Chinese firm to make electric cars

Chinese carmaker Dongfeng Motor Corporation is tying up with a Dutch-based company to develop and manufacture electric cars.

Detroit Electric Holdings, a start-up company that owns the electric drive technology to be used in the cars, plans to license it to Dongfeng for testing and use in its electric vehicles, CEO Albert Lam said.

The two companies are also discussing forming a joint venture to manufacture, assemble, produce and supply the Detroit Electric's electric drive technology to the Dongfeng Group and other vehicle manufacturers.

Financial details of the tie-up were not announced. Nor was there any word on when they hoped to produce the vehicles.

Mr Lam said the deal would be similar in scope to Detroit Electric's agreement with Malaysian carmaker Proton for producing electric vehicles for export.

If it succeeds, Detroit Electric would be among the first to mass-produce an electric car driven purely by a noiseless battery-powered motor, unlike current hybrid engines that combine petrol engines and electric motors.

"The more I learn, the more I believe the electric car is the future," said Mr Lam.

Detroit Electric said its electric drive systems will enable extended-range models to travel up to 200 miles on a single charge.
Source:[Google News]