China Orders 100,000 Electric Mercedes-Benzes

If true, the order made by the Chinese government for 100,000 electric vehicles manufactured by the Daimler-BYD joint venture will surely become the biggest such contract for electric vehicles signed to date. And, according to sources cited by es.autoblog.com, it is as true as it gets.

Apparently, the Chinese government will be the biggest customer for the joint-ventures future electric vehicle. China expects the huge order to be honored by 2012, but the financial terms of the deal have not yet been disclosed.

Information about the electric vehicle ordered by China are not yet know, apart for the fact that it will be based on the current generation B-Klasse model. The EV is said to be capable of a range of 300 km (186 miles) and will be a brand of its own.

The partnership between Daimler and BYD has been announced this May. The two partners will invest $87.8 million in the project, aiming at creating electric vehicle. The partnership will build on Daimler’s expertise in electric vehicle architecture and safety and on BYD’s battery technology e-drive systems.

The huge order for EVs is likely to put the smile back on BYD execs' faces, after earlier this week they were forced to announce a decrease of the target for 2010.

"We are predicting a 25% drop this year - we have revised our expectations," BYD marketing manager Paul Lin said in an interview with just-auto.com.

"In the second quarter the market was not as good as we expected. Most importantly we have internally decided not to look for such rapid growth - the most important thing is to handle our quality."