China's first PHEV went on sale this morning.

Some details of the F3DM:

• 62 mile EV range
• 13 kWh long-life lithium-iron phosphate battery
• 68 hp 1-litre gasoline engine backup for longer trips
• Total system output (motor + gasoline engine) 169 hp
• On sale today for $21,000 !

Details here: Green Car Congress: BYD F3DM Plug-in Hybrid Goes On Sale in China

GM are claiming the battery pack alone in the 40-mile Volt costs more than that! Proof once again that this race will be won by the best battery manufacturers and not necessarily the most established auto companies.

 

Impressive numbers. The pictures I found also look like a pretty well put together car.

 

169 HP?

Impressive.

 

62 miles range out of 13kWh battery pack?

Using 200 watt-hour per mile, they are draining the battery from 100% SOC to 4.6%. How long is the battery warranty are they offering?

 

How long is the battery warranty are they offering?

Warranty? what warranty... 1hour or 62mile warranty!

 

Wouldn't other announced electrics charge in 8 hours on 110 volt chargers, faster using 220? This car takes 8 or 9 hours to recharge at 220v.

Also, is the Chinese market screaming for EV's? Or will the NA market be the target for this company?

I must say this looks like a mainstream design, not a goofy boxy shape like most announced prototypes. Where do they put the batteries?

 

its Lion and it takes a lot time to recharge to ik guess up to 100% will be done slowly to not overheat the pack and really put 100% in to the battery pack

then the car will be ligher i guess then the prius so you dont need 200watt
maybe then the lower SOC will be 10% or so.

and maybe just 3 year warranty to

 

It isn't surprising that China is going to take the world lead on this. When China makes up its mind, it gets it done... case in point, the Olympics. They have the biggest manufacturing capacity in the world and labor resources out the wazoo. In 2012 when the next Olympics roll around, it wouldn't surprise me if China enjoys a better air quality than many of the big U.S. cities simply because we can't get all the big pieces of the puzzle aligned like China can (i.e. politics, business, etc.).

 

I saw that it will last 2,000 cycles. So 2,000 x 62 = 124k miles. Not bad considering you'll still have 80% the original capacity after 2,000 cycles.

 

China's solution to their air pollution problem was to shut down factories temporarily along with banning 50% of their vehicles from the road. Even then they recorded air pollution levels during the Olympics at up to 10 times the levels allowed in developed countries.

China is also building coal-fired powerplants at a rate of 1 per week.

(I know about shutting down factories first hand as one of our gearbox suppliers was forced to shut down for 10 weeks.)

 

Remember when 'Made in Japan' was the joke? Detroit doesn't think it's so funny now. All signs point to China as the next superpower.

 

This car would suit my needs if it went on the market here.
Of course I expect it has little in the way of safety equipment fitted which would keep the weight down.
Electric cars would be attractive to the Chinese government, China is home to the worlds largest coal reserves and they still buy a lot of coal from Australia. I believe the coal from Australia is used in steel production while their domestic coal is used for electricity generation. Hard to run a conventional car on coal, although it can be done.

 

A BBC corresondant test drives BYD's new PHEV and gives some history to the company:

BBC NEWS | Programmes | From Our Own Correspondent | Revving China's auto industry

Interesting point from the article, BYD's aims are to be:

1) Number one car firm in China by 2015

2) Number one car firm in the world by 2025!!

 

Like patsparks, if the BYD --"Build Your Dream" -- were for sale here, I
would be looking at it.

Beyond that, for the sake of discussion, what would it mean to have BYD begin
manufacturing cars in the US of A? Suppose they buy up one of the Detroit 3,
lock, stock, and barrel. (I've used this metaphor intentionally... a smoking gun?)

Again, lets suppose it's Chrysler. Of course, there will be a period of two or
three years while the plant(s) are reconfigured. Then what?

Benefits ?
* Manufacturing capacity in use, not standing idle.
* Workers, possibly non-union, making salaries, paying mortgages, taxes, etc.
* Part suppliers up and running
* As a country we move closer to oil indepedance
* Other car makers must focus on EV, PHEV design and manufacturing
There are probably more. Fill in the blank:
* .........................................................

Of course there would be some points on the down side. What would they be?
* Profits would primarily go back to China
There are more , I need help here. Again, fill in the blank:
* .....................................................

 

Li-Ion is supposed to weather the deep discharge cycles without any issues. many packs tested went thru 3000 cycles and still had over 90% of their original capacity left, so it would not be unusual at all.

i will say that when going that low thou, you will start losing power before that point. i dont know what SOC would be, but the effective range would be somewhat less than they state... but i would guess that it would be over 50 miles...

now, its $21,000 in china... what would it be here after safety upgrades? the citiZenn (release date yet to be announced...BUMMER!!) estimated price is $30,000....betting this will be around that too.

 

Finally, I have a test drive for BYD F3DM. The car is not quiet as I expect, the noise of electronic fan is a little bit loud when EV mode is used.

The working theory for BYD F3DM based on the instruction of the BYD's engineer are as follows:

1. The car has two electronic engine, sub-master engine (M1, actually it is a generator) with 25kw HP and master engine (M2) with 50 kw HP and equipped with one gasoline engine with 1.0L cylinder capacity (50kw).

The gasoline engine is only working for M1 for generating electricity and does not DRIVE the car!

The primary job for M1 is to start the engine and generate the electricity for charging the master battery.

M2 is to drive the car and regenerate the energy from the brake.

2. EV mode: The car is driven only by M2. (zero consumption)
HEV mode: The gasoline engine starts and battery is charge by M1. M2 drive the car. (certain amount gasoline consumption)
HEV accelerate mode: The gasoline engine starts and M1, M2 jointly drive the car.

3. Maximum power=M1+M2=75KW. As gasoline engine only works for generating the electricity, so the total output power=75kw+50kw=125kw.

In other word, the maximum power is 50kw and 75kw under EV mode and HEV accelerate mode, respectively.

The top speed is 160 km/h and normally only maintain 120kw/h.

4. EV range is 100km if the speed is lower than 50km/h.

That's a quite differient Hybrid system!!

 

21,000???

ok then what does this mean

BYD’s hybrid car, which can run 100 kilometres on a full battery, will cost just under 150,000 yuan ($A32,850), with plans to initially put it on sale in more than a dozen Chinese cities.

 

Sale price is about 22000 USD.