Byd To Launch Soon

[Nishan.dj]

Hi friends,

Although this news is bit older and had discussed in another thread, I would kindly like to ask all of your opinion about buying a fully electric vehicle.

I came to know that La*gfs to launch electric car (BYD) at the end of this year but will cost around 8 Million. First the news impressed me because it could go up to 300Kms from a single charge. (Don't know how many Kws it needs to fully charge the battery though) I have seen few Nissan Leaf cars around Colombo but still it hasn't got considerable attention from the people who like such kind of vehicles. The cost of these vehicles has to be much lower because those are called to be zero impact to the environment. However will these cars be able win the market as you think? Please post what you think about it. Thanks so much in advance.

[GayanR]

I would buy one if it takes only like 15 min to fully charge.Lets say you had to travel kandy and come back on the same day with about 200km charge remaining on the car.I would hate to wait like freaking 5 hours for it to charge to come back.It might be a good option for daily city or office travel on a certain route.But for me it will be like living with anxiety all year along,you can't make an emergency run without prior planing and charging.I'll buy an electric the day when earth ran out of oil.

[Crosswind]

U mean the cars which are made by welding the front part of corolla altis with the rear of honda city?

No thank you.

[Schiffer]

Why on earth are you excited about a chinese brand? all the make are rip-offs and why would you even consider buying a electric car from them?

[Magnum]

A chinese car costs 8mil where as the Nissan Leaf costs 4mil?

The question of whether i'll buy it or not depends where im living,

In Sri Lanka, no. In a country like US where having more than one car is no big deal, then yes

Edited May 26, 2014 by Magnum

[Nishan.dj]

I would buy one if it takes only like 15 min to fully charge.Lets say you had to travel kandy and come back on the same day with about 200km charge remaining on the car.I would hate to wait like freaking 5 hours for it to charge to come back.It might be a good option for daily city or office travel on a certain route.But for me it will be like living with anxiety all year along,you can't make an emergency run without prior planing and charging.I'll buy an electric the day when earth ran out of oil.

Thanks and Yes this facts are agreeable and good ones.

U mean the cars which are made by welding the front part of corolla altis with the rear of honda city?

No thank you.

Lets forget the design and without considering a specific brand, would you consider buying an electric vehicle? If so what facts you consider the most, If not why not?

Why on earth are you excited about a chinese brand? all the make are rip-offs and why would you even consider buying a electric car from them?

I am not in to buy this brand but was curious to know what you guys know and think towards buying an electric vehicle. More of these may come to the market in the future I guess.

A chinese car costs 8mil where as the Nissan Leaf costs 4mil?

The question of whether i'll buy it or not depends where im living,

In Sri Lanka, no. In a country like US where having more than one car is no big deal, then yes

You are correct. As I heard, government has not reduced any taxes because of the fact that it is a zero emission car. As you said, you could buy one only if you have spare money which makes to think that still you think electric car is a kind of "Better to have but optional"?

Appreciate your replies a lot.

[Gummybr]

U mean the cars which are made by welding the front part of corolla altis with the rear of honda city?

No thank you.

Actually they have their own design which are used as Taxi's in the UK.

The whole electricity tariff system will have to change, plus solar power charging at home and office will need to be made available if this is t become a viable product. If not we will pay more on electricity just to charge the car where as we would have been better off pumping petrol or diesel. Also for me it would be just a town vehicle regardless of the 300km range given in the brochures and websites.

If the company who imports can provide solutions for all these issues then there is a chance for it to take off, but currently petrol and diesel for me is still cheaper than electricity if you do the calculations.

Off topic, have any of you guys seen the so called charging stations advertised by the guys who bring the Leaf? They say so many things in their small advert on H*tads but just for every ones knowledge. (Charging cards and island wide charging stations).

[Schiffer]

None in kandy... (charging station)

althought there are 1 or 2 leafs here now too.

[Magnum]

Thanks and Yes this facts are agreeable and good ones.

Lets forget the design and without considering a specific brand, would you consider buying an electric vehicle? If so what facts you consider the most, If not why not?

I am not in to buy this brand but was curious to know what you guys know and think towards buying an electric vehicle. More of these may come to the market in the future I guess.

You are correct. As I heard, government has not reduced any taxes because of the fact that it is a zero emission car. As you said, you could buy one only if you have spare money which makes to think that still you think electric car is a kind of "Better to have but optional"?

Appreciate your replies a lot.

My doubt is why is a Chinese electric car much more expensive than a Nissan one?

[Ruslan]

I dont think it will be a practical since we are paying a huge electricity bill per unit (not to forget we are burning fossil fuel to generate that electricity). Plus these things are still on experiment and i dont wanna be a guinea pig and get fried in one of them. But that's just me

[Nishan.dj]

Yes magnum, as per the news its too expensive and does little more kms than leaf. I also do not believe in so called higher milage in our country where lot of hill climbing and bad road condition is involved. However the production cost of those Chinese electrical cars has to be lower compared with Japanese ones like leaf. I think there may be a potential market in the near future for these types of vehicles because I see some leafs around the city without even a proper charging station is installed. :-)

[Gummybr]

My doubt is why is a Chinese electric car much more expensive than a Nissan one?

There's only one reason machang. The Leaf is bought in as a reconditioned and that means the CIF price can be manipulated. For example a 2 year old Leaf in UK is only GBP11,500 where as the estimated price for a brand new BYD is GBP24,000 in UK (Source autotrader and autocar) which is still cheaper than the brand new Leaf. So you can do the math and see why it is expensive.

Worry should not be that, it should be how and what you will end up paying running the bloody thing and maintaining it. For a local agent it could be more feasible to get a recon car and test it here, but if the supplier agrees or not is upto them.

[The Don]

I think whether we like it or not, we're going to see more Chinese vehicles on our roads, so we should move beyond the prejudices and judge each product on their own merits.

I hear BYD also makes Hybrids, though I'm yet to see one and truth be told, I saw very few Hybrids while in China recently.

Sadly I saw first hand evidence as I walked to work today.......... a King Long bus ferrying students to West London University, replacing the old Optare.....

[Magnum]

Yes magnum, as per the news its too expensive and does little more kms than leaf. I also do not believe in so called higher milage in our country where lot of hill climbing and bad road condition is involved. However the production cost of those Chinese electrical cars has to be lower compared with Japanese ones like leaf. I think there may be a potential market in the near future for these types of vehicles because I see some leafs around the city without even a proper charging station is installed. :-)

There's only one reason machang. The Leaf is bought in as a reconditioned and that means the CIF price can be manipulated. For example a 2 year old Leaf in UK is only GBP11,500 where as the estimated price for a brand new BYD is GBP24,000 in UK (Source autotrader and autocar) which is still cheaper than the brand new Leaf. So you can do the math and see why it is expensive.

Worry should not be that, it should be how and what you will end up paying running the bloody thing and maintaining it. For a local agent it could be more feasible to get a recon car and test it here, but if the supplier agrees or not is upto them.

Arent the Leaf's brought in brand new? anyway if im going for an electric car i would go for the Nissan Leaf, its been in the market for sometime and it seems to successful in other countries

[trinity]

I think whether we like it or not, we're going to see more Chinese vehicles on our roads, so we should move beyond the prejudices and judge each product on their own merits.

I hear BYD also makes Hybrids, though I'm yet to see one and truth be told, I saw very few Hybrids while in China recently.

Sadly I saw first hand evidence as I walked to work today.......... a King Long bus ferrying students to West London University, replacing the old Optare.....

Even it is owned by Ashok Leyland.

[s.madura]

on a different note, i'm not sure how government policies are matched to each other. once power minister repeatedly requested communities to reduce their usage of electricity as government is spending hell of lot money to generate power by burning fuel. eventually adding a subsidy on consumers' electricity bill

on the other hand it allows you to bring full electric vehicle & let you charge it from home. means people's tax money gonna spend of few people's ride.

#crazystuff