Last year, Chinese carmaker BYD outsold Tesla by a large margin thanks to its low-cost electric vehicles. According to the South China Morning Post, BYD has surpassed Tesla as the world’s largest EV manufacturer, but only when fully-electric and plug-in hybrid cars are included.
That’s not to say BYD’s all-electric vehicles aren’t grabbing popular in China, hurting EVs from both global and local competitors like Tesla and NIO. According to Inside EVs, BYD’s fully-electric vehicles are rapidly increasing in sales, mostly in its home market; in 2022, BYD sold over 911,000 EVs internationally, and more than 946,000 PHEVs, for a total of more than 1.86 million.
Moreover, despite the recent pandemic lockdowns in China, the brand is seeing a surge in popularity. Indeed, the SCMP claims that pandemic issues are linked to BYD sales since people seek cheaper cars:
The carmaker’s brisk sales to taxi fleets and budget-conscious families highlight how layoffs in China’s technology sector and the country’s pandemic-ravaged economy are driving customers downmarket to cheaper, locally built EVs rather than imported models or overseas names like Tesla.
Meanwhile, Tesla sold over 1.3 million fully-electric vehicles worldwide — Elon Musk’s EV firm does not reveal precise data for China alone — which is more than 400,000 cars ahead of BYD’s EV stats but falls short of BYD’s total figures.
That technically makes BYD the world’s largest EV manufacturer, but the catch is that it’s not the clear comparison indicated by labelling BYD the “biggest EV maker in the world,” since rival Tesla does not offer plug-in hybrids.
Nonetheless, BYD is growing as an EV manufacturer that will play a significant role in the global EV industry, both directly and indirectly. BYD also manufactures batteries, and Tesla is one of its customers. You can understand the attraction of a less expensive EV with less amenities but the same batteries as other vehicles. According to the SMCP, this results in a more cheaper electric vehicle:
Most BYD models cost between 100,000 and 200,000 yuan (US$29,000), which is a steal when compared to Tesla and other rivals like Nio and Xpeng, whose technology-packed versions cost more than 300,000 yuan apiece.
“EVs priced below 200,000 yuan are popular among white-collar consumers because they want to save money,” said Tian Maowei, a sales manager at Shanghai’s Yiyou Auto Service. “BYD’s electric and plug-in hybrid automobiles are simple to sell in the domestic market since they are equipped with high-performance batteries that are seen to be as excellent as those used by luxury carmakers.”
BYD began as a battery manufacturer, which has given it an advantage in the production of EVs. In China, the company’s “blade lithium iron phosphate battery packs” are regarded as a known quantity. These are said to be more energy dense and resistant to overheating, and BYD utilises them in their EVs and PHEVs.
With superior battery packs and a reduced price tag, it’s no surprise that BYD is outselling its competitors — accounting for more than a third of the 6.4 million so-called “new energy vehicles” delivered in China in 2022. For the time being, Tesla is the undisputed king of all-electric vehicles, but BYD indicates that this might change shortly.
