AUTOSHOW-BYD car business secondary to battery tech-investor

* MidAmerican to keep investing in wind, other projects

* Sees opportunity due reinvestment amid credit crunch

* Hopes Obama administration to support R&D for clean coal

By Chang-Ran Kim and Kevin Krolicki

DETROIT, Jan 12 (Reuters) - BYD Co's (1211.HK) prospects in the auto industry were secondary to its lead in battery technology when MidAmerican Energy decided to take a stake in the Chinese company, the chairman of the utility said on Monday.

MidAmerican Energy (MDPWN.OB), a unit of billionaire investor Warren Buffett's Berkshire Hathaway Inc (BRKa.N), surprised financial markets last September with an agreement to purchase 10 percent of little-known BYD for $230 million.

That led many to second-guess their initial doubts about BYD's chances in the highly competitive auto industry, where the 13-year-old Hong Kong-listed battery maker is looking to make inroads with BYD-branded electric cars using its own batteries.

"The only part that played into (the investment decision) was the battery technology," MidAmerican Energy Chairman David Sokol told Reuters in an interview on the sidelines of the Detroit auto show, where BYD shared the floor with General Motors Corp (GM.N), Toyota Motor Corp (7203.T) and other industry giants for the first time.

"Whether or not they can manufacture their own cars isn't that relevant to us because we see their real expertise is in the development of the batteries, the motors, the control systems for that," he said.

"That's not to say that they can't make a nice car, but a lot of people can make a nice car. The breakthrough from our perspective is their battery technology."

BYD is aiming to launch a plug-in hybrid model, the F6DM, and the E6 all-electric car, in the United States and Europe in 2011, first through fleet sales to corporate, utilities and municipal customers after rolling out its first mass-market hybrid model last month. [ID:nN11290446]

It has no sales target, but it said at the auto show on Monday it would plan to produce the cars in the United States when volumes reached appropriate levels.

MAY RAISE STAKE

Sokol said his company remained interested in raising its stake in BYD if the opportunity arose, noting that MidAmerican had initially wanted a larger share but was held back by the Chinese company's chairman, Wang Chuan-fu.

"BYD has been a profitable company so Mr Wang was sensitive to how much of the company he was selling. We're hopeful that as opportunities present themselves we'd be able to increase that in future," Sokol said.

Elsewhere, Sokol said MidAmerican would continue to invest in and develop wind and other energy-generation projects, seeing an opportunity to step ahead of the competition due to lower credit availability for others.