Pihsiang successfully creates electric car drivetrain

We weren't familiar with the Pihsiang Machinery Manufacturing Co. until finding this story, but it appears that the Taiwanese company is very big into lithium iron phosphate batteries. They seem to show up most often in medical products such as electric wheelchairs, but that looks to change as the company branches out into electric cars and bikes. In fact, three new electric vehicles have been produced by Pihsiang and have attracted interest from various European auto manufacturers. Pihsiang plans to show its wares at upcoming, but as yet unnamed, motor shows in Europe and hopes to have vehicles in consumers' hands shortly thereafter.

Company president Chiang Ching-ming claims that its electric car platform carries some two-thousand individual LiFePO4 cells and weighs just over 1,100 pounds. If that's true, those must be some awfully lightweight batteries if they really deliver the power and range needed for reasonable EV performance.

[Source: Taiwan Economic News]