China encourages electric cars

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Shares in Chinese electric car and battery maker BYD have soared 50 percent as China's government encourages local automakers to focus on fuel efficiency and eco-technologies.

There are reports that in September alone sales in the company jumped 88 per cent to 44,000 cars, with BYD hoping to export its electric cars to the US as early as next year.

MidAmerican Energy Holdings, a unit of Warren Buffett's Berkshire Hathaway, has a stake in BYD, which wants to produce up to 9 million vehicles by 2025.

The U.S. billionaire's investement in BYD pushed its Hong Kong-listed shares up, helping its chairman to top China's wealthiest list last week.

'We were very surprised to see the BYD creator number one in China. I mean, he was outside the top 100 last year and then the Chinese auto industry started growing at 30 percent this year, bucking the international trend, especially, and then we had the Warren Buffet midas touch, you know. He seemed to just touch BYD and the share price just rocketed up, so it went up almost 600 percent over the course of the last 12 months, ' says Rupert Hoogewerf, complier of the Huran report.

Overall, Chinese car sales in August rose over 90 percent, with a record 2009 expected, in sharp contrast to the still recovering U.S. market, which was hit dramatically by the financial crisis.

Sky News: China encourages electric cars