BYD To Unveil China's First Electric Car
中国汽车制造商比亚迪股份计划推出首款面向大众市场的国产电动车，比世界各地厂商做出的推广电动车的类似举措早了至少一年。
A Chinese auto maker plans to unveil the country's first homegrown electric vehicle for the mass market, at least a year ahead of similar efforts around the world to popularize such plug-in cars.
比亚迪计划周一在深圳市向媒体展示新款F3DM，这款电动车的电池可以用普通插座进行充电。比亚迪高管Henry Li表示，该公司本月开始向出租车运营商和其他潜在车队客户销售F3DM，并计划月底前向公众展示。比亚迪计划最早于2010年下半年开始在美国市场销售这款电动车。
On Monday, BYD Co. plans to show reporters in this southern Chinese city the new F3DM, which runs off batteries that can be charged from a regular electrical outlet. BYD began marketing the F3DM this month to cab operators and other potential fleet customers, and plans to have it in showrooms by the end of this month, said Henry Li, a senior company executive. BYD plans to sell the car in the U.S. market as early as the second half of 2010.
这无疑是项重大考验：像中国这样的国家，通过鼓励私营企业和消费者，能多快地将一项昂贵的新汽车动力技术带入主流社会？中国政府出台了建造电池充电站等公共基础设施的计划，同时还打算向汽车厂商提供研发补贴，向消费者提供减税等激励措施，希望以此来支持电动车的发展。
BYD's effort is a big test of how quickly a country like China can bring into the mainstream a costly new automotive propulsion technology by prodding the private sector and the consumer. China's government intends to support the electric vehicle push through research-and-development subsidies for auto makers and tax breaks and other incentives for consumers, as well as with plans to build battery-charge stations and other public infrastructure.
尽管F3DM本质上是款电动车，但它也配有一个小型汽油发动机。不过与近年来推广的混合动力车不同的是，这款电动车的发动机只有在电池耗光时才会被用来发电。
Though essentially an electric car, the F3DM also has a small gasoline engine, but unlike the hybrid vehicles that have been popularized in recent years its engine is used to generate electricity only if the battery runs dry.
有些人质疑说，向电动车的跨越在中国是否说得通，理由之一是中国大部分电力产自污染严重的火电厂。不过，比亚迪及其电动车竞争对手认为，尽管如此电动车仍能很快在中国成为替代汽油车的可靠车型。据比亚迪的Henry Li说，该公司计划2009年销售多达1万辆电动车。美国投资家巴菲特(Warren Buffett)今年早些时候通过一家他持多数股权的公司向比亚迪投资2.3亿美元，获得该公司10%的股份。
Some people question whether the leap to electric cars makes sense in China, in part because most of China's electricity comes from 'dirty' coal-burning power plants. BYD and its electric-car rivals believe the car can nonetheless quickly become a credible alternative to gasoline cars here. BYD plans to sell as many as 10,000 F3DMs in 2009, according to Mr. Li. American investor Warren Buffett earlier this year invested $230 million through a company he majority-owns to take a 10% stake in BYD.
比亚迪F3DM彰显了中国和印度的新兴汽车厂商给发达国家那些正在疲于应对销量下滑的老牌汽车厂家带来的潜在挑战。通用汽车(General Motors)和丰田汽车(Toyota Motor)均在开发类似的电池驱动车。但是，丰田要到2009年底才会推出自己的电动车，而且计划在美国和日本而不在中国销售。通用汽车预计将于2010年底在美国推出大力宣传的雪佛兰Chevy Volt，不过该公司的财务困难给该计划的前景蒙上了阴影。
The F3DM underscores the potential challenge from new auto makers from China and India to established car companies in the developed world, just as they are struggling with sales declines. General Motors Corp. and Toyota Motor Corp. are both developing similar battery-powered cars. But Toyota won't launch its version until late 2009 and plans to sell it in the U.S. and Japan, not in China. GM is expected to launch its heavily promoted Chevy Volt in late 2010 in the U.S., but the American company's financial struggles have left the future of that effort unclear.
虽然丰田和通用都没有透露旗下电动车的预期售价，但是通用的管理人士私下里曾表示，该公司的电动车售价可能在4万美元甚至更高。F3DM的价格不到人民币15万元（合2.2万美元）。比亚迪的一位管理人士称，比亚迪电动车的价格最低可达人民币12万元，在中国普通中型轿车中属于价格较低的。
While neither Toyota nor GM has disclosed the selling price of their electric cars, officials at GM have said privately its car could sell for $40,000, or possibly more. The F3DM is to be priced at less than 150,000 yuan, or about $22,000. A BYD manager said it could be priced as low as 120,000 yuan, toward the low end of the price range for a typical midsize sedan in China.
丰田驻北京的一位销售高管说，F3DM可能没有西方和日本的老牌汽车厂商设计的电动车所具有的平顺性和质量，但是中国企业能制造出售价人民币15万元的电动车还是令我震惊；无论我们怎么努力，我们都无法制造出那种价位的电动车。
The F3DM 'probably doesn't have the ride and the quality of an electric car designed by any of the more-established auto makers in the West and Japan, but it just stuns me that a Chinese company can make a car like that for 150,000 yuan,' said a senior Toyota sales executive in Beijing. 'No matter how much we try, we couldn't make a car like that.'
日产汽车(Nissan Motor)北京研发总经理Tsunehiko Nakagawa在一次接受采访时说，该公司认为，到2020年电驱车最多可达中国汽车总销量的三成，这主要归功于政府对电动车的支持。日产汽车正在考虑最早于2012年在中国推出电动车。
Nissan Motor Co., which is weighing the launch of an electric car in China as early as 2012, believes that battery-powered cars could account for as much as 30% of all automobile sales in China by 2020, thanks mainly to government support for such vehicles, said Nissan's Beijing R&D general manager Tsunehiko Nakagawa in an interview.
1995年比亚迪成立之初主要从事电池生产，2005年开始制造常规型汽车。公司首席执行长王传福表示，电动车已经成为该公司的主要战略焦点。
BYD started out as a battery maker in 1995, and began making conventional cars in 2005. Chief Executive Wang Chuanfu said electric cars are already his company's 'main strategic focus.'
包括上海汽车工业（集团）总公司在内的其他中国汽车厂商也在开展电动车的研制工作。不过比亚迪是最早进入这一领域的，如今已经成为中国新能源汽车的“典型代表”。比亚迪总部所在的深圳市预计周一将宣布首批购买24辆F3DM，之后可能还会买进更多。
Other Chinese auto makers, including Shanghai Automotive Industry Corp., are also working on electric cars. But BYD was the earliest, and has emerged as China's poster child for new-energy vehicles. The city of Shenzhen, where BYD is headquartered, is expected to announce Monday that it is buying two dozen F3DMs initially, and possible more later.
中国2006年发布的“十一五”规划强调了投资电动车的重要性。规划提出，中国需要加快发展拥有自主知识产权的汽车发动机、电池、汽车电子、关键总成及零部件。政府没有公布这方面的投资规模。
The Chinese government's current five-year economic plan, issued in 2006, highlights the importance of investing in electric cars. It says that China needs to accelerate R&D 'of our own intellectual-property rights in electric motors, batteries, electronics, assembly know-how, and other primary components.' The government hasn't said how much it will spend.
除了政府的支持以及F3DM自身相对低价之外，这款电动车的燃油经济性也可能让它颇具吸引力。这款车一次充电后可以在几乎不消耗汽油的情况下跑49-61英里（合80-100公里）。丰田普锐斯(Prius)油电混合动力车在加速的时候要利用发电机辅助汽油发动机，每加仑汽油可以跑40-45英里。比亚迪称，利用普通家用插头给F3DM充电，充满一次需要7个小时；在专用快速电池充电站，可以在10分钟内充一半电。
Aside from government help and the car's relatively low price, the F3DM's fuel economy could make it attractive. The car can go roughly 49 to 61 miles, or 80 to 100 kilometers, on a single charge while using almost no gasoline. The Toyota Prius gasoline-electric hybrid, which uses an electric motor to assist its gasoline engine when accelerating, gets 40 to 45 miles per gallon of gas. It takes seven hours to fully charge the F3DM using a regular household electric outlet; it can be charged to 50% in 10 minutes at a dedicated quick-battery-charge station, according to the company.
中国的市场条件令政府的支持对替代燃料车在中国获得成功至关重要。据日产汽车进行的研究，零排放或低排放的电动车预计对中国减少二氧化碳排放的贡献微乎其微。这是因为中国的大部分发电厂都是火电厂，二氧化碳的排放水平很高。二氧化碳被广泛认为是导致全球变暖的一大原因。
China's market conditions make government backing essential for alternative-fuel cars to succeed here. According to a study by Nissan, zero- or low-emission cars that run on electricity are expected to make little to no contribution in China in reducing carbon-dioxide emissions, widely believed to be a cause for global warming. That's because a majority of power plants in China burn coal and emit high levels of CO2.
除此之外，目前中国对需要充电的电动车而设置的基础设施很少。一位中国消费者在一个比亚迪网上俱乐部中留言说，我很喜欢F3DM，但是我家里没有车库，我住在四楼，我怎么才能给车充电呢？比亚迪称，该公司正与第三方协商投资充电站事宜。
What's more, the country currently has minimal infrastructure for cars that need to be plugged in. 'I like the F3DM very much,' one Chinese consumer wrote in a message on an online club devoted to BYD. 'But I don't have a garage at home. I live on the 4th floor. How can I charge it?' BYD said it is talking to third parties to invest in charge stations.
尽管如此，日产汽车仍对中国电动车的前景持乐观态度。日产的Nakagawa说，中国当前的基础设施可能还没有为电动车做好准备，但是我们相信，随着政府用补贴鼓励汽车厂商投资，消费者购买电动车，电动车的时代将会到来。
Still Nissan remains keen on the outlook for electric cars in China. 'China's infrastructure may not be ready for electric vehicles today, but we believe the era of the electric vehicle will come nonetheless as the government prods auto makers and consumers to invest and buy electric vehicles with subsidies,' said Nissan's Mr. Nakagawa.
Norihiko Shirouzu
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