A condensed history of Chinese EV company BYD

Summary

BYD, the third-largest electric vehicle company globally, is poised to disrupt the auto industry with its ambitious expansion plans. Founded in 1995 by Wang Chuanfu, the company started as a battery manufacturer and has since diversified into electric vehicles, with a market capitalization of $104 billion. Known for its Blade battery technology, BYD is set to sell vehicles in Australia, Europe, and North America, aiming to produce 3.5 million EVs by 2025. With Warren Buffett as an investor and a focus on safety and innovation, BYD is on track to become a dominant player in the global EV market.

Takeaways

• 🚗 BYD is the third-largest electric car brand globally and is expanding its reach into international markets.
• 📈 BYD's CEO, Wang Chuanfu, is considered one of the top five CEOs in the automotive industry, alongside leaders like Elon Musk and Jim Farley.
• 🌏 BYD is planning to sell cars in Australia, Europe, and North America in the coming years, marking its global expansion.
• 🔋 BYD started as a battery manufacturer in 1995, focusing on rechargeable batteries for electronics before moving into electric vehicles.
• 💡 BYD acquired struggling car makers to enter the automotive industry and scaled up production using reverse engineering from established brands like Mercedes.
• 🔥 BYD's Blade Battery technology is renowned for its safety, being highly resistant to fire and explosion under extreme conditions.
• 🚌 In addition to cars, BYD manufactures electric commercial vehicles like buses and trucks, further diversifying its product lineup.
• 💼 Warren Buffett's Berkshire Hathaway has owned an 8% stake in BYD since 2008, reflecting confidence in the company's long-term prospects.
• ⚡ BYD is rapidly transitioning to electric vehicles, with nearly all its recent sales being plug-in hybrids or battery electric vehicles, phasing out gas-powered cars.
• 🚀 BYD is poised to become a major global disruptor in the automotive industry, with plans to produce millions of EVs annually by 2025.

Q & A

What is BYD's current ranking in the global electric car market?

BYD is currently the third largest electric vehicle company on the planet.

What does BYD stand for and who is its CEO?

BYD stands for 'Build Your Dreams' and its CEO is Wang Chuanfu.

Who is one of BYD's largest investors and what percentage of the company does he own?

American billionaire Warren Buffett is one of BYD's largest investors, with Berkshire Hathaway owning around 8% of BYD.

What was BYD's original business focus before entering the automotive industry?

BYD originally focused on manufacturing rechargeable batteries for mobile phones and other electronic devices.

How did BYD enter the automotive industry?

BYD entered the automotive industry by purchasing a struggling Chinese car maker, Qinchan Auto, which was then renamed to BYD Automobile.

What is unique about BYD's Blade Battery technology?

BYD's Blade Battery technology is known for its safety, as it is almost impossible to set on fire, and it uses cell to pack technology to optimize energy density while also contributing to the structural integrity of the battery pack.

What is the name of BYD's vehicle that rivals the Tesla Model 3?

The BYD Han EV sedan is the company's vehicle that rivals the Tesla Model 3.

What is the name of BYD's vehicle that is expected to become one of the best-selling electric vehicles globally?

The BYD Dolphin (also known as the BYD EA1) is expected to become one of the best-selling electric vehicles globally.

What is the name of the BYD vehicle that the script's author has ordered?

The script's author has ordered a BYD Yen Plus EV, which in Australia is called the AT O3.

What is BYD's market capitalization and how does it compare to established brands?

BYD has a market capitalization of U.S. $104 billion, making it more valuable than established brands such as Mercedes-Benz, Ford, General Motors, and BMW.

What is BYD's plan for sales growth in the coming years?

BYD plans on selling more than 1.5 million EVs in the current year, having sold over 600,000 last year, and aims to hit 3.5 million by 2025.

Outlines

00:00

🚗 Introduction to BYD and its Global Expansion

The paragraph introduces BYD as the third-largest electric car brand globally, with the speaker having recently ordered one. It discusses the company's background, its ambitious plans for global sales, and the speaker's admiration for BYD's CEO, Wang Chan Fu. BYD is also recognized as the fourth-largest battery manufacturing company. The speaker highlights the company's rapid growth in the Chinese market and its potential to disrupt the global automotive industry. Warren Buffett's investment in BYD through Berkshire Hathaway since 2008 is mentioned, emphasizing the company's credibility and growth potential.

05:02

🔋 The History and Growth of BYD

This paragraph delves into BYD's origins, starting as a battery manufacturer in Shenzhen, China, in 1995. It discusses the founder, Wang Chan Fu's, background and his strategic move into the automotive industry by acquiring a struggling car maker. The company's approach to growth through acquiring bankrupt car factories is highlighted. BYD's initial focus on making batteries for mobile phones and its transition to electric vehicles with the launch of the BYD E6 are covered. The paragraph also mentions BYD's market capitalization and its production of commercial vehicles, as well as its continued innovation in battery technology, particularly with the Blade battery, which is noted for its safety features.

10:04

🌟 BYD's Current Models and Future Ambitions

The final paragraph discusses BYD's current model lineup, including plug-in hybrids and battery electric vehicles, and its transition away from petrol-powered cars. It mentions the company's recent launches, such as the BYD Han EV sedan, which rivals the Tesla Model 3, and the BYD Dolphin, which has seen significant sales growth. The paragraph also covers BYD's plans to sell over 1.5 million EVs in the current year and aims to reach 3.5 million by 2025. The company's rapid factory construction capabilities are highlighted, along with its status as the fourth-largest automaker by market capitalization. The paragraph concludes with a call for viewer engagement and a tease for future content.

Keywords

💡BYD

BYD stands for 'Build Your Dreams' and is a Chinese company that started as a battery manufacturer but later expanded into the automotive industry, becoming a leading player in electric vehicles (EVs). In the video, BYD is described as the third-largest electric car brand in the world, known for its rapid growth in China and international markets.

💡Electric Vehicles (EVs)

Electric vehicles (EVs) are cars powered by electricity rather than gasoline, typically using rechargeable batteries. BYD is a major EV manufacturer, with models like the Atto 3 and Han EV. The video emphasizes BYD's transition from traditional gas-powered cars to fully electric vehicles, highlighting their role in disrupting the global auto industry.

💡Blade Battery

The Blade Battery is BYD's innovative lithium iron phosphate (LFP) battery technology, known for its safety and durability. The video highlights its importance in BYD's vehicles, particularly for its resistance to fire and enhanced structural integrity. This technology is a key selling point for BYD's electric vehicles, such as the Atto 3 and Dolphin.

💡Warren Buffett

Warren Buffett is an American billionaire and one of the largest investors in BYD through his company, Berkshire Hathaway. The video mentions Buffett's long-term investment in BYD since 2008, emphasizing how his trust in the company's potential has paid off significantly as BYD's value has grown.

💡Wang Chuanfu

Wang Chuanfu is the founder and CEO of BYD, credited with transforming the company from a small battery manufacturer into a global electric vehicle giant. The video shares Wang's backstory, including his humble beginnings and bold decision to enter the automotive market, illustrating his visionary leadership in BYD's success.

💡LFP (Lithium Iron Phosphate) Battery

LFP batteries are a type of lithium-ion battery that offers increased safety and longer life cycles compared to traditional lithium-ion batteries. In the video, BYD’s use of LFP technology in their Blade Battery is emphasized as a major innovation, offering superior safety by minimizing the risk of fires, even in extreme conditions.

💡Shenzhen

Shenzhen is a major city in China near Hong Kong, known for its electronics manufacturing. It is also the birthplace of BYD, where Wang Chuanfu founded the company in 1995. The video highlights how the city’s innovative environment helped BYD grow from a battery manufacturer to an electric vehicle leader.

💡Reverse Engineering

Reverse engineering refers to the process of taking apart and analyzing the components of a product to understand how it works and replicate it. The video explains how BYD used this method early on by disassembling a Mercedes S-Class to learn its design, which helped them improve their own car production.

💡Plug-in Hybrids

Plug-in hybrids are vehicles that combine a gasoline engine with an electric motor, allowing them to run on both electricity and fuel. The video mentions BYD's early focus on plug-in hybrids for the Chinese market before transitioning to fully electric vehicles as part of their global expansion.

💡Global Expansion

Global expansion refers to BYD's efforts to grow beyond China into markets such as Australia, Europe, and North America. The video details how BYD plans to increase its international presence with models like the Atto 3 and Dolphin, showcasing its ambitions to become a dominant player in the global EV market.

Highlights

BYD is the third largest electric car brand globally.

BYD's CEO, Wang Chan Fu, is considered one of the top five CEOs in the industry.

BYD is the fourth largest battery manufacturing company.

BYD's rapid growth in the Chinese car market and its global expansion plans.

Warren Buffet's Berkshire Hathaway is a major investor in BYD, holding a significant stake since 2008.

BYD was founded in 1995 by Wang Chan Fu, starting as a rechargeable battery maker.

BYD's entry into the automotive industry by acquiring Quinchan Auto.

BYD's strategy of reverse engineering to build vehicles and improve upon foreign designs.

BYD's transition from petrol vehicles to almost entirely electric, with a focus on EVs and PHEVs.

BYD's market capitalization of over $104 billion, surpassing established brands like Mercedes-Benz and BMW.

BYD's blade battery technology, known for its safety and structural integrity.

BYD's plans to sell vehicles in Australia, Europe, and North America within the next few years.

BYD's production of a range of commercial vehicles, including EV buses, forklifts, and trucks.

BYD's goal to sell over 1.5 million EVs in the current year, with ambitious targets for 2025.

BYD's rapid factory construction, including six new factories built in China in the last year.

BYD's potential to disrupt the legacy auto industry with its aggressive EV production and sales strategies.

BYD's current vehicle lineup, including the BYD Han EV sedan and the BYD Dolphin, which are key models for the brand.

Transcripts

byd is one of the largest in fact it's

the third largest electric car brand on

the face of the planet i just ordered

one here and very soon you'll be able to

order one as well

so who are byd

what are they about

and where do they come from and why do i

personally think

that byd's ceo wang chan fu

is one of the big three

is one of the big five ceos

jim farley elon musk

herbert diese

wang chun fu

and my mystery one is coming soon hello

my friends and welcome to the electric

viking here is the history or a short

condensed history of byd i personally

just bought a byd yen plus it's been

changed the name has been changed to the

at o3 here in australia and probably

will be the same for most markets where

they're sold outside of china so you

might be able to order a byd very soon

right now they are the third largest

electric vehicle company on the planet

and they are the fourth largest battery

manufacturing company so who exactly are

byd and what are their plans for the

future chinese car makers are well known

for being ambitious and often

domestically

delivering on those ambitions especially

in 2021 when chinese electric car

manufacturers started to eat huge shares

of legacy auto vehicle sales in china

one of the companies that has found

traction both at home and abroad is byd

they are absolutely smashing the chinese

car market and they are about to

decimate car sales

globally they will disrupt legacy auto

in a way that people just cannot

possibly comprehend right now but it's

about to happen

standing for build your dreams byd

counts american billionaire warren

buffett as one of its largest investors

berkshire hathaway owned around eight

percent of byd and they've owned it

since 2008 not changing their position

at all over the last 14 years now byd

have just released their plans to sell

vehicles

they plan on sailing vehicles in

australia in europe and in north america

within the next couple of years so how

did bysd actually start well car expert

reports that

shenzhen a chinese city near hong kong

is well known for its electronics

manufacturing and it was here in 1995

the byd was first founded by

entrepreneur wang chun fu now wang

actually was orphaned at a young age and

he was brought up by his brother and

sister which is quite an incredible

story in and of itself i'll put a link

in the description below to the video i

made about his life history while he had

a background in material science and

chemistry and related experience in

academia with the chinese government

trialling capitalism in shenzhen at the

time cheng fu made the bold step to

compete with the flux of japanese

companies

exporting rechargeable batteries at the

time by starting his own battery firm

it's quite interesting isn't it this is

kind of the beginning of china basically

taking most of the rechargeable battery

market away from japan nobody's even

mentioned this fact that this is

actually what's happened over the last

two decades

thus byd was founded as a maker of

rechargeable batteries and it grew

rapidly becoming a major supplier of

batteries to various different mobile

phone manufacturers in fact that's still

where the majority of the company's

profit comes from

assembling mobile phone handsets and

providing the batteries that go into

them as well subsequently changfu

wished to enter into a new market for

his batteries and sensing the

possibility of vehicles eventually being

powered with electricity he decided to

make a risky move he bought a struggling

chinese car maker quinchan auto renamed

to byd automobile as a way to enter the

automotive industry and learn how to

scale up the mass production of cars

now interestingly he's since bought a

number of different car factories from

companies that have gone bankrupt in

china he basically takes up the factory

body takes over and

what this means is they don't have to

build a new factory and actually buy

them much cheaper than what it would

cost to build

chinese companies are often known to be

fast followers byd was no exception by

reverse engineering and then building

the tooling and molds required to make a

particular part in-house

the firm was able to draw on the

expertise of foreign car makers

initially to build derivative models

before incrementally making their own

improvements i remember one story that i

read

a couple of years ago wang actually got

his team to go and buy a brand new

mercedes s-class this was at a time in

byd was still in its infancy back in

2001 i believe it was they brought the

s-class in and then wang said to them

okay take it apart

re-engineer it rebuild it see how they

do it let's let's figure out how we can

re-engineer this this car and he's the

engineers who had just bought the car

from said this is a brand new mercedes s

class we can't do that boss

so juan walked over

to the car

pulled out his keys

and scratched the entire car with his

keys

and he said it's not new anymore

do it

so they did

and they've done that numerous times

since

using parts and knowledge from japanese

car makers such as mitsubishi and toyota

to mass-produce combustion engine models

byd

pivoted to evs with the launch of the

byd e6 electric people mover all the way

back in 2010 now i actually test drove

one of those cars late last year when

they were it was delivered to

a custom well one of the first customers

here in australia and i've got to say

the e-waste the e6

battery powered e6

for the price is one of the most if not

the most impressive car

i've ever seen today byd has a market

capitalization of u.s 104 billion

dollars making it more valuable than

established brands such as mercedes-benz

ford general motors and bmw but this is

just the start in addition to cars the

company also produces a range of

commercial vehicles such as ev buses

forklifts and trucks

however

byd's original business of manufacturing

batteries for mobile phones has been

spun off into a separate company

byd electronics which now also

manufactures various medical devices and

computer components

but this firm maintains a close

relationship with byd automobile and the

two entities continue to share a logo

and branding in addition byd became the

fourth largest battery manufacturer in

the world last year

and the second largest producer of

lithium-ion phosphate batteries or lfp

batteries they're now famous for the

blade battery which utilizes this

technology one of the great things about

blade batteries well they don't set on

fire it's almost impossible to get them

to set on fire big advantage

byd has further increased its prominence

recently by attracting high profile

investors most famously warren buffett

who bought a 10 stake in the company in

late 2008 for 232 million us dollars

that was one of his best investments

everest returned him more than 500 since

byd's current model portfolio consists

of both

dual mode plug-in hybrids

and battery electric vehicles they've

pivoted away from petrol

vehicles or gas vehicles entirely last

year only

five percent of the vehicles that they

sold were gas powered this year it's

dropped down to two percent the year

before that it was closer to 40. so in a

very short space of time byd has

transitioned from petrol powered

vehicles to almost entirely electric now

the company has largely limited sales of

its plug-in hybrid range to the chinese

domestic market whilst its battery

electric vehicles are sold at home and

overseas one of the firm's most recent

launches is the tesla model 3 rivaling

byd-han ev sedan this vehicle offers 362

kilowatt of power in its range-topping

supreme trim it also has a claim range

of 605 kilometers on the nad cycle and

the new version

actually now has a claim range of more

than 700 kilometers

all han ev sedans make use of a 80

kilowatt hour lfp lithium-ion phosphate

battery

this uses byd's innovative blade battery

one of the big advantages of the blade

battery is it utilizes

cell to pack technology to optimize

energy density

whilst also elongating the cells into

beams that then become essential to the

structural integrity of the pack

reducing weight and production costs byd

also claims that its blade battery is

safer than the battery pack designs used

in other evs with regard to thermal

stability and fire risk the company has

creatively demonstrated this by piercing

the battery pack with a nail

and then placing a raw egg on top of the

piercing the company claims that the

lack of fire or smoke and the fact that

the egg remains uncooked helps evidence

the crashworthiness of the battery byd

claims its battery design has also been

put through other tests such as being

crushed

overcharged and placed in a furnace

without exploding or catching fire and

run over by a truck by the way as well

other evs currently being produced by

byd include the older chin pro sedan

based on an adapted internal combustion

engine chassis as well as the song pro

and the tang electric suvs the tang suv

is actually sold in norway and comes

with seven seats and the blade battery

as well potentially the company's most

important car is the one i just ordered

that's the yen plus ev or the 803 here

in australia

sized in line with suvs such as the audi

q3 and the bmw x3 this model will go on

sale in australia here in only a few

months time now the addo 3 or the yen

plus

will make use of the byd blade battery

and com at a starting price of 44 000

australian dollars or around about 32

000 us dollars it will offer 320

kilometers of range in its base

variation and 420 kilometers in the long

range variant using a 60 kilowatt hour

lfp blade battery pack however probably

the most important car for byd period

globally

is the byd ea1 called the byd dolphin

byd began selling that vehicle in

october of 2021 and sales have climbed

enormously since it's become its second

best-selling ev after ramping up

production

and it will eventually become one of the

best-selling electric vehicles be one of

the best-selling cars period in the

world within the next couple of years at

least that's what byd plans

previously byd claimed to be selling the

t3 and the e6 vehicles here in australia

in fact they only sold a few of them

because they only had a limited number

of right-hand drive vehicles and to be

honest the reality is right now byd is

struggling to meet the incredible demand

they have for their vehicles in china

now byd plans on selling more than 1.5

million evs this year it sold over 600

000 last year and it plans on hitting

3.5 million in 2025.

currently listed on the hong kong stock

exchange byd is the fourth largest

automaker in the world by market

capitalization producing more than 1.5

million vehicles

over the last three years with a record

604 000 units sold in 2021 with the

majority of those of course being evs or

plug-in hybrids now one of the crazy

scary things about byd is the fact that

they are able to

build factories so so quickly last year

they actually built six factories in

china most of those being battery

factories and they increased their

battery production by more than 200

percent in 12 months that's incredible

currently there's very few western media

outlets talking about byd

period

imagine if this company was located in

the united states

everyone would have heard of them

but it probably won't be long before

that happens anyway considering the

current meteoric rise they are on

let me know in the comment section below

what you think of byd will you consider

buying one what do you think of the

brand what do you think of chinese evs

in general thanks for watching and i'll

see you again on the next one bye-bye