During a display of BYD Auto's products, Xiao Haiping, head of the company's Public Relation department, said that the company has three "green dreams": a solar power plant, a storage power plant and new energy-fueled automobiles, all of which are based on the iron battery technology.
"Iron battery technology is BYD's "core technology," Xiao said.
Wang Chuanfu, a former researcher in battery technology, founded BYD in Shenzhen in 1995. The company originally made nickel batteries. In 1998, it switched to lithium battery production, and has since become the first and largest battery manufacturer for Motorola in China.
The company is also an original equipment manufacturer of the Motorola and Nokia cell phones, and a variety of laptops.
In 2003, BYD entered the automobile industry after offering 254 million Hong Kong dollars for 77% of Xi'an Qinchuan Automobile Company's stock shares, and became the most popular middle and low-end automobile manufacturer in China.
Now the company aims to lead the way in the new energy industry including solar power, power storage and new energy fueled automobiles.
The company launched two new energy-fueled automobiles last year: E6 and F3DM. The company was able to provide 50 E6 electric taxis to Shenzhen last May, each of which has run more than 130,000 kilometers.
According to Xiao, F3DM, a hybrid car came to market last March, uses only electricity when driving less than 60 kilometers, and uses hybrid fuel of oil and electricity when driving faster than that.
According to Xiao, the vehicle is planned to be sold in places including Shanghai, Beijing, and Changchun, where people will be awarded 50,000 yuan for buying a hybrid car. The Shenzhen government also subsidizes local buyers with 30,000 yuan. As a result, the vehicle's price can be as low as 89,800 yuan.
The company also provided 300 E6 taxis and 200 K9 electric buses to Shenzhen during the Universiade. People will more willingly accept the energy-fueled vehicles through using such vehicles, said Xiao.
However, the company has sold only 771 F3DM cars since July, which Xiao said was due to "a shortage of iron battery production," while more than 5,000 oil-fueled S6 SUVs were sold in last month alone. According to a BYD employee, the company still pays much attention to oil-fueled vehicle sales in the domestic market.
In September 2008, Warren Buffet bought 9.9% of BYD's shares worth $230 million. But according to China Business News, the company's net profits of the first half in 2011 dropped by 85 percent to 95 percent year-on-year.
Xiao declined to comment on the profits drop, but it has been said that it was a result of the company's car sales drop.
