A lot of conservatives are pissing their pants because they think the Chinese will go on polluting the world while America and Europe seek to reduce emissions. While China at the moment certainly has smog problems, I’m quite certain that by 2020, they’ll be working as hard as the West is on trying to prevent imminent, obvious catastrophe. Why do I think this, besides the fact that China has plenty of coastline? They’re already ahead of America in one very important area: The Electric Car.
For now, BYD will focus on China’s domestic market. Priced at about $22,000 each, the cars are a bit pricey for average consumers, so BYD will first aim at government and corporate buyers. Jia says it will take time for the new technology to win acceptance.
From an environmental standpoint, electric cars are not yet as green as they could be. That’s because most electricity is generated by burning coal. But BYD is working on that, too. It’s in the early stages of researching electric cars powered by solar energy.
Oh, but surely no American investor would be crazy enough to try to bring that venture to the USA, right?
Wang impressed investor Warren Buffett. In September, one of Buffet’s companies purchased a 10 percent stake in BYD for $230 million.
Independent auto industry analyst Jia Xinguang explains how this might work: “Buffett has a company called MidAmerican Energy. They made the investment in BYD. They also have an electricity grid in the American Midwest. So that’s the cooperation: BYD builds the cars, and MidAmerican Energy builds the charging stations.”
I don’t know about you, but when I hear that Warren Buffet is investing in charging stations for conumer electric cars, I start to think that green investing may be a safer investment than say, gold bars or inaccessible land in Wyoming. But hey, Republicans, go ahead and hide your gold bricks in Wyoming, and don’t fill out the census form while you’re at it.
In the meantime, I figure it will take 5 to 10 years for BYD to design a model that’s snazzy and safe enough for surburbia. That’s a mighty short window for Ford, GM, Chrysler, and Tesla to try to salvage some market share. Remember, if we don’t invest in the technology now, we’ll never own a piece of the market.