Chinese battery and electric automaker BYD Co. has set up a plant to mass produce lithium batteries for its electric cars in Huizhou, south China's Guangdong Province, according to the China Securities Journal.

BYD, partly owned by Warren Buffet, has injected around five billion yuan (about US$731.5 million) into the operation of the Huizhou plant, which produces rechargeable batteries, automobile parts and handset components, the newspaper said Thursday.

Facilities for the production of batteries for the company's electric cars are almost ready now, since construction began in September last year, the newspaper said.

The Shenzhen-based company's F3DM, China's first plug-in hybrid, made its debut last December.

Huizhou plant, the first eligible for mass production of lithium-ion batteries that are core technologies of BYD's electric cars, is seen as a key step in the company's electric car manufacturing.

The Wall Street Journal said Saturday that the company is aiming to sell its all-electric battery car in the US next year, ahead of the original schedule, citing company Chairman Wang Chuanfu in Xi'an, Shaanxi Province, during an interview at a BYD factory there.

(Xinhua News Agency August 22, 2009)