F3DM, the first mass-produced plug-in hybrid car in the world, manufactured by Chinese auto maker BYD(Build You Dreams), was launched in the retail market on Monday, December 15, in the southern city of Shenzhen, the car’s hometown.

"The F3DM is the world's first hybrid car that is not reliant on specialized electric charging stations. It is the cutting-edge product to the global green auto industry," said president of BYD Wang Chuanfu of the new car. The car can travel up to 62 km on its electric engine. When the elevtrical power runs low, the car shifts to a gasoline engine. It travels longer than the hybrid cars by Toyota and General Motors that could run just 25 km before recharging.

The battery can be recharged up to 4,000 times. Battery charging takes around nine hours from a regular electrical outlet or just an hour at BYD's charging stations. The hybrid cars retail price shall be less than 150,000 yuan (about US$22,000).

The launch was welcomed by the city and provincial governments as well as the state-owned banks which pledged support by buying and promoting the car.

According to analysts, the new car would need more government support to survive the market as it is priced relatively high, much higher than the company's current F3 mid-sized sedan, on which the new vehicle was based. Besides, consumers still have to be aware and get used to the plug-in hybrid car.

A private Shenzhen-based company, BYD began as a battery maker and is now the world's No. 1 supplier of Nickel-battery, Li-battery for cell phones and keypad. Its auto manufacturing business started in 2003, when it bought Tsinchuan Automobile Company Limited.

BYD has said that it plans to export the cars to the United States, after the vehicles meet the stringent U.S. safety standards — a requirement that so far has inhibited other, better-known local automakers from developing hybrid cars.

The other car makers’ plug-in cars are due in the market at least a year from now. General Motors Corp.'s own plug-in electric car, the Chevrolet Volt, is due to roll out in late 2010 like Toyota’s, while Ford Motor Co., says it is five years away from producing them in significant numbers

BYD’s venture electric car manufacturing got a wider attention when MidAmerican Energy Holdings Co., a unit of Warren Buffett's Berkshire Hathaway Inc., invested in a 9.9 percent stake in the company.