Hybrid Cars for Sale Heading in from China for the First Time – and they are going to be Good
Every automobile you see on the roads nowadays looks almost the same, save for some superficial differences; underneath their skin though, there is a profound evolution in progress. It started off with an effort 10 years ago to make cars more fuel efficient, with hybrid cars for sale. Fast-forward to today, and the dealerships are filled with such an array of automobiles that experiment with the electrification of the automobile in every way possible – from regular hybrids to gas-assisted electric cars like the Volt to all-electrics like the Leaf. Consumers faced with such a bewildering array of technologies, all new, awaiting their purchase decision, frequently try to establish a couple of basic benchmarks in their minds. The Toyota Prius in their minds is the benchmark for the regular hybrid. The Leaf is the generic name for a pure electric car, and the Volt happens to be one of the unclassifiable. Adding to all the confusion will be hybrid cars for sale heading in from China for the first time.
For all the hype that Chinese’s cars have gotten in America, not one has really managed to make its way to these shores yet. They would have come here a few years ago, except for how the recession made it hard for even the established players in the American market to make ends meet. Now that things are picking up again, you can soon expect some Chinese names at the dealerships. Among the most innovative new hybrid cars for sale from China coming in this year is from BYD Auto of China, called the F3DM. Americans already caught up in all these new gas-electric hybrid technologies are probably going to be thoroughly mixed up by this new Chinese introduction. Basically, it’s every one of the technologies you know, all in one car.
Essentially, the F3 DM starts with your standard sedan chassis that powers itself by two AC, electric motors and a hefty lithium-iron-phosphate battery pack that packs 16kWH. The car is something you are supposed to drive on electricity most of the time. You plug it in. You charge the battery pack and the following morning. You are supposed to just drive off like you would a Leaf. Why did they choose an unconventional lithium-iron-phosphate battery pack that is not all that great with energy capacity, when competing models like the Leaf use a much more efficient lithium manganese battery pack? To start with, what the Chinese car use is practically cheaper; but it is much safer, and it lasts far longer. For example, it is not as sensitive to getting heated up in the charging process. The battery that the Leaf uses is pretty sensitive, and it has to use cheap thermal management systems to protect the battery.
It’s just one more option to consider when you think about the hybrid cars for sale to buy this year.
And then, there is the 1-liter three cylinder engine. So, you are saying, that makes it like the Volt, doesn’t it? Not exactly. The Volt uses that engine only to charge the battery pack when you run out. On the F3 DM, once you run out of battery power after driving for approximately 25 miles, gas engine starts you off in hybrid mode. The battery management system does not allow you to totally deplete the battery. It switches you to gas the moment you reach 20% or so on the battery. You can still drive with great fuel efficiency, because you’ll be driving a hybrid. The battery will take over if there are low speeds (because it will have some juice left and because the engine will keep trying to charge the battery), and at higher speeds, you can use the gas engine exclusively.
