Nope, BYD has not sold more electric cars than Tesla during the first half of 2023, despite what many media outlets are publishing today. All from an article published in the Financial Timesone of the most influential economic media in the world, with an attractive headline.
“Chinese BYD consortium, invested by Warren Buffett, surpasses Tesla in global electric sales,” reads the headline. And although China is a huge market, where the transition to electric mobility is accelerating considerably, the company – by far – does not sell as many electric vehicles as the American one.
The report with sales results for the first half of 2022 ensures that they have sold 641,350 electrified vehicles. Emphasis on “electrified”, The number represents both 100% electric cars and plug-in hybrids. That is, vehicles that have combustion engines (diesel or gasoline) and a —normally small— battery capable of being recharged from the network. Hence its name.
Of those 641,350, 323,519 are 100% electric vehicles. Come on, like the ones Tesla sells. As much as we call a plug-in hybrid an “electric car,” it’s not. And to argue it in an article is to make up the figures to make sense of a headline that will cause a lot of attention. Which, in fact, happened. The article of Financial Times has been quoted ad nauseam throughout today.
Yes, those 323,519 100% electric cars sold during the first six months of 2022 is a spectacular figure, with an astronomical growth compared to its 2021 figures. But, by far, they are less than the sale of Tesla cars throughout of this year.
The company led by Elon Musk sold a total of 564,743 units throughout the first half of 2022. 310,048 correspond to the first quarter and 254,695 correspond to the second. All 100% electric, since Tesla does not manufacture other types of vehicles. That is, a little more than 74% compared to BYD.
Tesla’s figures are especially surprising if we take into account the stoppage of car manufacturing that they suffered at the Shanghai Gigafactory. The Chinese government made the decision to re-impose confinement measures in the region due to the increase in COVID-19 infections. This affected those in Fremont and many other facilities that operate from there.
The reality is that it will be difficult to catch up with Tesla, for now
The reality is that it will be difficult to reach Tesla, for now. In the end, the company has more than five years of advantage, since from the first Model S which rolled off the assembly line in 2012, have always made electric vehicles.
Instead, most automakers have waited until 2019 and 2020 to Really accelerate its model electrification processes and begin efforts to leave combustion engines behind. This includes BYD, which, although one of the largest battery manufacturers in the world, still produces plug-in hybrid cars, which run on gasoline or diesel.
Tesla’s car sales forecast for 2022 stands at “more than a million vehicles”. They will probably approach 1.4 million at the end of the period. Meanwhile, BYD estimates that they will deliver about 600,000 cars throughout the year.
With traditional manufacturers the situation is similar. While Tesla, during the first quarter of 2022, sold a little more than 310 thousand units, the Volkswagen group – which includes Audi, Porsche, Seat, etc. – reached 100 thousand units.
We should not doubt that in the future some manufacturer will reach and exceed Tesla in units sold per year. Be it BYD or any other automaker. But, at least in the short term, it seems difficult to overtake them.