Chinese automaker Dongfeng Motor (its logo shown here) and a Dutch-based company somewhat misleadingly called Detroit Electric Holdings, plan to cooperate in developing and making electric cars. This is part of the strong push in China towards alternative energy vehicles.
Detroit Electric Holdings, a startup company that owns the electric drive technology to be used in the cars, plans to license it to Dongfeng for testing and use in its electric vehicles.
Albert Lam the chairman and CEO of Detroit Electric’s chairman and CEO said the two companies are also discussing forming a joint venture to manufacture, assemble, produce and supply the Detroit Electric’s electric drive technology to the Dongfeng Group and other vehicle manufacturers.
Albert Lam said the deal would be similar in scope to Detroit Electric’s agreement with Malaysian automaker Proton for producing electric vehicles for export.
He said, ‘The more I learn, the more I believe the electric car is the future.’
If it succeeds, Detroit Electric would be among the first to mass-produce an electric car driven purely by a noiseless battery-powered motor. It says its electric drive systems will enable extended-range models of the cars it is used in travel up to 325 kilometers (200 miles) on a single charge.
Lam joined a group of Dutch investors and inventors to set up Detroit Electric, based in Damwoude, Netherlands, in 2008. He said bought the rights to the company’s name — Detroit Electric produced electric cars in the U.S. in the early 1900s — because ‘We share the same vision.’
Click2Houston, quoting from AP, said State-run Dongfeng, formerly the Second Automobile Works, is a partner of Japan’s Nissan Motor, and is based in the central Chinese city of Wuhan.