Study finds China to fall far short of plug-in car goals
BYD’s electric dreams still more dream than reality
Still an important market for the development of plug-in cars though
The Chinese government has both over-estimated Chinese demand for plug-in vehicles, as well as the capabilities of the domestic Chinese auto industry to build quality electric cars. Consequently, a new Pike Research study finds that China will fall far short of its plug-in goals.
Instead of 500,000 plug-ins per year by 2015, China will hit 152,000 units per year by 2017 — or less than 1 percent of total Chinese auto sales. Read more…
Categories: electric cars, plug-in hybrid cars, Plug-in Vehicles Tags: china, electric cars, plug-in hybrids
Toyota’s Chinese hybrid car efforts become intriguing
Toyota
Is China the key to cheaper hybrid cars?
A few days ago I saw a picture of the Toyota Yundong Shuangqing hybrid, and didn’t really think much of it. A Chinese designed hybrid for the Chinese market seems like an obvious move for Toyota. And while China is an interesting automotive story, Chinese cars don’t mean much to me unless they have greater implications beyond the Great Wall.
Turns out; however, the Shuangqing hybrid could be about much more than China. Read more…
Categories: Hybrid Cars Tags: china, Hybrid Cars, toyota ft-bh
Coda will offer most affordable EV around 2014
Coda makes huge EV promise
Prices similar to a conventional gas-guzzler
Around mid-2014 Coda will begin assembling electric cars, sub-assembled by China’s Great Wall Motors, that Coda promises will result in the “most affordable EV on the market.”
Still, there are some red flags in this project, such as the fact that Great Wall Motors has not yet even built an electric car. Read more…
Categories: Coda plug-in electric, electric cars, Plug-in Vehicles Tags: china, electric cars
Chinese dreaming – BYD is China’s only electric car hope
BYD Daimler Denza electric car
China’s EV plans solely dependent upon foreign automakers
These days, China seems to be a tale of two countries. On the one hand, there is the rising middle class with money in their pockets buying up Buicks, SUVs, and luxury cars, but not hybrids or plug-ins. On the other hand, there is China’s working poor riding bikes, and if they are lucky, upgrading to e-bikes and three-wheeled electric vehicles.
And China’s goals of becoming a major automotive power, led by the battery, are facing significant headwinds. In fact, outside of BYD, few automakers seem ready according to many Chinese observers. Read more…
Categories: electric cars, plug-in hybrid cars, Plug-in Vehicles Tags: china, electric cars, plug-in electric bikes, plug-in hybrids
Chinese auto electrification looks more like a scare tactic
BYD Fe3 electric car
Hard to believe plug-in cars make sense in China
Whether you like him or not, Warren Buffett is a pretty savvy investor, and when Buffett took a big stake in BYD Automotive, I bought into the Chinese electric car domination theory. China has lithium, battery manufacturing capabilities, cash, pollution and a severe and growing dependence upon foreign energy.
What they don’t have is a consumer base that either wants or can afford plug-ins. Read more…
Categories: electric cars, plug-in hybrid cars, Plug-in Vehicles Tags: china, electric cars, plug-in hybrids
If “Chindia” is the future of the auto industry, do EVs make more or less sense?
Are EVs a black swan in alternative energy?
Vinod Khosla and the Black Swans of alternative energy
When it comes to venture capitalism, there is a unique similarity between Vinod Khosla of Khosla Ventures and Elon Musk of Tesla. Instead, of thinking of the next incremental step in technological evolution, both project far into the future.
Thus, while the mainstream auto industry pursues 100 mile EVs, Elon Musk builds 300 mile EVs.
Unfortunately, Khosla believes those 300 mile EVs — as well as the 100 mile ones — are just “toys” for rich people, which is a somewhat accurate description of Tesla’s electric cars and electric car buyers thus far. Consequently, if the future of the auto industry is “Chindia”, Khosla believes that means $10,000 cars, not cars with $10,000 batteries. Read more…
Categories: electric cars, plug-in hybrid cars, Plug-in Vehicles, Tesla Model S, Tesla Roadster, Tesla White Star Tags: china, electric cars, plug-in hybrids, tesla
The road to plug-in success goes through China. Time for a US pullback?
Chinese manufacturing a tough nut to crack for America
Is US energy policy too fixated upon batteries?
I’m pretty confident that electrification is the future of the auto industry, but I’m not sure whether that electrification will be dominated by batteries, or whether fuel cells will also have a role to play. OK. That’s not really true. I’m confident both fuel cells and batteries will dominate the future of the auto industry. If I have any doubts, it’s whether chemical fuels, such as those derived by artificial photosynthesis, could make both batteries and fuel cells less relevant.
Even if fuel cells and/or batteries are the future, however, I’m really beginning to wonder if the current US focus on plug-in technologies is going to be an expensive exercise in futility. Read more…
Categories: electric cars, Energy Independence, Fuel Economy, Hybrid Cars, lithium batteries, plug-in hybrid cars, Plug-in Vehicles, Telematics Tags: china, electric cars, foreign oil dependence, Hybrid Cars
GM’s Chinese plug-in partnership: The beginning of the end
The MG6, an SAIC-owned product.
Will scale, cheaper labor costs, and subsidies make it impossible for US manufacturers to compete?
Since the Solyndra bankruptcy, I’ve paid a good bit of attention to the solar space, and it’s ugly right now. Certainly, the economic slowdown contributed to this cloudy situation, but the main solar storm is still brewing in China.
And the new partnership between GM and Chinese-based SAIC to develop electric vehicles and other similar partnerships are threatening to churn into the storm of the century. Read more…
Categories: Chevy Volt, electric cars, Hybrid Cars, plug-in hybrid cars, Plug-in Vehicles Tags: china, electric cars, gm, Hybrid Cars, plug-in hybrids
China having battery-powered doubts, Pike offers cautionary forecast
Despite tax incentives, Chinese consumers don't want Chinese-made plug-ins
Mainstreaming electrification is going to take longer than advocates will want to admit
Some in China, including communists like Premier Wen Jiabao and even some government agencies, are beginning to have cold feet when it comes to China’s bets on the future of plug-in vehicles, both as a solution to China’s foreign energy dependence, and as a way to make the Chinese auto industry a world leader.
Likewise, the latest Pike forecast for hybrids and plug-in vehicles suggests that most government targets for plug-in adoption, such as US and German targets, will fall far short of being met. Read more…
Categories: Buying Hybrids, Buying plug-ins, electric cars, Energy Independence, Hybrid Cars, plug-in hybrid cars, Plug-in Vehicles Tags: china, electric cars, Hybrid Cars, plug-in hybrids
Marchionne: EV focus means “capital overspend and sub-optimal results”
Chinese-made cars in the US and Europe are inevitable
Calls for more objective government regulations
Since the Fiat takeover of Chrysler, I’ve spent little time following the activities of this automotive merger. While Fiat offers some very interesting small cars, the Fiat/Chrysler venture just doesn’t offer up much in the way of hybrid or plug-in news. Thus, maybe it shouldn’t be surprising that CEO Sergio Marchionne recently went off on the very fashionable electric car movement.
Nevertheless, Marchionnes’s recent warnings regarding electric cars and China are newsworthy, and actually pretty interesting. Read more…
Categories: electric cars, plug-in hybrid cars, Plug-in Vehicles Tags: china, electric cars, plug-in hybrids
