BYD, the Chinese manufacturer of New Energy Vehicles (NEVs) is a colossus. It’s by far the largest player in its home market and is also taking the world by storm. It’s also had a running start in the UAE, with more than 1,000 cars sold in the last year.
The latest episode of the Let’s Talk Mobility podcast talks to A.D. Huang, General Manager of BYD in the MENA region. In this fascinating and wide-ranging discussion, he touches on many of the reasons behind BYD’s success.
On the battery side – obviously the heart of any NEV – this includes their breakthrough, advanced battery technologies that make them safer and more reliable than standard designs. The Blade Battery uses an innovative construction with cells that resemble knife blades.
The company also deploys “cell to body’ technology that maximises space inside the vehicle by incorporating the battery cells in the actual frame structure of the car.
A.D. also talks about their focus on tech that makes drivers lives easier and more fun like the rotating screens that can also allow you to do some karaoke while you wait for the kids (wind down the window, crank up the volume and wait for the cringe). Vehicle to Load tech that means you can charge external appliances if, for example, you go camping.
BYD has a ‘vertically integrated’ company model, which means that everything is done in-house and controlled across the whole process from design to manufacture. Talking of design, 5% of revenues are spent on R&D with more than 100,000 engineers dedicated to it. Yes you read that right; it’s the equivalent of a whole city of people working on bringing the best technology and experience. Not surprising that BYD is dominating the NEV scene globally!
China is very far ahead in the transition to NEVs. A.D highlights that last month for the first time, NEVs represented more than 50% of car sales in China. That rate has only been beaten by Norway with 80% of all cars now being electrified vehicles.
Around 67 million NEVs are on the world’s roads around the world. BYD has just surpassed their 8 millionth vehicle. The company has a 19.4% total market share in new NEV sales. All while only launching outside China a few years ago.
No wonder A.D Huang is confident about the future.
