BYD’s CEO Is Right And Chinese EVs Are Around 3- 5 Years Ahead Of Everyone Else Because China Started Preparing For This Market Years Ago

In a recent interview, BYD's CEO said that “China’s electric vehicles are around 3.5 years ahead”, and while you’d think he was being overly optimistic, he may instead be overly conservative in that estimate. China has been able to rush on EVs because it saw the disruption EVs could cause, and it has one of the biggest smog problems in the world; its smog is so bad that it often crosses the ocean to pollute California’s skies. While sad for California, which has been one of the more aggressive states when it comes to cutting pollution, they are still experiencing high levels of it, this is a showcase of a government seeing and pivoting hard on an opportunity and recall China moved so aggressively on solar panels, they pretty much own that market today. 

How China Got To EV Leadership

China began actively working on EVs in 2001 with the 863 EV Project and surpassed the US to become the world’s largest automotive market in 2009, with 13.9M vehicles sold annually (the US was at 10.43M then). The 863 Project made the development of EVs in China a high priority and 16 state-owned companies moved to develop EVs aggressively. This was two years before Tesla was founded.

Chasing the rest of the world with ICE (Internal Combustion Engines) made no sense because the brands selling traditional gas cars were well-established and supported. Still, these brands didn’t initially seem that interested in EVs providing China with the opportunity to steal the market much like they did with solar panels (the US started the solar panel wave back when Jimmy Carter was President, but Ronald Reagan killed those efforts which set the stage for China to steal that market as well). 

The Chinese government aggressively supports and funds efforts it sees as strategic, like Solar Panels and EVs. However, the US and other Western countries do not do so much, which is allowing China to dominate market after market increasingly. 

China currently dominates a significant portion of the global market, particularly in manufacturing, holding a leading position in numerous sectors like electronics, textiles, machinery, and automotive parts, effectively dominating a large number of markets due to its vast manufacturing capacity and export volume; estimates suggest that China holds a dominant position in several key industries, representing a substantial share of the world market in each sector.

Key points about China's market dominance:

Manufacturing powerhouse: China is the world's manufacturing superpower, with a larger manufacturing output than the following nine largest manufacturing countries combined.

Export dominance: China has a substantial share of global exports, particularly in manufactured goods.

Diverse sectors: China holds a significant market share in electronics, textiles, footwear, machinery, and automobiles.

Large consumer market: China also boasts one of the world's largest consumer markets.

BYD Is Outstripping Tesla Significantly

In 2022, BYD of China moved aggressively ahead of Tesla in sales and intends to eclipse Tesla with better-built, more affordable EVs. And their full self-driving technology appears to be superior to Tesla’s, which China appears to be refusing to approve. The trade war with China could eventually force Tesla out of that market, just as the US has blocked BYD from entering the US market. In Australia, where BYD is on an even playing field with Tesla (no massive Tariffs), BYD is significantly outperforming Tesla because the BYD cars are so much more affordable, have higher build quality, and more advanced features. 

This is likely what founds the BYD CEO’s comments and my own beliefs, China started sooner, funded better, and appears more focused on the EV pivot than any other country including the US which is why they are currently winning in the market. 

Wrapping Up:

Love or hate China when it comes to global competition in a market they care about; there is a fierce competitor against the West, which seems to struggle far more with technological change and doesn’t adequately fund comparable efforts.

China is showing that it is not only better tactically but also strategically when it comes to making and supporting decisions. If the West doesn’t learn from this and respond adequately, China will likely own the automotive market worldwide by 2035. 

Rob Enderle is a technology analyst covering automotive technology and battery developments at Torque News. You can learn more about Rob on Wikipedia and follow his articles on Forbes, X, and LinkedIn.