November 20, 2009
Several Plans Involve Greater Cooperation With Taiwan in EV Development
Here's a roundup of news out of China as that country tries to outplay the competition in the electric vehicles game:
Next at Bat
Mainland automaker Chery Automobile is expected to announce soon its plan to establish a global electric vehicle R&D center across the straight in Taiwan.
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Electric version of Panda sedan from China's Geely Automobile reportedly is being built in Taiwan.
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The China Economic News service says sources in Taiwan told it the Chery R&D facility would be built at the Green Energy Intelligent Vehicle Innovation Park in Taiwan's Changhua Coastal Industrial Area.
You're forgiven if you didn't know Taiwan had an EV development complex. We didn't either.
Turns out that the Taiwanese Ministry of Economic Affairs is extending incentives for manufacturers of EVs and related components to establish their operations in and around the innovation center.
Not only that, analysts at IHS Global Insight say Taiwanese automaker Yulon Motor has already unveiled an EV of its own - the Luxgen EV Plus - and is set to work with China's Geely Auto on an electric version of the Geely Panda subcompact.
Chery has its own alliance with a Taiwanese contract car builder - Prince Motors - that assembles Chery autos in Taiwan and is likely to be involved in the new electric vehicle research center.
Heading for First
Automakers in Taiwan and China are expected to announced at a joint conference next week plans to team up to build 45,000 electric cars a year on the island by 2015, with about 30 percent slated for export.
The announcement, according to the Chinese auto parts industry news service gasgoo.com, is expected to come during a Nov. 24-25 "Bridge-Building" conference designed ot help bolster business ties between China and Taiwan.
On Second
A group of ten Chinese automakers have formed an alliance to jointly develop electric vehicles and related components, according to a report in Automotive News China.
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- John O'Dell November 20, 2009, 6:00 AM
- Categories:
- BAIC, BYD, Chery, China, Dongfeng, Hybrid, Plug-ins and Electric
- Technorati Tags:
- Chinese EV Developments
, Electric Cars, Taiwan EV Development
June 19, 2009
Detroit Electric, the Dutch EV startup, said it has signed an agreement with China's Dongfeng Motor Corp. to help develop and sell electric vehicles in China.
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Detroit Electric's first prototype EV uses a body built by Malaysia's Proton.
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The cars would be based on Detroit Electric's EV drive technology.
The initial agreement calls for Dongfeng to test and validate Detroit Electric's technology with the intention to use it in production of Dongfeng-branded EVs.
The companies said they also are in discussions to form a joint venture company to manufacture, assemble, produce and supply the electric drive technology to the Dongfeng Group and other vehicle manufacturers.
Previously, Detroit Electric and Malaysian carmaker Proton signed a licensing and assembly deal that would provide Detroit Electric with vehicle platforms and its first manufacturing base.
Detroit Electric, formed last year by a group of Dutch, Malaysian and American investors, has said it intends to begin selling EVs in Europe, Asia and the U.S. next year,with a first-year goal of 45,000 sales, increasing to 270,000 by 2012.
That's an awfully optimistic goal and we're not holding our breath -- but we do wish them luck.
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- John O'Dell June 19, 2009, 10:14 AM
- Categories:
- China, Dongfeng, Plug-ins and Electric
- Technorati Tags:
- Chinese EVs
, Detroit Electric, Dongfeng Motor, Electric Vehicles
April 9, 2009
Add Nissan to the list of automakers (including Chongqing Changan Auto, BYD, Brilliance, Chery, Dongfeng and SAIC) that are intent upon plugging into the rough-and-tumble Chinese market for hybrid-electric and battery-electric cars.
The Wall Street Journal reported on Wednesday that Nissan is negotiating with China's Ministry of Industry and Information Technology to create a pilot electric-vehicle program in Wuhan, a city in central China with nine million residents.
The deal is unusual, the Journal reports, because Beijing typically doesn't forge such partnerships with foreign companies. The newspaper reported that the deal, which calls for Nissan to contribute cars and help create a recharging network, could be completed as soon as Friday.
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- Greg Johnson April 9, 2009, 11:49 AM
- Categories:
- Alternative Fuels, BYD, Chery, China, China, Dongfeng, Emissions, Fuel Economy, Hybrid, Hydrogen, Natural Gas, Nissan, Plug-ins and Electric
- Technorati Tags:
- Chinese Hybrids
, Electric Vehicles, Legislation, Nissan
February 10, 2009
China has taken steps in recent years to change its reputation as a mass polluter to an environmentally sensitive country.
Its efforts started with a massive Beijing clean-up operation for the Olympics, followed by a $175 billion countrywide clean-up and the closure of some particularly dirty coal power plants.
Soon the country will offer subsidies to the residents and businesses of 13 large cities, including Beijing and Shanghai, who purchase hybrid cars, trucks and buses, or vehicles that run on electricity, liquefied petroleum gas or compressed natural gas.
If the subsidy program succeeds, it might be extended to the rest of China.
Although the Toyota Prius, Honda Civic Hybrid and the domestically produced and recently released BYD F3DM are available in China, fewer than a 1,000 hybrids cars were sold in 2008.
That number will likely change as China produces more hybrids, which are much less expensive than the Japanese hybrids. The size of the subsidies have yet to be announced.
So far, only two Chinese carmakers - Dongfeng Motor and Great Wall Motor (its Kunna EV is pictured) - have announced plans to make electric or plug-in hybrid vehicles.
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- Scott Doggett February 10, 2009, 1:37 PM
- Categories:
- BYD, Chery, Dongfeng, Emissions, Great Wall, Honda, Hybrid, Natural Gas, Plug-ins and Electric, Tax Incentives, Toyota
- Technorati Tags:
- BYD F3DM
, China, Dongfeng Motor, Great Wall Motor, Honda Civic Hybrid, Toyota Prius
