SHENZHEN, China--August 7, 2012: This announcement is made by BYD Company Limited (the "Company") on a voluntary basis. The Company and all members of its Board of Directors (the "Board") hereby warrant the truth, accuracy, completeness of the contents in this announcement, and the absence of any false information, misleading statements or material omissions. Reference is made to the announcement that the Company made on May 29th, 2012 in relation to the circumstances of the "5.26" or May 26th, 2012 Traffic Accident (italics added). In early June 2012, Shenzhen Academy of Metrology and Quality Inspection was authorized by its supervising authority to organize the work related to quality examination on the electric taxi involved in May 26th Traffic Accident. It formed a team comprising 13 authoritative experts from specialized technical institutions including China Automotive Technology and Research Center, Research Institute of Highway Ministry of Transport, Tianjin Fire Research Institute, Fire Brigade of Guangdong Province and North Vehicle Research Institute and Shenzhen Academy of Metrology and Quality Inspection etc. to commence a special quality investigation in respect to five areas including complete car, car collision, power battery, fire and traffic accident investigation. In the morning of August 3rd, 2012, Shenzhen Academy of Metrology and Quality Inspection announced the quality examination results on electric taxi involved in the May 26th Traffic Accident. The Board would like to announce such result as below:
(1) In the Shenzhen "5.26" Traffic Accident, the sports car involved in the accident was travelling at the approximate speed of 242km/h. Although the vehicle decelerated as a result of braking, it still severely collided with the e6 electric taxi in front of it, which was going at the approximate speed of 81km/h in the same direction, at a speed of 183km/h. At the time of collision, the relative or difference in (italics added) speed of the two vehicles exceeded 100km/h. After the collision, the e6 electric taxi lost control and skidded to the right front, and its rear hit a big tree on the road side leading to a serious column collision. The extent of intrusive damage reached 1050 mm, resulting in the damage to the e6 electric taxi, killing 3 people and burning the vehicle. The type and severity of the accident was extremely rare.
(2) In the course of the two serious collisions, the bodies of the three passengers inside the e6 electric taxi suffered severe damage which exceeded the endurance limit of human bodies. The collisions inflicted fatal injuries on the three passengers.
(3) The e6 electric taxi had two severe collisions, the rear end of the vehicle and the battery compartment were seriously deformed, and the power battery pack and high voltage switchbox were severely compressed, causing damage to part of the power batteries and short-circuit. High voltage lines of the high voltage distribution box and the body of the car short circuited, producing electric arcs which ignited the combustible material including the interior materials of the vehicle and part of the power batteries.
(4) The e6 electric taxi is one of the products in the State Vehicle New Products Announcement catalogue, which passed the tests conducted by the relevant state testing authorities, including tests in connection with vehicle collision safety, electric system safety and battery safety, and complies with the relevant national standards and requirements. In the accident, the power batteries of such vehicle did not explode, 72 single cell batteries (accounting for 75% of all the 96 power batteries) did not catch on fire. The designs of the battery system in relation to the installation layout on the vehicle, the insulation protection and the high voltage system are reasonable. No flaws in the safety design of the vehicle were revealed. Further, part of the aluminum alloy casing and battery plate of 24 single cell batteries (accounting for 25% of all the power batteries) was burnt by fire but the setting of battery plate remained well-arranged and there were no cracks apparent.
