to sell the e6 model for slightly more than $40,000—competitive with some bigger rivals.

Meanwhile, Ms. Li said BYD is preparing to start supplying all-electric buses to the city of Los Angeles. Talks with the city have been going on since the beginning of this year, when BYD agreed to locate its U.S. headquarters in Los Angeles. Those negotiations involve a possible contract to make BYD a supplier of city buses.

"Initially, we would ship e-buses from China, but eventually we would have to localize production," Ms. Li said, citing a greater cost advantage in assembling those buses in Los Angeles if there is enough demand.

Getting the company to locate its U.S. head office in Los Angeles took significant effort by the city, which agreed to consider conducting a pilot test for the bus, and to buy BYD's all-electric vehicles.

Ms. Li said BYD plans to ship at least one electric bus by the second quarter of next year as "a demonstration vehicle" so that "the city could experience our bus first-hand." If the test produced positive results, then the Los Angeles municipal government and BYD would sign an agreement to make the Chinese company a formal supplier of city buses.

Austin Beutner, a former Wall Street executive who this year was named the city's first deputy mayor, said Los Angeles is interested in using electric vehicles in the city's bus fleet.

"We are spending our policy dollars right now more on electric cars, but maybe we want to tilt it a little bit more toward public transportation," Mr. Beutner said during a recent interview, citing the efficiency of the electric bus in transporting passengers compared with the individual electric passenger car.

To entice BYD to locate an electric-bus factory in Los Angeles, Mr. Beutner said that the city is willing to "put our municipal power to work" and place an order large enough for BYD to do so.

"Los Angeles would be able to buy several thousand electric buses... over a decade or so," he said.

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China’s Great Electrification Drive: 1 Million Electric Cars By 2015

India is keeping a wary eye on their neighbor north of the Himalaya. The Indian press is usually not prone to hyping Chinese achievements. Therefore, this news item should give us reason to sit up and take notice. China will shortly announce a plan to sell a million electric cars annually from 2015 on out. That’s what India’s Economic Times says.

A million electric cars a year?

People’s Daily confirms the report: “Under the country’s latest plan for the auto industry, to be rolled out at the end of 2010, new energy vehicles will be the top priority.”

As the fate of BYD illustrates, the Chinese are not necessarily lining up to buy EVs. Even generous incentives did not change their minds. They want affordable, reliable transportation. To achieve the goal, the Chinese government, and the Chinese auto industry have their work cut out for themselves. But knowing the Chinese, if they put their mind to something …

To get things rolling, 20,000 new energy vehicles, mostly electric buses, will hit Chinese roads by the end of the year.

                 BYD Introduces All-Electric Bus and Signs Agreement with Hunan Province for 1000 K9 e-Buses

One million EVs a year sound aggressive. But you need to keep Chinese numbers in mind. This year, they will sell more than 17m units. Even if you use a very conservative growth rate of 10 percent per year (and China gets nervous if growth falls below 10 percent,) the Chinese market will be good for 27m cars by 2015. One million EVs would mean a market penetration of 3.6 percent, in line with what other augurs predict for other markets. Those markets just won’t be as huge as the Chinese.

According to the Economic Times, “by 2020, China is aiming to reduce energy consumption by 50 per cent, and slash fuel consumption to five litres per 100 km.” By then, Chinese planners hope that new energy vehicles will replace 20 percent of traditional cars in China, and electricity will become the main substitute for gasoline.

It won’t be all EVs. Under the soon to be announced plan, “new energy” vehicles encompass EVs and hybrids.

The man behind the plan: China’s Science & Technology Minister Wan Gang. He’s probably the highest level “car guy” any government has. He has a Ph. D. in automotive engineering from Germany’s respected Clausthal University of Technology. In 1991, he went to work for Audi in Ingolstadt and had a big hand in the development of the A4. In 2004, he became President of Shanghai’s Tongji University, a hotbed of Chinese car research, especially in the new energy field.

In 2007, he received a call to report to the central government in Beijing the next day. A reason was not given. Wan Gang, who is not a member of the CCP, embarked on the trip with great apprehension. On arrival in Beijing, he was told that he was appointed Minister of Science and Technology.

I happened to have been at Tongji’s Automotive College in Anting on that day. You could hear a sigh of relief, followed by loud cheers all the way through the sprawling campus.

Link

Xavier Peugeot, global director of Marketing &Communications, Peugeot, said, "We also want to demonstrate that electric cars can be seen in a different way, connected to performance...and I would say high performance."

Dai Bingcheng, CEO of Zhongwen Yixing Electric Auto Co, said, "The electric bus sector has become more commercialized, and expanded faster than electric cars. And the electric bus development has attracted more focus from the government, so we believe it's a mature industry."

Wan Gang, Minister of Science &Technology, said, "In order to improve the current electric car standard system, the Ministry of Science and Technology will work with other ministries to set up a system to cater for electric vehicles."

Link

Electric Cars: Mass Market or Mirage

Many thanks to Shai Dardashti for finding this video!

How Chinese Electric Cars Will Rise to Power

Hazimeh-china by Brad Berman

One Nation Under Green

More than 50 years ago, the United States created the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) to foster innovation in space technologies, national defense, and information technologies. One result: the creation of the Internet. In 2007 Congress created the Advanced Research Projects Agency-Energy (ARPA-E) in an effort to mimic DARPA’s success and ensure that America remains a world leader in science and technology. NEWSWEEK’s R. M. Schneiderman spoke with the director of ARPA-E, Arun Majumdar, to learn more about the future of the agency and how its projects will help spur innovation in green cars.

How aggressively should we be pursuing electric cars?

One of our mission statements is to enhance energy and economic security for the United States. Part of that is to reduce our imports of energy from foreign countries. Obviously our biggest import is oil. I think electric cars are an option we need to pursue very aggressively. But I think an internal-combustion engine will still be around. The biggest obstacle in the electrification of cars is the battery. The challenge in that is that the energy density of the battery, which controls how much energy you can pack in a certain amount of weight, is just not enough today. And today’s batteries—lithium-ion batteries—the costs are just too high. To use a football analogy, lithium-ion batteries are like a running game. But you need a passing game as well.

So what’s the passing game?

We are funding a whole portfolio of approaches that range from zinc-air batteries, magnesium-ion batteries, lithium-air batteries, lithium-sulfur batteries, etc. We don’t know which ones will succeed in the end. It’s too risky for the private sector to invest in. So we said, let’s give this a shot and perhaps a few of them will become business-ready, and then the private sector will pick them up.

In terms of green car technology, where do we stand in comparison with other leading nations?

China is moving very aggressively, and they are building up their infrastructure. They are doing the right thing for their own country. I believe we are still ahead in R&D and innovation. But in terms of deployment of clean energy technology, China is probably the most aggressive in the world. I personally feel that the fact that China is building up its infrastructure in clean energy is a huge opportunity for the United States. And we should grab that and develop innovative technologies out here, manufacture them out here, and sell them to China, India, Brazil, and South Africa.

To what extent would doing so help U.S. manufacturers and create jobs?

There are huge opportunities. If we create a battery that is 10 times better in costs and performance, if one of our teams succeeds and we keep our production out here, this is an opportunity, which is analogous to the chip industry. Just like you have Intel inside almost all computers, we could have a battery inside all the electric plug-in hybrids in the future. That’s a humongous global market, and no one has the battery yet.

Will those jobs stay in the U.S.?

That’s a difficult question. What keeps me awake at night is not whether we will innovate. We will. But my worry is that it will scale elsewhere in the world. We need to keep these innovations inside the country and help them create green jobs. I’m not a policy wonk, but the government is the biggest purchaser of energy. And if we could use that purchasing power in some way and create a platform to pull some clean energy into the market and create demand, I think that would be healthy, and it would allow many companies that are innovating right now to put a manufacturing plant out here in the United States.

How much should Congress be investing in your agency to stay competitive with other countries?

ARPA-E is supposed to be DARPA-like. DARPA was started in 1958. But the first appropriated budget was in 1962. So in 1962, the DARPA budget was $246 million. You could do the math and see what it should be today; it would be more than $1 billion.

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