BYD unveils initiatives to spotlight new energy drive

By Alison Leung CHANGSHA, China, Sept 30 (Reuters) - Chinese car and battery maker BYD, backed by U.S. billionaire Warren Buffett, on Thursday unveiled two initiatives to spotlight its drive to become a clean energy specialist. In the splashier of the two, BYD, 10 percent owned by Buffett's Berkshire Hathaway, unveiled its electric K9 e-bus and signed a contract to provide 1,000 of the vehicles to the Hunan provincial government. Buffett attended a flashy launch ceremony for the buses, as one complete with a vivid BYD logo and nine guests inside drove out onto the stage for a ribbon cutting ceremony presided over by BYD founder and Chairman Wang Chuanfu. "K9 is truly zero emission and provides a green solution to the city," Wang said. The buses are being produced at a plant in Hunan that will eventually have annual capacity to make 800,000 vehicles. "This will greatly help decrease the air pollution in Hunan, and be a model for clean public transportation for the whole country," government officials said in a statement. At over 12 metres long, the e-bus can reach speeds of over 25 mph, travel 190 miles on a charge and be fully charged in six hours or in just a half hour using a special rapid charger. Company officials previously said that other buyers have expressed an interest in the buses, but that BYD wants to complete a trial in Hunan before moving forward. In the other initiative, BYD, whose clean energy vision helped to attract Buffett as an investor two years ago, said it has agreed to build an energy storage station in conjunction with the local government in the interior province of Hunan. Developed with the provincial and Changsha city governments and the Hunan Grid Corp, the station would be capable upon completion of providing 10 megawatts of energy for two hours to the Hunan power grid. The first phase of the facility would have capacity of 1 megawatt to be completed this year. The remaining 9 megawatts would be completed by the end of 2011. Buffett, 80, chairman of Berkshire Hathaway, and vice chairman Charlie Munger have been in China this week, visiting BYD's headquarters and production plants on Monday in Shenzhen in southern China. Bill Gates joined them in Beijing, where the pair met with wealthy Chinese businessmen to exchange ideas about philanthropy. Changsha is the last public stop of Buffett's four-day trip, his first to BYD, which stands for "Build Your Dreams", almost two years after Berkshire's affiliate MidAmerican Energy bought a 10 percent stake in the company for around $230 million. "Over the last few days, it's absolutely amazing," Buffett said, describing his brief but whirlwind Odyssey through China. During his visit, Buffett has been full of praise for BYD, which has earned a handsome profit for Berkshire whose stake is now valued at about $1.7 billion. Buffett and Bill Gates, who also attended the ceremony in Changsha, spent Wednesday evening in Beijing hosting a gathering for China's super wealthy for a discussion about philanthropy. "We have seen a very, very remarkable company at BYD," Buffett said at a Thursday morning media briefing in Beijing to discuss the philanthropy dinner. From that event, he went to visit a new outlet of Dairy Queen, an ice cream restaurant chain owned by Berkshire Hathaway, before flying to Changsha. Some analysts had speculated that Buffett might be considering selling down his stake in BYD following the stock's big run-up, and also after a series of recent miss-steps that saw the company pare back its 2010 sales target. But BYD tried to squelch any such speculation, with an unnamed official telling local media the company had actually raised the possibility of Berkshire raising its stake during closed-door discussions. Buffett himself declined to comment directly on any plans to boost or decrease his stake. (Reporting by Alison Leung; Editing by Ken Wills)