Flexing engineering muscle
- Source: Global Times
- [08:04 December 22 2010]
- Comments
By Chen Xiaomin in Guangzhou
Beijing Automotive Industry Holding Co. (BAIC), China's fifth-biggest automaker, rolled 30 electric vehicles off its production line Monday, flexing its engineering and environmental muscles in the new energy passenger vehicle market.
The range per charge is expected to be 160 kilometers and the vehicles can reach speeds up to 160 kilometers per hour, Lin Yi, deputy general engineer of BAIC's parent BAIC Group, told the Global Times Tuesday. Lin also works as executive director of BAIC's new energy vehicle company.
The 30 vehicles come in three models. The Q60FB is based on the Saab 9-3 platform, which the automaker bought from Saab last December. The C30DB and M30RB, the other two electric sedans, were developed on BAIC's own platform.
Lin said the three models use less than 13 kilowatt-hours of power per kilometer. "Operating costs, based on the present power price in China, will be no higher than 20 percent of fuel-powered vehicles," Lin noted.
The 30 vehicles will be tested by five companies and municipal government bodies, according to Lin, who said the automaker plans to sell another 3,500 units for public and private use next year.
BAIC's new energy vehicle company aims to produce 150,000 new energy vehicles by 2015.
Beijing Automotive is not the first automaker to make a foray into a promising sector in the world's largest auto market. The BYD E6 EV, the Chery Riich M1 EV, and Toyota hybrids Prius and Camry all preceded it.
However, despite government incentives, none of those models has achieved real commercial success. The central government has announced subsidies of up to 50,000 yuan ($7,513) for each buyer of a plug-in hybrid and 60,000 yuan ($9,016) for fully-electric vehicles. Provincial and municipal governments have offered ad-ditional stimulus measures to boost purchases of new energy vehicles.
"Right now, there are two obstacles to the mass production and purchase of new energy vehicles: one is battery technologies, and the other is price," Zeng Zhiling, director of J.D. Power Asia Pacific Forecasting, told the Global Times.
As long as fuel prices don't skyrocket, people have little incentive to buy a high-priced new energy vehicle, said Zeng.
A buyer of a Camry hybrid sedan in the US needs 18 years to recoup the higher price of a new energy vehicle compared with a classic fuel-powered sedan, assuming the hybrid does 10,000 kilometers per year, according to Zeng.
