This month’s Atlantic has an interesting article about China by James Fallows. The last portion writes a bit about a recently founded battery company that is now the world’s largest supplier of rechargeable batteries, employing 130,000 people.
[BYD unveiled] the world’s first mass-produced battery-powered hybrid car that could be recharged on normal household current. … much of the U.S. press tittered about mistranslations in the BYD promotional material and the stodginess of the car’s design. “Oh, we can always make the car look better!” Stella Li told me when I asked her about that. “Designing the car, building the car, that is the easy part.” She was being deliberately breezy: she went on to explain the company’s faith that its demonstrated edge in battery technology, plus its engineering skills and “vertically integrated” manufacturing system—it builds almost all of the car’s components itself—will give it a long-term advantage. And against the snickering of the U.S. auto press was Warren Buffett’s purchase of 10 percent of the company, for $230 million, late last year.
[Coincidentally, the New York Times has an article today on the Chinese electric car industry.]
Hmm… Warren Buffett or people bought and paid for by the auto industry… who to trust?