Holden Commodore was a Chinese EV!

The first electric vehicle sold publicly in China is claimed to have been based on the good old Aussie Holden Commodore VN.

And the man that bought it was Wang Chuan Fu, the founder of BYD, a company that has gone on to become one of China’s most successful electric vehicle builders.

It’s a great story and one told here at the China Car History website with great relish and detail by Brisbane-based Chinese car fanatic Sam Faulkner.

The VN generation Commodore was built by Holden between August 1988 and November 1991. While it did not get big into the export market until the VT several years later, Holden did sell some VNs to a Chinese car company called Beijing Travel Vehicle Works.

Renamed the BJ6490, the cars were equipped with Family II 2.2-litre four-cylinder engines, converted to left-hand drive in China and possibly fitted with Toyota HiLux chassis to raise the ride height to cope with rough Chinese roads.

So far, so weird. But kinda orthodox.

The idea to create an electric vehicle from this basis is credited to an engineer by the name of Yuan Jia Zhen working at Beijing Second Auto Works. Basically, the Commodore station wagon body offered more room to stuff batteries into.

The BJ6490D had  arrange of about 100km and a top speed around 92km/h.

It was this vehicle Yuan convinced Wang to buy for 140,000 RMB (about $A30,000 today) when he heard he was considering importing an EV to research the technology.

As the China Car History story relates: “According to Mr Yuan this was therefore the first public sale of an electric vehicle in China”.

If that’s true, then there’s some added piquancy to it all considering China is now a key driver of global EV take-up, and BYD is amongst the foremost manufacturers of EVs and is considering building them in Australia.

But the story doesn’t end there as BYD acquired a second BJ6490D that was later converted to hybrid power. More modern batteries delivered this car a range of 200km, which is pretty respectable.

Yuan spotted it being used as unregistered transport within BYD’s Shenzen factory premises when he visited in 2002.

So there you go. There were various Aussie efforts over the years to turn the Commodore into a green vehicle, including the EcoCommodore VT of 2000 and the 2012 electric VE. But looks like the Chinese got there first!