On April 3, 2022, should be regarded as an important milestone in BYD’s history. On this day, BYD announced that it had stopped producing fossil fuel cars in the past March and would focus on pure electric and plug-in hybrid car business. Of course, BYD also promises to take care of the after-sales service of fossil fuel cars for its customers.
Many fossil fuel giants have announced the cessation of production, but they are mostly between 2023 and 2030. Why did BYD give up the fossil fuel market as the first company in the world to do so?
Production and sales
BYD’s plan seems “sudden,” but it’s actually “inevitable.” Let’s take the just-released March data as an example.
In March, BYD produced 106,658 new energy vehicles, with a year-on-year increase of 416%, and sold 104,878 vehicles, a year-on-year increase of 422%.
Among them, pure electric and plug-in hybrid models have already filled all of BYD’s orders, which is 100% new energy cars.
Of these, production of pure electric passenger cars was 54,684 units, a year-on-year increase of 266%, and sales were 53,664 units, a cumulative year-on-year increase of 271%. The production of plug-in hybrid models this month was 51,434 units, with a cumulative year-on-year increase of 853%, and sales were 50,674 units, with a cumulative year-on-year increase of 857%.
In essence, although BYD started with fossil fuels, it has completely moved away from relying on fossil fuel cars for profitability. Even due to the overwhelming orders of pure electric and DM-i models, BYD’s delivery cycle has been extended to several months.
Blade Battery, DM-i, and E 3.0
On March 29, 2020, BYD officially released the “Blade Battery”, and the “needle piercing test” in its publicity is still fresh in my memory. The Blade Battery was first applied to BYD’s flagship sedan, Han, highlighting its “safety” and leaving a deep impression on consumers.
In January 2021, BYD officially released the “DM-i Super Hybrid Technology” and successfully attracted the attention of household consumers with its “thousand-mile range” and “super low fuel consumption” performance.In the Shanghai ride-hailing market, various variants of BYD Qin hybrid models account for a high proportion. Many part-time ride-hailing drivers have told me while taking them to the airport that they plan to buy another model of BYD DM-i and tout the “superiority” of BYD’s technology, especially the fuel consumption of the new DM-i model. They even promote BYD’s stock.
It should be noted that BYD fully independently possesses the research and development design and production manufacturing capabilities of the core components of blade batteries and DM-i.
Step by step, BYD has implemented the technology in its strategic plan and finally unveiled the latest E 3.0 platform in September 2021.
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This platform is divided into four major domain control systems in hardware: Car control domain is responsible for body control, safety gateway, air conditioning, instrument, etc. Power domain manages the battery and transmission system, integrating VCU vehicle control unit, BMS battery management system, OBC onboard charger, and other functions. The Driver domain is responsible for intelligent driving system, and the Cabin domain integrates functions such as voice interaction, touch, and display screen.
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Under the domain control architecture and the self-developed operating system BYD OS, the decoupling ability of the BYD E 3.0 platform’s hardware and software will be greatly improved. For example, the infotainment system and the assistant driving aspect, which have always been criticized, can be significantly enhanced by BYD through flexible hardware interfaces and underlying software.
Overall, BYD’s deep cultivation in the fields of batteries, cars, and semiconductors means that it can transform more rapidly than traditional fuel giants when the new energy wave arrives. BYD has completed its transformation, so who is the next?
This article is a translation by ChatGPT of a Chinese report from 42HOW. If you have any questions about it, please email bd@42how.com.