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Chinese electric cars at Costco?
February 10, 2009 - Cleantech Group best of the web pick
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The CEO of Mexico-based GS Motors has sparked talk of Chinese electric cars being sold in big-box discount stores in the U.S.
Kathleen Ligocki told the Web site Hybrid Cars that she thinks the U.S. will follow the model of Mexico. GS Motors sold 4,000 Chinese-made vehicles in Mexico last year through retailers such as Costco and Wal-Mart.
GS Motors imports three styles of small vehicles from China-based First Auto Works.
Ligocki, who previously served as president of Ford of Mexico, said the next step is for Chinese-designed cars to go into production in Mexico in 2010 to serve the Latin American and Canadian markets, hitting the U.S. about five years later. She thinks that the U.S. market will follow Mexico's lead in selling the vehicles through retailers such as Wal-Mart, which has made several pushes in the sustainability arena in the past year (see Wal-Mart: cleantech solutions wanted and Wal-Mart goes local).
Hybrid Cars reported that GS is building an assembly plant in Michoacan, Mexico, with the China-based FAW Group, which has formed joint ventures with automobile giants such as Volkswagen, Toyota and Mazda.
GS Motors plans to begin selling FAW's $5,500 F1 Hatchback this year. Production from the Michoacan line is slated for 2010.
FAW also produces the neighborhood-electric vehicle Miles ZX40, which is a small van-style vehicle developed by Santa Monica, Calif.-based Miles Electric Vehicles. Miles Electric started selling its small electric truck in 2007, raising $15 million last year to further research and development (see Miles Electric debuts small truck and Converting cellulosic ethanol into cash). The company is now reportedly seeking seeking $40 million in Series B funds to further develop its low-speed electric vehicles and highway-speed sedan (see What economic slowdown?).
Other Chinese automakers targeting the U.S. market include Shenzhen, China-based BYD (HK: 1211), which began sales in December of the country's first mass-produced plug-in hybrid-electric vehicle. The car, expected to retail for RMB 150,000 ($21,900) in China, is planned for the U.S. and European markets in 2011 (see China's BYD sells first mass-produced plug-in cars).
Stealthy South Carolina electric vehicle startup RTEV and Chinese carmaker Shuanghuan Automobile said last year they plan to partner to release an electric car to the U.S. market in May 2009 and global markets about two months later (see RTEV, Shuanghuan Auto plan 2-seater electric car for '09).
Source:
Hybrid Cars
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Comments
The Great Republican Depression and the End of Cheap Oil
Submitted on February 22nd, 2009 by Unregistered user (not verified)The end of cheap oil is here, and the end of oil is near! Getting OPEC to come clean about honestly measured reserves is a hard task for sure. We can’t wait for them to tell us when they are down to the last few shipments, and the Obama boys best get on it before it is too late. Personal Windmills may soon be the only way to boil water for tea in the U.S. as we are far too slow in developing Wind and solar on big enough scale to compensate for the coming end of oil. We cannot afford to go nuclear, we need this limited supply resource for Strategic military uses first. We have already dipped deep into the world’s supply of fuel for reactors and must realize that it is finite and soon to end also. Solar, Wind, Wave, Tidal, Hydro and Geothermal are the infinite, perpertual, renewable sustainable power sources we have access to right now in practical useable form. We pray for fusion, Zero-point electric, and various perpetual motion devices but we don’t have them in our hands, and must concentrate on developing current day realities, or we can turn Iraq and Iran into glassy, radioactive parking lots for Hummers, and steal the oil there, and live with the guilt for a while? Like Hiroshima, it passes and is covered with the lies of historians, and is not of great consequence to a truly capitalist mind, just one more option we have in our hands. I like Wind and Solar better myself.
Content
Submitted on April 8th, 2009 by Michael (not verified)I am disappointed to see all the articles which lead me to click on the hyperlinks on ly to find very limited information. I would expect some photos of these Electric vehicles, links to their websites or their dealer websites.
There are so many scams out there today which makes locating a GOOD Electric vehicle extremely time consuming.
I have been searching for 6 months and have visited thousands of sites. The reason I am even taking the time to inform you is because I do like your site and would like you to know what I am unable to find.
Too early to see photos
Submitted on April 8th, 2009 by Emma RitchMichael:
None of the companies listed in this article have begun selling their highway-ready electric cars, and many haven't finished developing them. There aren't any photos or dealers to provide links to because they don't exist yet. Note the projections for most of the vehicles being ready in 2010 and 2011.
Emma Ritch, Cleantech Group
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