1) Tesla loses its top spot as the Number 1 EV automotive producer (in terms of sales).
2) As of June 30th 2022, the Number 1 spot belongs to a Chinese company called BYD Motor.
3) Tesla’s production numbers were lower than BYD because Tesla was forced to close their Shanghai Gigafactory due to another round of COVID lockdowns. Yet BYD did not have to shut down, because the location of their manufacturing plant/s are in less populated areas. Is that 100% valid, or is that an example of the Chinese government stacking the deck?
4) BYD is saying that they love Tesla & Elon Musk, and will soon start supplying batteries for Tesla. If that happens, it would obviously give BYD additional longterm leverage over Tesla’s manufacturing capabilities & vehicle costs. Tesla did not comment.
BYD already manufactures the battery for the Ford Mustang Mach E. And we see how seamlessly that’s going (sarcasm). Ford is experiencing tremendous rising costs on the Chinese-made battery. To the point where the Mach E is becoming unprofitable for Ford. And that’s in addition to the recent contactor recall which has now stopped sales on the Mach E altogether (at the time of this article). You could say it’s a disaster. But AAA says it’s their car of the year.
Noteworthy: BYD is undergoing an investigation where people in a town within the Hunan province are claiming that BYD’s pollution is making residents vomit, experience trouble breathing, and causing nosebleeds in children. This could potentially even link Ford to overseas health & environmental issues in their ‘green’ EV production efforts. At least we can trust the Chinese government to investigate this properly & ultimately put their people first.
