Warren Buffett-backed BYD surpasses Tesla in global EV sales a decade after Elon Musk doubted the Chinese company’s technology
According to a company report released on June 3, 2022, Chinese electric vehicle manufacturer, BYD sold 641,400 new energy vehicles in the first half of 2022, a 315% increase year-over-year. According to Tesla’s production and delivery report for the second quarter of 2022, the U.S. EV maker delivered 564,000 vehicles globally in the first half of this year, an increase of 46% compared with 386,200 vehicles in the first half of 2021. By sales, BYD has become the largest EV company in the domestic market, surpassing Tesla.
By 2022, BYD expects to sell between 1.1 million and 1.2 million new energy vehicles, including 600,000 pure electric vehicles and 500,000 to 600,000 plug-in hybrid vehicles. The latest report showed that BYD’s sales target was completed by more than half, indicating that it will strive for a higher sales volume based on an improved supply chain. By contrast, Tesla’s global delivery volume decreased by 18% compared with the first quarter, and there is still a gap of 4% from Elon Musk’s “50% delivery growth rate”, which means that Tesla will face great delivery pressure in the second half of the year.
Supply chain pressure still plagues Tesla. It is trying to alleviate it. Based on the company’s double-shift system, its Shanghai Gigafactory in China achieved the full utilization rate of production capacity in early June, which made June become the company’s highest production month so far. Tesla is also planning to further increase its production capacity in China.
Compared with Tesla, which currently relies on its Shanghai Gigafactory, many BYD factories were put into production one after another in the first half of this year. The factories have so far been able to hit a production and sales volume exceeding 100,000 units in March. And although production capacity was expanded, the number of undelivered orders continued to increase month by month. BYD sold 134,000 new energy vehicles in June, achieving a record high based on looser Covid restrictions. On June 30, the first complete vehicle from BYD’s Heifei Production Base rolled off the production line, and the model produced by the base is the best-selling Qin Plus DM-i, which will further support BYD's production capacity increase in the second half of the year.