Chinese electric vehicles: Can BYD/ 比亚迪 grow steadily? Securing technological competitiveness and price competitive advantage

 When you think of electric cars, the Tesla brand comes to mind. It remains the most famous and best-selling electric vehicle. Tesla is a very popular electric car in China, but recently, BYD brand electric cars are seen more often on the road than Tesla. Let's learn about BYD, a Chinese electric vehicle that is growing rapidly in the electric vehicle market along with Tesla.

China Electric Vehicle Competitiveness

The most famous electric car in the world is Tesla. But not as much as in China. Among local electric vehicle companies in China, BYD is dominating the market share in China, surpassing Tesla. At the same time, BYD is showing explosive growth overseas.

According to the European Electric Car Report, 'Currently, the fastest-growing electric car brand is China's BYD, and from January to July 2023, the number of BYD's electric vehicles registered in Europe increased by 130% compared to the previous year.' 

Most lithium refining required for electric vehicle batteries is carried out in China.

China is a lithium exporter and producer, and currently, 60% of the world's lithium refining is carried out on Chinese soil. Most processes such as smelting of non-ferrous metals, including lithium, are currently carried out in China, and resources such as rare earths are also supplied to China globally. It depends.

Based on its dominance of these resources, China is investing heavily in electric vehicle battery technology, and BYD is also expanding interior space through improved battery technology, lowering battery manufacturing costs, and improving the global electric vehicle market through technological superiority and cost optimization. is targeting.

China's skip strategy also applies to the electric vehicle sector

China has successfully transitioned from a cash-using era to a smart mobile payment society without going through a credit card society. By jumping directly from landline phones to the smartphone era without going through pagers or PDA devices, remarkable progress has been made in the smartphone manufacturing field.

The same goes for the electric vehicle field. China, which was a latecomer in the automobile manufacturing industry, is now solidifying its position as an electric vehicle powerhouse by skipping sophisticated internal combustion engine vehicle technology and developing electric vehicle and battery technology.

In China's domestic market, it is expected that 3.52 million units will be sold in 2021, 6.89 million units in 2022, and more than 800 units in 2023. In addition, as exports of electric vehicles increased significantly, Korea surpassed Japan in the first half of 2023 and ranked first among automobile exporters for the first time.

BYD produces more than 70% of its electric vehicle parts domestically.

In the case of the BYD Seal sedan, China's representative electric vehicle, it is analyzed that more than 70% of all parts were produced and assembled in China. We are striving to strengthen our technological capabilities with less than 10% of the parts procured from foreign parts companies, and at the same time, we are focusing on building infrastructure, such as expanding the electric vehicle supply chain.

The Chinese government's investment in this infrastructure helps BYD have an integrated supply chain, which directly leads to cost savings and helps secure a comparative advantage over other companies' electric vehicles in terms of cost.