BYD Bringing Plug-in Hybrid Electric Sports Car & 100% Electric Supercar To Market

September 24th, 2013 by Zachary Shahan

BYD isn’t exactly known for beautiful, exciting electric vehicles. My impression of its electric cars has always been that it builds decent electric cars for a decent price. However, word on the EV street is that the company is looking to spice things up a bit with a plug-in hybrid electric sports car, the Tang hybrid (not the car pictured below).

BYD Qin Hybrid

China Car Times writes: “We have seen BYD’s next generation Qin Hybrid concept before, that particular system is fitted with a 1.5T and BYD’s electric motor and iron phosphate battery system, the result is a 0-100kph time of 5.9seconds and an expected 300bhp with fuel use of just 2L per 100km with the car hitting the market in the fourth quarter of this year. But the next in line is the most interesting. Following on with the Chinese dynasty name theme, BYD are set to introduce a ‘Tang’ hybrid vehicle which will make the Qin look obsolete when it launches in 2014. The Tang will use BYD’s aforementioned 2.0T and hybrid system to propel it from 0-100 in 4.9 seconds, this system is likely to launch on the BYD S7 SUV first as it was showcased at the North American Auto Show previously.”

Aside from the above, a 100% electric supercar referred to as E9 is also reportedly in the works. The E9 is supposed to do 0-100kp/h in 3.9 seconds (the Tesla Roadster does that in 3.7 seconds).

There has been some talk BYD would go all electric/hybrid. It doesn’t seem like it’s close to that yet, but it may have that target in mind.

h/t AutoblogGreen

Keep up to date with all the hottest cleantech news by subscribing to our (free) cleantech newsletter, or keep an eye on sector-specific news by getting our (also free) solar energy newsletter, electric vehicle newsletter, or wind energy newsletter.

Tags: BYD electric sports car, BYD electric supercar, BYD Qin, BYD Qin Hybrid, BYD Tang hybrid, Qin Hybrid, Tang hybrid, Tang sports car

About the Author

Zachary Shahan spends most of his time here on CleanTechnica as the director/chief editor. Otherwise, he's probably enthusiastically fulfilling his duties as the director/editor of Solar Love, EV Obsession, Planetsave, or Bikocity. Zach is recognized globally as a solar energy, electric car, and wind energy expert. If you would like him to speak at a related conference or event, connect with him via social media. You can connect with Zach on any popular social networking site you like. Links to all of his main social media profiles are on ZacharyShahan.com.

Chris Marshalk

BYD is looking good. Now only if they sold their cars in Australia.
- Ronald Brakels
  
  The good news there is China’s current is similar to our own and even the power points are basically identical. (Except ours are of course upside down compared to theirs since we’re down under.)
  - Bob_Wallace
    
    That makes stuff cheaper in China doesn’t it?
    
    They don’t have to pay extra for the gluey stuff that keeps things from falling off the bottom….
    - Ronald Brakels
      
      No, not really. You see, the actual reason Australians don’t fall off the bottom of the earth is because the Nothern Hemisphere sucks so much.
      - Bob_Wallace
        
        Always glad to be of assistance…
      - Ronald Brakels
        
        I don’t think it’s you. But there was a perceptible decrease in gravity here when Bieber did his Down Under tour.
      - Bob_Wallace
        
        Come on. Bieber isn’t ours.
        
        He belongs to you, part of your Commonwealth.
      - Ronald Brakels
        
        Canada is still Up Over and not Down Under. The US wears it as a hat. It’s cold, wet, and beautiful and the people there have really strange accents but to people from other countries you all sound the same. In other words Canda is the United State’s New Zealand.
      - Bob_Wallace
        
        But you can always tell Americans from Canadians when they travel.
        
        We sew maple leaf flags on our packs in an attempt to disguise ourselves.
Felix Hoenikker

Nice, hope these ones dont catch on fire as easily as their buses.
- Ronald Brakels
  
  I’m not aware of any BYD bus fires. Do you have a link? I am aware of a BYD taxi that caught on fire after a high speed accident where it was hit by a sports car and then hit a tree and the impact killed all three passengers. Fortunately they are working on making batteries less flammable than gasoline. Oh wait, they’re already there.
  - Felix Hoenikker
    
    Hahaha, can’t find a link, was about 3 years ago and the bus wasn’t in use at the time. I agree batteries can be far safer than gasoline, especially if you don’t make a point of combusting them.
    - Bob_Wallace
      
      Having never seen a report of a BYD bus fire and having seen the media way overplay ever single EV problem I suspect you might be thinking about the fire in the BYD taxi.
      
      The one that started with an electric short in the wiring after the taxi was hit by a gasmobile going around 100 MPG. The one where the interior fabric in the taxi caught on fire and spread to the car batteries. The one in which some, not all batteries burned.
      - Felix Hoenikker
        
        Ya probably, either way I’d take a burning pack over a sloshing pool of fire. Electric shorts can happen in gasmobiles too.
      - Bob_Wallace
        
        200,000 gasmobile fires per year in the US.
        
        I came close to dying in one. I can appreciate the heat….
      - Burnerjack
        
        Nearly 550 gas fires per day and none are on the news? At all? Please produce some corroborating evidence. Your stats seem less than probable. What percentage of quoted stats are just made up? 90%?
      - Bob_Wallace
        
        Will this do?
        
        http://www.thetruthaboutcars.com/2011/11/chart-of-the-day-vehicle-fires-edition/
      - Burnerjack
        
        Fair enough reply. As the first comment noted, the stat was all vehicular fires, from any and all causes. Not just from fuel, but, that aside, I watch several news broadcasts everyday, yet I can only recall the last one involving a limo which killed
        5 women in May. I still find amazing that all these fires are ignored by a media craving anything sensational to exploit.
        In theory, another 90K or so have occurred since.
      - Bob_Wallace
        
        Looking at the graph I’m wondering if a lot of the fires aren’t carburetor fires and a big reason for the drop is a move to fuel injection. I’ve seen a few carb fires (had one) that didn’t burn the car up, but had they been in an urban area would have brought the fire department out and created a data point.
        
        The last US production carbureted car was in 1990.
        
        And I’d bet few people die in a car fire. They die in a crash in which the car burns. The fire secondary to the crash.
      - Burnerjack
        
        Both points are interesting. Fuel Injected engines tend not to “cough” up through the intake, at least before you add forced induction anyway. I can certainly see you’re point in car accident induced fire being reported as an accident with the detail of the resulting fire possibly being omitted, but, that runs contrary to the MSM’s penchant to sensationalize.
- paintdot
  
  The car that caught on fire was not a bus, it was called “E6″. The bus is doing all good and now it is even MADE-IN-USA. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/BYD_electric_bus
Bob_Wallace

BYD and Daimler have been working together to improve BYDs styling and customer appeal. Apparently they are going to co-market electrics under the Denza brand.

Interestingly, Tesla has been helping Daimler with battery tech.