Stunning BYD EV price cut

BYD ATTO 1

 From The Driven

BYD has cut the price of its cheapest electric car to just $19,990 driveaway [US$14,190, but the Australian price includes a 10% GST (sales tax), taking the price down to an effective US$12,775], pushing the cost of a new EV in Australia below the $20,000 mark for the first time.

The special offer applies to the entry-level BYD Atto 1 Essential and is available nationwide, according to BYD Australia.

The Atto 1 was already comfortably Australia’s cheapest new electric car, launching at $23,990 before on-road costs late last year. The new offer cuts $4,000 from that headline price while also including on-road costs.

It puts the compact electric hatchback into a price bracket occupied by some of Australia’s cheapest new petrol cars, and represents another significant step down in the cost of entry to a new battery-electric vehicle.

Electric cars have already taken a huge chunk out of the Australian car market this year, posting a record 24.9 per cent share in August, and outselling petrol cars, and diesel, for the first time.

The Atto 1 Essential uses a 30 kWh BYD Blade Battery and offers up to 220 km of WLTP range. Its front-mounted electric motor produces 65 kW and the car can accelerate from 0-100 km/h in 11.1 seconds.

It also comes standard with 11 kW AC charging and DC fast charging at up to 65 kW, along with a 10.1-inch infotainment screen, wireless Apple CarPlay and Android Auto, vehicle-to-load (V2L) capability and six airbags.

BYD Australia chief operating officer Stephen Collins said the price cut was aimed at making electric vehicles accessible to more Australian households as cost-of-living pressures continue.

“At a time when Australian families are carefully considering every household expense, we’re committed to making vehicle ownership more attainable,” Collins said.

“The BYD ATTO 1 at $19,990 driveaway demonstrates our commitment to delivering outstanding value without compromising on technology, safety or quality.”

The deal further intensifies competition at the affordable end of Australia’s rapidly expanding EV market. When the Atto 1 arrived, its $23,990 starting price opened a sizeable gap to other new EVs and made it cheaper than many popular entry-level petrol cars.

Competition has since increased, including the arrival of the Geely EX2, which starts from $26,490 before on-road costs and offers 252 km of WLTP range in entry-level Complete form.

The Atto 1 is also offered in a more powerful Premium variant, which uses a larger 43 kWh battery for up to 310 km of WLTP range and a 115 kW motor.

BYD has been rapidly expanding both its model range and physical presence in Australia. The company says it has introduced eight new models or major variants since October last year, with that number expected to reach 10 by this October.

Upcoming additions include a plug-in hybrid version of the Atto 2 small SUV and the M9, BYD’s first premium people mover for the Australian market.

BYD says it has also been opening an average of one new sales and service centre a week over the past 12 months, and expects to have more than 150 dealerships across Australia by the end of 2026.

BYD has not indicated in its announcement how long the $19,990 driveaway Atto 1 Essential offer will remain available.

This is extraordinary.  To date, the cheapest new car in Australia has been the petrol-driven MG MG3, at $19,990.  And that isn't the drive-away price — you still have to add $1000 to $2000 to that.   The electricity to fill the battery would cost you $9 (30 cents/kWh) on a typical daytime home charge rate, or, at midday, thanks to a new government program, or if you have solar panels, it would be free.  Fast chargers typically cost 65 cents/kWh, so to recharge from empty to full using a fast charger, would cost you $19.50.  However, most people charge at home, and many use off-peak charging at 20 cents/kWh, if they're not using their own solar panels or the low or zero rate over midday.

The equivalent range in the MG3 would cost roughly $30 of petrol. (That is with current prices; without the Iran war it would be cheaper.)

Problem:  the range is short.  If you wanted to drive from, say, Melbourne to Sydney, you would have to stop 3 times to recharge.  With the petrol MG, you might not have to refuel at all, since the MG3's range is 750 km.  In practice, though, one only makes long journeys occasionally.  The average daily commute is 16 km, and 73% commute 20 km or less.  

To sum up: you can now buy an EV which is cheaper up front than the cheapest equivalent petrol car, and will cost you much less to run.  

Outside the US and Europe, Chinese-made EVs are going to grab market share from ICEVs, not because people care about climate change, or because of pollution, but because EVs are cheaper.  And the switch to EVs, here in Australia, and globally, has accelerated because of Trump's Iran war.  What a glorious irony.

EVs best-selling drive train in UK

 

From Inside EVs

While tariffs and the destruction of plug-in vehicle subsidies have gutted the market for electric vehicles in the U.S., elsewhere in the world the numbers continue to surge. 

In the UK in August, sales of battery-electric cars surged 30% year over year, according to data from New Automotive, a research firm. As a result, EV market share hit 30% of new car sales, beating gas [petrol] vehicles, hybrids, plug-in hybrids, and diesel models. Notably, non-hybrid combustion models only made up 27% of the UK market, so even if they’re not buying a full EV, buyers are opting for something that is electrified in some fashion.

UK EV sales have been on the upswing this year. Data from New Automotive, shows that in July, the country's EV registrations jumped 50% compared to the year before, bringing their market share to 27%.

It’s a no-brainer as to why the UK is EV crazy. For starters, there’s a zero-emission vehicle mandate that aims to phase out combustion engines entirely by 2035. This goal is tiered, with EVs to account for 33% of new car sales in 2026, 80% in 2030, and 100% by 2035. Manufacturers that sell enough EVs to hit the ZEV target get credits, while those who don’t meet it must pay penalties. This incentivizes automakers to develop and sell EV models. The UK also has direct subsidies for buyers of EVs.

The UK also has a lot of Clean Air Zones that disincentivize cars that pollute too much, making drivers who wish to drive into certain areas pay a fee. Cars that are clean-air compliant, such as an EV, don’t need to pay any clean-air fees.

Those incentives seem to be working. Rising fuel prices due to the Iran war have been boosting EV sales across Europe too. 

So cars with an electric engine now make up three-quarters of UK new car sales.  The S-curve is flexing up.  Can anyone doubt that by 2030, almost all cars sold will have an electric motor, and more than half will be pure EVs?

UK EVs now cheaper than petrol cars

 From The Guardian

The price of new battery electric cars has fallen below petrol cars in the UK for the first time, according to the car sales website Autotrader, in a significant milestone in Britain’s transition away from fossil fuels.

The average price of a new electric car listed on the website was £42,620, compared with £43,405 for a new petrol model – making the former £785 cheaper based on advertised prices after discounts.

The higher upfront cost of electric vehicles has long been one of the big sticking points preventing some drivers from switching away from cars with polluting petrol and diesel engines towards those with battery motors, which do not emit carbon dioxide directly. Total running costs for electric cars have been lower for some time.

UK battery electric car sales accounted for 22% of new car sales in the first three months of the year, according to the Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders, a lobby group.

Prices in the UK have been pushed down by the electric car grant brought in last summer, offering up to £3,750 off some models. Carmakers have also been under intense pressure to drop prices to meet electric car targets, known as the zero emission vehicle (ZEV) mandate, and from an influx of Chinese competitors that have been able to undercut traditional brands.

Autotrader is the UK’s biggest automotive marketplace, although it does not cover all transactions across the country. The data suggests that the UK has reached a pivotal moment for decarbonising its road transport, as a cheaper upfront cost and significantly lower running costs combine to make electric cars increasingly attractive to buyers.

Bex Kennett, the head of new car at Autotrader, said: " ...carmakers had been forced into historically high levels of discounting earlier this year” as they tried to increase electric sales. However, their efforts appear to have been aided by the war in Iran, which has caused a rise in petrol and diesel prices. Car sales platforms across Europe have reported large increases in inquiries for electric cars from consumers keen to cut their energy costs.

Gurjeet Grewal, the chief executive of Octopus Electric Vehicles, the car division of the energy company, said the term milestone “gets thrown around a lot, but this really is one. For the first time, EVs are cheaper than petrol cars on upfront cost – removing one of the biggest barriers to switching.

“They’ve long been cheaper to run, and now they’re cheaper to buy, too. Add in growing competition and more choice, and it’s clear the direction of travel: electric is the obvious option for drivers.”

However, the transition to electric cars in the UK still faces some barriers. Households across the country who do not have driveways are reliant on the public charging network, which remains patchy in some areas.

Given the strategic risks revealed by the Iranian war, the government should regard the EV subsidies as money well spent. 

In Australia, the BYD ATTO 1, shown below, is comparable in size and performance to the petrol Suzuki Swift, and is roughly the same price (AUD $24,000, which includes a 10% sales tax), without subsidies.  An A$3,000 subsidy for EVs costing less than $30,000 would sharply accelerate EV sales in Australia, as it is in the UK.

The BYD ATTO 1, Australia's cheapest EV.

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BYD targets Europe

 

BYD Seal

From Business Insider

BYD has set its sights on Tesla's European backyard.

The Chinese EV maker announced on Monday that it would nearly triple the number of sales and service locations in Germany, the home of Tesla's European gigafactory, by the end of 2026.

The German expansion comes as part of a larger European push that will see the number of BYD stores on the continent double to more than 2,000 next year, executives said in a press conference at the IAA Mobility summit in Munich.

BYD, China's biggest automaker, has bet heavily on overseas markets as it confronts fierce competition back home.

According to executive vice president Stella Li, the company now sells 13 models in Europe, and sales have surged so far this year.

BYD outsold rival Tesla in Europe for the second time this year in July, as Elon Musk's carmaker grapples with slowing sales in its third-largest market.

Buoyed by recent success, BYD is now looking to put down roots. The company showed off its new SEAL 6 DM-i Touring, a hybrid sedan with a combined range of up to 1505km, in Munich, and is building a factory in Hungary with a production capacity of 200,000 cars a year.

Li told reporters that the Hungarian plant, which will allow BYD to avoid the 17% tariff imposed on Chinese cars by the European Union last year, would begin production by the end of 2025. She added that the $24,500 Dolphin Surf hatchback will be the first car to be made in the factory.

BYD is also planning to roll out its ultra-fast "megawatt" EV chargers in Europe, which the company says can add 400km of range in just five minutes.

Li said BYD aimed to install 200 to 300 of the ultrafast chargers, which are twice as powerful as Tesla's top EV chargers, in Europe by the second quarter of 2026.

Just stop burning fossil fuels!

 Honestly, it's quite simple. We have to stop burning fossil fuels to stop global temperatures rising.

Simple in concept, but not in execution.  We have to replace a couple of thousand coal power stations with wind, solar, and nuclear power.   And we have to transition our whole car and light truck fleet to EVs.  1.6 billion of them!   And find ways to power air travel with renewable fuels.  Electric planes aren't quite there yet.  Oh, and then there's cement and steel, where the manufacturing processes emit CO2, quite apart from the energy used.   But, essentially, if we can halve emissions, we will also halve the decade-by-decade rise in global temperatures from +-0.2 degrees to +-0.1 degrees.  Which will give us more time to reduce emissions from those harder sectors.

Together, land transport and electricity generation contribute roughly 50% of emissions, globally.  And the good news is that in these sectors, the clean energy alternatives are cheaper than fossil fuels.

For example, in Australia, BYD now sells an electric car (EV) which costs the same as a Toyota Corolla. Since EVs are 4 times as efficient as petrol cars (most of the fuel burnt in a conventional petrol engine is wasted as heat, and isn't used to drive the car forward) they are already much cheaper to run than petrol cars. Now, they're cheaper to buy as well. What's more, when the regulations are promulgated (why so slow, Federal Government?) you will be able to run your house on the electricity in your car. The BYD will have roughly 45 kWh of stored electricity in its battery. Average daily household use in Australia is 15 kWh. So you'll be able to charge your EV when power is cheap (midday, and again after 10 pm) and use it when power is expensive (4 pm to 9 pm). So for the same price as a petrol car, you'll get a giant household battery, cheaper car fuel bills, and much-reduced electricity bills.

This has been made possible by the collapse in battery costs. And that deep, and continuing, plunge has been parallelled by the fall in solar panel costs. While high latitudes will never be able to run on solar alone, in low and mid-latitudes, such as Australia, we will be able to run our grid on 100% solar electricity, combining it with 6 or 8 hours of storage. And EVs will be part of that revolution, as every household and every business gets them.

All these trends are being driven by market forces. Extremely competitive Chinese manufacturers are driving down prices. BYD spends as much on research as its total profit. CATL, the world's largest battery manufacturer, has introduced a sodium-ion battery. Sodium is a lot cheaper than lithium, and is also much safer. The same vigorous competition is driving down solar panel costs.

That's not to say we're out of the woods. There are powerful regressive forces which want to delay the transition, and useful idiots yelling loudly about how unfair it all is. Bring back steam trains!

Plus there are methane emissions from cattle and sheep, and CO2 from cement and steel. Methane is 80 times as potent a greenhouse gas, over a 10 year horizon (after which it decays into CO2) There's air transport, and sea transport, and home heating (bring on heat pumps!).

However, we must move faster.  The seas are dying, and half the tree of life is going extinct.  We should attempt to halve emissions by 2035, and halve them again by 2045.  With costs of solar and batteries plunging, that's achievable.

Oz's EV sales: The Musk effect

 Australia's EV sales plunged in February.  This appears to be mostly because of a collapse in Tesla sales, down 75% in February over February last year.  And it's no good saying that it's because the market is waiting for the "refreshed" Model Y: Model 3 sales were down 80% over the same period.  

The new BYD sub-A$30,000 EV has been announced but not yet released.  I expect its sales will be phenomenal, because it's about the same size and same price as the cheapest Toyota Corolla, the Ascent Sport.   

If you routinely drive long distances, then you will prolly want a plug-in hybrid or an ICEV, because the rural charging network in Australia is still pretty feeble.   But if you mostly drive in the city, going to the supermarket or picking up the kids from school, while charging your EV in your garage, an EV will save you upwards of $2000 a year, and even more if you have your own solar panels, for the same up-front costs as the cheapest Corolla.  In addition, there's talk that the new BYD will allow V2H  (vehicle to house) charging later this year, which means you'll also save on your electricity bill.  In my case, I'd save $2,000 a year.  So your new BYD EV will pay for itself over 7 years.  Oh, and that's ignoring the tax incentives you'll get if you buy an EV (minimum 20% if you get average earnings, more if you earn more).

In short, I expect runaway sales of BYD's new EV.  Is this the low for EV sales?  Prolly; how much further can Tesla sales fall?  And, meanwhile, BYD has picked up the baton.

BYD leads unstoppable charge

BYD's plug-in hybrid, The Shark

 

From The Driven 

In 2024, China registered 31.436 million new automobiles, a rise of 4.5 per cent over the previous year, with the growth of NEVs (new energy vehicles) jumping an astonishing 35.5 per cent.

In the passenger vehicle market, China achieved an annual penetration rate of NEVs of 47.6% throughout 2024, with the percentage of new sales exceeding 50% for five consecutive months in the second half of the year.

That trend has continued into 2025, with China’s February NEV sales reaching 892,000, up 87 per cent from February 2024. BEV and PHEV sales were up 85% and 90% year on year respectively, far outpacing the overall demand growth (including ICE vehicles) of 34 per cent.

As the country’s biggest car maker BYD says, the facts demonstrate the unstoppable trend of electrification and accelerated replacement of ICE vehicles with NEVs.

As the world’s largest NEV producer, BYD is leading the charge both domestically and internationally on transforming the possibilities of electrified mobility and household electrification. Its rival, Tesla, has effectively left the race when it comes to sales growth.

The BYD profit report released overnight reveals that BYD generated RMB 777.1 billion ($US107 billion) in revenues in 2024, up 29.02% yoy, driven by a 40% yoy growth in NEV sales.

This translated to a 34% yoy growth of net profit to RMB 40.3bn ($US5.55bn) over the year for BYD, even as it invested RMB 54.2bn ($US7.48 billion) into R&D in 2024, taking its total investment into R&D to RMB 180bn ($US24.83 billion), most of it into its world-leading technology in batteries, electronics and EVs.

The company has 20,000 R&D engineers, and submits an average of 45 patent applications and 20 patent licenses every day. One of the latest is the ‘Super e-Platform’, enabling 1,000 kW charging power. Stepping into the era of “charging as fast as refuelling” with the ability to charge 400km in just 5 minutes.

The impact of that R&D is there to see. Battery prices have fallen 82% in the last 10 years alone. In the same time, battery densities have risen 5-fold.

In 2024, lithium-ion battery prices fell a further 20% to a record low of US$115/kWh as manufacturing overcapacity continues to surge.

In 2024, 3,100 GWh of fully commissioned battery-cell manufacturing capacity was online, more than 2.5x that of annual demand. This has driven massive demand growth for EVs and stationary energy storage (BESS) systems globally, with China continuing to dominate.

BYD is already showing incredible growth in 2025, with sales up 93% in the first two months of the year to 623,300 vehicles.

While Tesla’s profitability contracted over 2024, and its share price continues to dive as the US regresses on climate, clean energy and trade, BYD’s share price is up more than 51% in 2025 on the Hong Kong Exchange.

China was already the winner. Now it is clear, the runner-up has left the race. Incredible to see the EV revolution and China’s leadership in real time.

I've been saying for nearly a decade that the growth of EVs to market dominance was inevitable.  You just had to extend the lines plotted on log scale to see what was likely.

What I got wrong was that I assumed that Tesla would remain the market leader.  But Musk became obsessed with right-wing culture wars, and took his eye off the ball.  Anybody who has ever managed a business will know that that is fatal.   Market leadership has now switched to BYD, and more broadly, China.  The US had the lead; and together Musk and the Republicans have thrown it away.  Even assuming a changed administration in 2028, the US auto industry's lag behind China will have expanded to 5 years.   With the speed with which the market is shifting, that might as well be a lifetime.  Things are moving so fast in China that competitors will be unable to respond.

BYD is also driving down battery prices for grid storage.  And this will accelerate the replacement of coal and gas by solar with storage.   Learning curves with a vengeance, fuelled by billions of dollars of Chinese research.  Under these circumstances, no rational investor will put money into coal, oil or gas.  They're done.  Over.  Antediluvian.  As outdated as the Lockheed Constellation, or the Vickers Viscount, technological marvels of their time.   

So, whatever Trump or the Republicans or Big Oil think or do, electricity generation and road transport will go fully electric.  And as battery energy density rises, so will rail transport, shipping, and (eventually) air transport.  50% of global emissions will be eliminated.

[BYD's sales include plug-in hybrids.  These will surely be replaced with fully electric vehicles as cost falls and energy density increases.  At some point the cost of a second engine will outweigh the cost of bigger batteries, while at the same time, the rapid deployment of fast chargers will remove range anxiety.]

 

AU EV sales start to pick up

 The Labor government, after it took office, allowed EVs to be bought on a novated lease through your employer without having to pay fringe benefit tax.  Too complicated to explain to non-Australians, but in essence it allows you to have an EV on lease at a substantial discount equal to your marginal tax rate plus the 10% general sales tax.  For people on the lowest marginal tax rate (above zero), this equates to a ~30% tax cut.  The introduction of this incentive caused a huge jump in EV sales, followed by a bit of a slump.  This slump was worsened by Tesla sales declining fast, as Tesla has until recently made up most of the sales of EVs.

But over the last few months, the big jump in the number of models available in Oz has led to a rebound in sales.  BYD has just reduced the price on its entry-level EV to below A$30,000.   The cheapest Toyota Corolla starts at $26,400, but that isn't a hybrid.  The cheapest hybrid Corolla is $31,790.   At some point this year, V2H (vehicle to house) charging will be enabled.  Even at the lowest non-zero marginal tax rate, the cheapest BYD will cost just $20K, but will also be a house battery.  A comparable Tesla Powerwall will set you back ~$25K.  However, the bi-directional chargers are still pricey, though even adding that cost to your car still leaves you with big cost savings, especially when you consider how much cheaper EVs are to run than petrol vehicles.  The point about this is that EV price competition continues, and EVs are now very good value, and will get better.   Expect sales to rise fast.

Recent months showing a pick-up, but still down on the 2023 peak

Year-on-year sales growth is back above +30%, after a low of -27%

The BYD Shark hybrid ute

From Drive

The BYD Shark has finally been fully unveiled, with the first ute from the giant Chinese car brand due in Australia by the end of [2024] also representing the first plug-in hybrid pick-up to reach local showrooms.

It claims fuel consumption of 7.5 litres per 100km – similar to a four-cylinder diesel – in hybrid mode, and up to 100km of driving range on electric propulsion alone, but if BYD's claims are accurate, more power and quicker acceleration than a twin-turbo petrol V6 Ford Ranger Raptor.

The Shark is larger than a Ford Ranger or Toyota HiLux – but smaller than a Ford F-150 or Ram 1500 – and mirrors their use of ladder-frame underpinnings, with a braked towing capacity of 2500kg.

Another key distinction from other top-selling utes is the use of passenger vehicle-like independent rear suspension – in addition to independent front suspension, which is common in the category – which could enhance off-road performance but reduce its performance when laden.

The Shark is fitted with a relatively small 1.5-litre turbocharged petrol engine, but it is paired with two electric motors – divided between front and rear axles – for a combined power output of "more than" 316kW.

BYD claims a 0-100km/h acceleration time of 5.7 seconds in hybrid mode – as quick as a Honda Civic Type R hot hatch, and about four seconds quicker than Australia's top-selling four-cylinder diesel utes.

If BYD's claims prove true, the Shark would be quicker and more powerful than the Ford Ranger Raptor – Australia's quickest ute, excluding full-size V8 US pick-ups – which has a 292kW/583Nm 3.0-litre twin-turbo petrol V6, and has completed 0-100km/h in 6.0 seconds in Drive's testing.

BYD claims up to 100km of electric driving range from the Shark's plug-in battery pack – or, in hybrid mode, fuel consumption of 7.5L/100km, and a total driving range of 840km, based on NEDC lab testing.

For context, a dual cab Ford Ranger bi-turbo diesel quotes 7.2L/100km – with auto engine stop-start technology fitted – and a claimed driving range of approximately 1100km.

The Shark is billed as having "the world's first longitudinal electric hybrid system," with illustrations released by BYD showing all four wheels are driven by the electric motors – and the petrol engine can only directly drive the front wheels.

It is said the hybrid system "prioritises electric motor propulsion for up to 80 per cent of total journeys."

The battery pack can be recharged from 30 to 80 per cent in a claimed 20 minutes. Vehicle-to-load technology allows the Shark's battery to power external electrical devices while camping.

The Shark will beat the Ford Ranger PHEV to showrooms as the first plug-in hybrid ute on sale in Australia.

Based on a ladder-frame chassis – with independent front and rear suspension – the Shark measures 5457mm long, 1971mm wide and 1925mm tall, on a 3260mm wheelbase.

It is 87mm longer nose to tail, 53mm wider and 39mm taller than a Ford Ranger Wildtrak, but has a 10mm-shorter wheelbase.

BYD quotes a payload of up to 835kg, and a 2500kg braked towing capacity – down on the 1000kg and 3500kg respectively of the benchmarks in the ute class – plus a 1450-litre tray volume, compared to a Ford Ranger's 1233L.

The car maker says 54 per cent of the body is made from high-strength steel, and "the battery is part of the chassis structure with a structural rigidity of up to 38 per cent."

The split of torque between the front and rear wheels can be varied, BYD says, and three 'terrain' modes – Snow, Mud and Sand – are offered for off-road use.

The Shark is priced at A$57,900, and so far, it has received 5,500 orders.

BYD slashes the price of its Dolphin EV

 

The BYD Dolphin

BYD has just cut the price of its cheapest Dolphin hatchback EV to A$29,990.  This compares with the cheapest Toyota Corolla at A$29,880.  

This is it, folks:  EVs now have a "sticker price" equal to petrol cars. (They've been much cheaper to run for ages)    This is before any tax incentives (if you lease a car through your company in Australia, you can save a minimum 30% off the price).  And remember, you can (or soon will be able to) run your house from your EV: while a single 13.5 kWh Tesla Powerwall costs $A13,500, you get a car and a battery with 45 kWh of storage for $A30,000.  

Right now, about half the electricity my solar panels generate is fed into the grid, but the feed-in tariff is negligible.  However, when I draw power from the grid in the evening, I pay peak rates.  20% of a Dolphin BYD's battery will produce enough electricity to run my house from 5 pm to 10 pm, and then I can charge the battery up using late night low price electricity.  My electricity bill will be negligible.  Not only will I be able to drive for zero cost, I will also save a few hundred dollars a year on my electricity.  In fact, it will pay me to put more panels on my roof.  Many commentators ignore the benefits for the grid of EVs with V2H capacity.  (V2H and V2G have just been introduced in Australia, and I don't know whether the BYD Dolphin is yet capable of this)

Even if you don't have solar panels, electricity utilities will soon see the sense of allowing EV owners to charge up their cars when there is excess supply of electricity (at midday and between midnight and 5 am), when wholesale prices are negative.

The decline in EV prices is just going to continue.   There is fierce competition between car makers in China.  Battery manufacturers are competing to cut battery prices, increase energy density, and make charging quicker, and their competition is driving battery prices down.  And the Chinese Yuan is falling because the Chinese economy is so weak.

Does anybody still think it's going to take until 2035 for EV sales to make up 100% of car sales?  They're currently stagnating in Australia because Tesla sales are falling so fast.  But in 2025, BYD will more than make up for that.

(I'll talk about BYD's luscious new PHEV ute (bakkie/pick-up) in my next piece.)

Battery powered flights from Washington DC to LA

From Just Have a Think 

Battery technology is developing at breath-taking speed all over the world, but China still leads the way. Now they've created batteries with such high energy density that they're using them to develop a commercial aircraft with a range of 2,000 miles - enough for most commuter flights in the US or Europe. So, has battery chemistry reached yet another previously impossible milestone?

 

As usual, a thoughtful and well-informed video.  The intense competition in batteries in China is driving innovation and cost cutting.

Detroit Panicking at China’s Ultra Cheap EVs

From This is Not Cool (used to be Climate Denial Crock of the Week, or what I used to call Climate Crocks)

They're talking about the BYD Seagull in particular, but it applies to Chinese EVs in general.  The legacy carmakers and politicians in key car manufacturing countries were contemptuous about EVs, refused to take them seriously, and refused to embrace the EV market.  It was obvious that the EV market share was doubling every 18 months, had been for a decade, and that it would likely continue to double.  But they ignored this.  And what do they do now?  They run squealing to mama and papa government for protection.  They might be able to protect their home market, but they can kiss exports goodbye.

Bloomberg:

The car’s most extraordinary feature, though, is its $9,698 price tag. That undercuts the average price of an American EV by more than $50,000 (and is only a little more than a high-end Vespa scooter). Such aggressive pricing by BYD, which surpassed Tesla Inc. in late 2023 to become the world’s largest producer of electric vehicles, is indicative of how Chinese auto manufacturers will likely force US makers to pivot away from mainly producing expensive second cars for the affluent and toward more reasonably priced EVs for the Everyman.

Just as the long-feared prospect of a revolutionary EV from US tech giant Apple Inc. has receded, American carmakers now face a possibly greater challenge from Asia. China, long a manufacturing hub for Western companies’ products, is hellbent on expanding its own companies’ reach around the globe. It’s already the biggest market for EVs, and it’s using that scale and manufacturing know-how to help expand sales of competitively priced Chinese models to an increasingly climate-conscious world.

For now, the Chinese onslaught is being kept at bay in America by stiff tariffs and moves to erect even tougher trade barriers against the US’s geopolitical adversary. But the Chinese market accounts for about 70% of all EVs sold globally, so China’s push to lower prices is causing a ripple effect that can’t be ignored in the long term—even if political maneuvering by American lawmakers manages to slow the Asian giant’s automotive advance toward the US, the world’s most profitable car market.

“This threat has put everybody on alert,” says Jeff Schuster, global vice president for automotive research for consultant GlobalData. “It forces innovation in a way that might not have happened as quickly.”

Auto executives and politicians in Washington are sounding the alarm about a potential existential threat to American car brands—and the millions of workers employed building them. The Alliance for American Manufacturing, a trade group backed by major manufacturers and labor unions, is calling for new protectionist trade measures against China to prevent an “extinction-level event.”

“Chinese companies are ultra-competitive today,” says Michael Dunne, an auto industry consultant who previously worked for General Motors Co. in Asia. “The question in every boardroom right now is, how do we compete with them?”

Ford Motor Co., Tesla and other carmakers are quickly tearing up their EV playbooks to compete against these cheap new vehicles sold outside the US. Ford Chief Executive Officer Jim Farley calls the Seagull “pretty damn good” and cautions that any automaker that can’t compete with the Chinese globally in the near future risks losing as much as 30% of its revenue. One of Farley’s top EV executives called Chinese EVs “a colossal strategic threat.”

South China Morning Post:

BYD, the world’s largest electric vehicle (EV) maker, has priced another model under the 100,000 yuan (US$13,912) threshold as a discount war in China’s EV market intensifies.

The Shenzhen-based company, backed by Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway, announced on Wednesday that the updated fully electric e2 model will start at 89,800 yuan, 12.6 per cent less than the previous price of 102,800 yuan.

The compact sport-utility vehicle, with a range of 405 kilometres, becomes the fifth BYD model available for less than the psychologically important threshold price – viewed as affordable even for low-income wage earners in the mainland China market.

“BYD appears to be extremely aggressive in driving a transition from petrol cars to EVs in the country’s automotive industry,” said Eric Han, a ­senior manager at Suolei, an advisory firm in Shanghai. “The cheap models will also draw middle-income consumers who have become price sensitive amid a bearish economic outlook.”

The lethargic legacy carmakers can sleep slightly better knowing that the cheap EVs in China are not so cheap when they're sold outside China.    In Australia, the Seagull will prolly be sold for around $31 K, which removing sales tax and allowing for the US/A$ exchange rate, is roughly US$18K.   

Remember, CATL (the world's largest lithium-ion battery maker)  has halved the cost of batteries this year, to just $56/kWh.  Battery costs will continue to fall.  The fierce competition in EVs in China will not go away, and since Chinese carmakers have much higher margins on exports, expect them to export as much as they can.  The US and Europe might be able to protect their domestic car markets, but the rest of the world will, if they have no domestic carmakers, embrace cheap EVs, or, if they do have a domestic car industry, will persuade BYD and others to set up car plants in their countries.