this post was submitted on 05 Apr 2024
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Electric Vehicles
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It's simple really. Make affordable EVs and people will buy them. Yet that seems to be impossible to understand for the incumbents.
It's not impossible to understand. It's currently impossible to mimic.
BYD has vertical integration unlike any other manufacturer. Because BYD has been fostered by the Chinese government to first ensure dominance in their domestic market. And now disruption in foreign markets.
China would not allow or subsidize every stage from raw material mining through vehicle assembly for say GM. They have and will for BYD because it was created to undercut all the existing manufacturers.
I know. But the incumbents have been putting off the transition to EVs for decades in the name of short term profits and now they're caught with their pants down. If they had seriously invested ten years ago, they'd be much further along.
You're both right.
BYD would still be attractive on the value proposition if there were reasonably priced offerings from literally anyone else. But theres no competition within shouting distance of their price point and the reason is the chinese govt.
And the US and EU governments don't give huge subsidies to the automotive industry?
The difference is like letting your kids live at home without paying rent and buying your kid their own place and covering their car payment, credit card bills and utilities.
BYD owns mining rights no foreign maker would have been able to invest in per Chinese regulations. The Chinese government sold them Xian Qinchuan for a faction of it's value. A state owned car manufacturer that was in really poor shape that the party wanted to offload. BYD then shamelessly copied the Toyota Corolla to make the company relevant again. Faced no legal consequences for doing so because China doesn't care about IP law. There have been credible reports of BYD using slave labor throughout their operation.
So no. GM or BMW or someone should have just invested more wouldn't have achieved the same results. Tesla is the only one that kinda comes close. And even they can't match BYD costs per vehicle because Elon isn't using slave labor just yet. Wouldn't put him past trying in the future to match BYD.
Don't give him ideas!