BYD, a Chinese car company, topped Tesla in terms of ‘new energy’ sales. But here’s the caveat: That’s counting their HYBRID models. So if you just compare EV-to-EV sales, Tesla’s still on top. BUT – in our opinion, there’s more to it than that.
1) China forced the Tesla plant in Shanghai to shut down, due to a new wave of Covid. BYD did not have to shut down. They said the decision was location-based, but was it Chinese gov’t stacking the deck… our a lil bit of both?
2) Because… BYD is saying they’re going to start making batteries for Teslas. Tesla did not comment. In fact, in the past Elon Mush has literally laughed at BYD. But – BYD already does make the battery for the Ford MACH E, and we see how well that’s going. Spoiler alert: NOT WELL!
BYD is now leveraging their resources, and the battery cost for the Ford Mach E has soared out of control in the last few months, to the point where it’s making the car unprofitable for Ford (despite its praises from non-enthusiast media). But Ford is reliant on that battery from BYD. As of now, the Mach E has an ‘unrelated’ stop-sale recall due to power loss.
The point is: Do we want outside/overseas companies like BYD making batteries for our domestic auto manufacturers??? Especially when there’s the obvious conflict-of-interest that… BYD is a competing car company.
