In two to three years, BYD wants to manufacture e-cars entirely in Europe. In the short term, however, China's industry leader is relying on the success of its plug-in hybrids.
By Fabian Peltsch
BYD Company Limited is a Chinese group that is primarily known for its electric vehicles and batteries. All BYD news is available from Table.Briefings. What does BYD do? As a conglomerate, BYD Company Limited is active in various business areas. The company is best known for its electric cars and electric buses. However, Wang Chuanfu founded the company in 1995 primarily to produce rechargeable batteries. In this area, the People's Republic was dependent on imports from Japan (Sony, Sanyo) and instead of using industrial robots, Wang Chuanfu relied on poorly qualified and therefore cheap labor at BYD. Their work area was extremely reduced, strictly timed and described in detail. The quality was comparable to the products of the robots. Because the Chinese government needed many jobs, BYD and Wang Chuanfu were subsidized. For example, by imposing high import duties on competing products. This guaranteed the company's growth. What does BYD mean? BYD is an acronym and stands for Build your dreams. In other words: build your dreams. The original Chinese name of the company is Bǐyàdí Gǔfēn Yǒuxiàn Gōngsī, or Bǐyàdi for short. For founder Wang Chuanfu, the company motto has certainly come true. With a fortune of around 5.2 billion US dollars, he is one of the forty richest Chinese, thanks to BYD Company Limited's entry into the automotive business. Thanks to unrivaled low prices, Wang Chuanfu was able to develop his battery factory into the world market leader by the year 2000. Thanks to full company coffers, he was able to take over the production plants of the financially ailing Xi'an Automobile in 2003. The road to the electric car From the very beginning, Wang Chuanfu pursued the plan to build BYD electric cars. Vehicles with combustion engines for the domestic market were merely intended to provide sufficient capital. And this plan also worked. The BYD Auto division quickly became one of the largest producers in the People's Republic, and Wang Chuanfu was even able to convince investor Warren Buffet with his plans for an electric car, who joined the company in 2008 and acquired a whopping ten percent of the group for USD 230 million. Demand for battery-powered vehicles increased worldwide, but BYD's electric cars were unable to keep up. What does BYD Auto do? It was only when the Chinese government intervened that BYD Auto's electric car plans found their way back onto the road to success. Production and registration quotas for electric cars led to an enormous increase in demand. Today, the company is one of the most successful electric car manufacturers in the People's Republic. The brand is considered the Tesla of China and the most innovative company in the industry, a reputation that the Group owes above all to its electric buses. Since 2013, the Chinese company has operated the first regular service in Europe that runs exclusively on battery-powered buses. On the island of Schiermonnikoog in the Netherlands. When is BYD coming to Germany? BYD will also sell its electric cars in Germany. The Chinese brand plans to sell its electric cars in Europe from 2021. The European company headquarters BYD Europe in the Netherlands will initially orchestrate the market entry in Norway. Other markets are to be opened up later. It is not yet clear when exactly BYD will come to Germany.Norway is considered to be an easy market for electric cars. In 2020, 54% of all new registrations were electric cars. If plug-in vehicles are included, the figure was 75%. The background to this is a strong concession from the government. In many places, drivers of electric cars are allowed to park for free, use the bus lane and pay a lower toll. Does BYD have a future? The conglomerate appears to be a good investment in the long term. The group is the global market leader in the production of cell phone batteries, founder and CEO Wang Chuanfu is well connected in politics in the People's Republic and BYD Auto is one of the largest car manufacturers in China. Warren Buffett, whose investments always serve as a pointer, is also convinced of the company's future. After Warren Buffett joined BYD and Wang Chuanfu presented the first electric car, the share price climbed to its first all-time high in March 2010. With the boom in electric cars worldwide and the enormous demand for batteries of all sizes, the share price even tripled in the meantime. What are BYD's plans for the future? BYD's electric cars tend to be in the lower price segment. However, this will change in the coming years. The first step is the Han mid-range sedan, which is already available in China. The newly developed Blade Battery technology is intended to be a second building block for future viability. The battery is significantly more compact and can therefore guarantee a greater range with the same size. It is also more robust and less susceptible to accidents. BYD Auto's Blade Battery technology could significantly advance electromobility. How does BYD benefit from the Chinese government? In addition to the import duties for batteries and the state quotas for electric cars, BYD also benefits from other measures taken by the Chinese government. For example, for several years car manufacturers were only allowed to cooperate with battery suppliers that were on a government list. Naturally, BYD Company Limited was on this list, and the electric buses became established on the global market without any government assistance. The vehicles are now in use in 300 cities around the world. This is also the case with Munich's public transportation system. The buses are also produced outside China. Table.Briefings provides all the news about BYD Company Limited and Wang Chuanfu.
