BYD does deal to supply major Chinese auto group with batteries

Taking it name to heart, BYD is building their dreams ever bigger and will likely be the source of even more billions for Warren Buffet in the near future. They haven't really started selling their first hybrid, the F3DM, in earnest yet but they've just reached a deal that will see them supplying lithium batteries to one of the Chinese big three auto groups. Although the arrangement was confirmed by sales manager Wang Jianjun, the name of the battery buyer is being withheld for now due to "professional secrecy." What's not secret is that BYD and Volkswagen signed a memorandum of understanding just last May that would likely see the two in a battery-bound relationship and Volkswagen has joint ventures with two of the biggest auto groups in China, SAIC and FAW, and could very well have facilitated the deal

The batteries in question are said by the company to be good for 2,000 charge and discharge cycles which would power a car for up to 375,000 miles. With overall vehicle sales that have been doubling each year and could reach 700,000 in 2010, BYD is becoming a major automotive force in its own right. Its F3DM hybrid and all-electric e6 may well become the emeralds in its clean-tech crown and the extra battery production resulting from this deal should help them lower their costs.

[Source: Gasgoo via Green Car Congress]