CHINA BLOG: BYD and Portland could be a great fit for both

1:30 am, Tuesday, September 15, 2008
Marcado Restaurant, Shenzhen, People's Republic of China

I made it. Paul and David, the company's directors of marketing stayed up to get together with me for an 11:30 pm dinner meeting. Despite the late hour the meeting went well.

One of the world's largest battery maker, Shenzhen China-based BYD, wants to leverage their expertise manufacturing lithium iron phosphate batteries into building plug-in hybrid and all-electric automobiles.

Their planned all-electric model will have top speed of 100 mph and with range of 186 miles per battery charge that can be recharged enough times to drive about 373,000 miles.

Portland and Oregon are not Detroit in terms of density of existing automobile manufacturing plants but we do have Freightliner trucks, Monaco Coach and rail car manufacturing expertise with Gunderson.

But Portland has something no other US city: a transportation vision and track record of innovation and sustainability. And PGE that is interested in promoting the use of plug-in hybrids and al-electrical vehicle by investing in the public charging stations.

To BYD, I mentioned our early support for Flexcar (now Zipcar) and that in addition to placing charging stations on the street we could include them in our Smart Park garages. We also discussed testing all-electric or plug in hybrids with taxi companies with the charging station at tax waiting zones and testing BYD's cars as part of the city government fleet.

The auto-shopping Web site Cars.com recently released its "Green Index" ranking the top markets for hybrid-fuel vehicles. Portland ranked second. Nearly 4.8 percent of all new car searches on the site were for hybrids, coming in behind San Francisco's 5.6 percent.

The Portland Business Journal reported that Portland's first "earth friendly vehicle" dealership, EcoMotion, opened in September on Sandy Boulevard. The company has sold 308 vehicles -- about 60 of which were all electric, said Steve Scharer, EcoMotion's general manager.

The city already has an early-start on the necessary infrastructure for electric vehicles. Portland General Electric hosts an electric-car charging station outside its offices at the Portland World Trade Center.

BYD was brought to our attention by Jin Lan, a China business consultant based in Vancouver, Wash and his partner in recruiting BYD, Merle Greenstein, and chairman of Tualatin-based International Development Association.

Also reported in the Portland Business Journal, BYD Auto is a subsidiary of BYD Co., the world's biggest maker of mobile-phone batteries. BYD broadened into automating in 2003, when it bought Shaanxi Qinchuan Auto Co., according to the Portland Business Journal. "They want to find an area to test on 50 cars," Greenstein said. "I sat down with them and convinced them the best place to do this is Portland, Oregon." Josh Thomas, a Port spokesman, said port officials are meeting with BYD. The port already has a robust auto import business: Its three auto import facilities handled nearly 450,000 autos in 2007. Each vehicle brings an estimated $318 economic impact to the region.

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Posted Tue, 09/16/2008 - 8:18am.

[[ Categories: Jobs & Economy ]]

A great moving forward

Submitted by Ziyu Qian on Mon, 09/29/2008 - 11:44am.

Sam,

What you are doing can bring big influence to the economy of your great city. Me too, live in Florida working on to bring BYD cars here. Enjoy your trip in China, my home country.

Ziyu

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Sam Adams wrote: "Portland

Submitted by Erik H. on Tue, 10/07/2008 - 8:56pm.

Sam Adams wrote: "Portland and Oregon are not Detroit in terms of density of existing automobile manufacturing plants but we do have Freightliner trucks, Monaco Coach and rail car manufacturing expertise with Gunderson.

Sam, what are you doing to provide a transportation vision and innovation for TriMet's bus fleet, that 2/3rds of Portland's transit ridership uses?

TriMet has publicly denounced hybrid technology for its bus fleet, stating there is virtually zero benefit. Yet Daimler Trucks, through its subsidiary Daimler Commercial Busses North America, is heavily promoting hybrid technology in its transit busses (which Portland has never ordered, and Portland would be truly innovative by encouraging Daimler to bring that business to Portland and create green transportation jobs.)

You mention Monaco Coach - why not partner with them to develop a commercial bus vehicle that Portland could use? Many RV manufacturers do manufacture commercial busses; and Monaco has had to lay off hundreds of employees. Keeping those jobs in Oregon would be a boon - plus provide additional transportation infrastructure for Portland.

And, what is your vision that includes bus service here in Portland? I want very detailed specifics, not just a broad statement of "we support busses" - but HOW. You have specific Streetcar plans, why is there not a specific bus plan? Ideas for new routes, new services, new vehicles, bus stop improvements, schedule improvements, etc. These have been sorely missing from you and your agency, and the idea that "it's a TriMet problem" does not fly with me (else the Streetcar is a TriMet problem too, and Portland shouldn't be spending time on it.)

You are trying to say that you want these green jobs here in Portland, but there is no reason if the City won't support those businesses directly. Instead of giving away Portland's tax dollars for a handful of jobs, why not give away those tax dollars for jobs AND improvements to the city?

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