Chinese company BYD has launched a mass-produced plug-in hybrid car for the home market.
The F3DM went on sale this week in Beijing for just under 150,000 yuan (just over £14,000), which may make it pricy for many Chinese buyers. But BYD says it plans on exporting the car to the US market in 2010 or 2011.
Owners of the F3DM will get around 100 km from the battery, which can then be charged up at specialist charging stations or at home. In combination with the conventional engine, the car has a total range of around 500 km.
Although BYD says it has relatively low expectation of sales to begin with, it claims to have capacity to produce 10,000 vehicles per month.
Charging time remains a drawback, however. A full recharge takes around 7-9 hours, but BYD claims that a 50% recharge could take just 10 minutes at special charging stations.
According to reports in China Daily, BYD also plans to launch a pure electric car by the end of next year.
BYD is a privately held company based in Shenzen, which started out making rechargeable batteries. Warren Buffet recently bought a 9.9% stake in the company.