Sign in / up

back to article Billionaire-funded e-car gets showroom date

The electric e6 MPV manufactured by Chinese firm BYD and partly funded by American billionaire Warren Buffet will be launched later this year. e6 BYD's e6 will hit showrooms later this year The e6 will launch in China this May and be initially targeted at government buyers and taxi fleets. It will cost 300,000 yuan (£27, …

COMMENTS

House rules Send corrections
This topic is closed for new posts.
  1. simmc
    WTF?

    lithium iron phosphate battery?

    Not sure they will make 205 miles on that one!

    0 0
  2. James Hughes 1

    Confused

    215+50hp = 265hp.

    Now that is quite a lot (in Turbo Imprezza territory). So why only 0-60 in 14s - that sort of power should get you there is about 6s.

    So, we assume therefor there is a current limit from the batteries, which limited the HP that the motors can produce. In which case, why have motors capable of that HP when you can never use it all?

    Interested in the technical answer if anyone has it.

    0 0
    1. g e
      Reply Icon

      My blessed old Prelude

      VTec 2.2 is rated about 185BHP, front wheel drive. Factory spec is 6.9s 0-60

      Not that I think it does that after 120k miles which it now has but yeah 215bhp should at least match that, the Prelude is pretty heavy for a 2-door.

      0 1
  3. Wilco 1
    FAIL

    Performance?

    258bhp and 0-60 in 14s? That must be a mistake, or the battery pack weighs 2 tons... One reason I like electric cars is their high torque and the lack of gear changes which translates to fast acceleration. It's unlikely to be as fast as a Tesla, but doing 0-60 in less than 7 seconds should be trivial.

    0 0
    1. Brian 6
      Reply Icon
      Thumb Up

      @ Performance

      It only has a 215bhp motor for performance, the other motor just gives the rear wheels traction in tricky conditions. Thats why it cant crack the ton and the 0-60 time is so slow. Its all in the article, u just have to actually READ it. No one said it was a Sports Car.

      0 0
  4. Alan B

    Sounds nice

    Shame about the price. I'll be happy to test drive one of these free of charge for a year or two, as long as the company pays to have 3 phase electricity connected to my house lol

    0 0
  5. Jelliphiish
    WTF?

    hydrogen fuel cell..

    what is it with all these vibrators-on-wheels?

    0 0
  6. Joe Carter
    WTF?

    made of lead?

    0-62mph in under 14 seconds and reach 90mph. With 268bhp!

    0 0
  7. Anonymous Coward
    Alert

    Built in China

    There's a reason most people don't trust the Chinese to build these types of things. For instance, see here: http://gizmodo.com/5304233/entire-new-13+story-building-tips-over-in-shanghai/gallery/

    1 0
    1. TeeCee Gold badge
      Reply Icon
      Grenade

      Re: Built in China.

      It doesn't look very Chinese. For a start it's not immediately obvious which other manufacturer's vehicle they've ripped off the design from.

      You can see a vague sort of GM/Honda fusion thing going on, in a sort of anonymous mid-range car sort of way, but that's about it.

      0 0
  8. Peter Gordon
    Coat

    So... when they've been around for a while

    will they be known as "Old Byd-es"? ;-)

    0 0
  9. Steve Todd
    Stop

    @simmc - what does the battery chemistry matter

    providing it's got enough KWh storage capacity it'll manage the stated range. 209 miles sounds a little conservative if anything. It's got a 60KWh battery and electric cars normally use 200-250Wh/mile. That would put it in the 240-300 mile range.

    0 0
  10. blackworx
    Stop

    Here we go

    Blah blah horsepower, kilowatts. Here's a question: how much toxic waste?

    0 0
  11. Anon'anon'anon

    I want

    If I can get 200+ miles on a charge, which only takes 1 hour on a 3 phase supply (I presume you will be able to trickle charge on single phase?) and all for only 24k? I want.

    Anyone know how many miles you would get out of these types of cars before you have to change the battery or motors? is 200k miles feasible?

    0 0
  12. g e

    Fugly and slow

    <nuffsaid />

    0 1
  13. Paul Paul
    Alert

    Nice one Mateus

    Nice link. Point well made.

    0 0
  14. Greg J Preece

    Hmmm

    Half decent range...

    Decent enough speed...

    Charges up pretty quickly...

    Actually looks like a car and not an inflatable kid's toy...

    Compared to some electric cars, that thing's not bad.

    0 0
    1. Anonymous Coward
      Reply Icon
      Anonymous Coward

      Read the small print

      "BYD reckons the e6's battery can be charged to 50 per cent capacity in 10 minutes and to full capacity within one hour, when connected into a three-phase charger"

      99% of domestic premises don't have a 3 Phase supply. Yes, it's possible to build 3 Phase charging points in neighbourhood locations (with, for example, a payment mechanism) - you're not going to be able to charge at home in 10 mins. That said, even with 3 Phase 10 mins is pretty good.

      So what's Lotus going to do - Telsa are going their own way having used them to develop their first car...

      0 0
  15. ian 22

    Ahhh!

    A car made by slave labour! Nice! I want...

    0 0
  16. farranger
    FAIL

    Save the Lithium for your medications

    Lithium huh? How special - the stuff ain't exactly rare but there are not a lot of large economically useful deposits of it either, especially not if we were to try to move to lithium battery powered transportation. Perhaps you all recently saw the news about Toyota locking in rights to a large deposit in Bolivia.

    Anyway, I guess our grandkids won't be winning medals in the international sport of trading blood for oil. They'll trade blood for lithium instead!

    Great way to make progress silly humans.

    0 0
    1. spider from mars
      Reply Icon
      Megaphone

      scaremongering rubbish

      "economically useful". And as demand rises, lo and behold what was un-useful becomes useful. Part of the reason lithium deposits are so unexploited is the current sources are so easily available; we've barely scratched the surface on the rest.

      0 0
  17. CC

    If it comes from China...NO WAY!

    Old man Buffet invested 250 million to make a profit and nothing more and if this Chinese product is like any of the other land fill the Chinese supply, I'd drive a Ford Pinto with a leaking gas tank before I'd trust a Chinese car!

    1 0
  18. Kevin McMurtrie Silver badge
    Thumb Down

    0-62mph in what?

    Hopefully that's a lot under 14 seconds. Up in the 14 second range it would have a hard time competing with small diesel engines...and hills.

    0 0
This topic is closed for new posts.