DID BYD REALLY DISMISS TESLA AS THE LARGEST EV MANUFACTURER? IT DEPENDS

Earlier this week (including here on ValueWalk), one of the big news headlines was that BYD, a Chinese electric vehicle maker backed by Warren Buffett, had taken the title of the world's largest automaker of electric vehicles to Tesla. However, there is an important distinction to point out that might change some people's opinion on the matter.

Clarifying the headlines about Tesla and BYD

Tesla delivered just over 250,000 vehicles in the second quarter, marking its first quarter-over-quarter decline in two years after its Shanghai factory closed due to the lockdown. That total brought the California electric vehicle maker to 564,742 electric vehicles in the first six months of the year.

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Meanwhile, BYD reported 638,157 EV deliveries for the first half of the year, but that included plug-in hybrids. In our Tesla/BYD history article, we mentioned that BYD's number included plug-in hybrid vehicles, which combine a traditional internal combustion engine with a battery typical of electric vehicles.

However, Electrek added that nearly half of the vehicles that BYD classifies as "electric" are plug-in hybrids. The tech blog argued that this fact means Tesla remains the world's largest maker of electric vehicles.

Is the difference justified? Or just cut hair?

There is no doubt that plug-in hybrids are a transitional technology that will become obsolete when enough all-electric vehicles offer long enough ranges to allow fast charging, road trips and journey times similar to those offered by gasoline-powered vehicles. Therefore, it is important to distinguish between all-electric vehicles and plug-in hybrids.

However, many government agencies, including the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, group "plug-in hybrid electric vehicles" (PHEVs) with all-electric vehicles. Therefore, some may wonder whether it is important to distinguish between all-electric vehicles and plug-in electric vehicles at this point.

One thing that is essential to understand about PHEVs is that many of them can only travel 20-40 km on their batteries alone before they start using gasoline. While this is fine for those who don't travel far from home, it's a key issue for those taking road trips.

Of course, the all-electric ranges of PHEVs are increasing, but they are still far from those offered by all-electric vehicles. In fact, Tesla cars are known for their exceptional range, typically over 300 miles on a full charge. Therefore, it's easy to see why EV enthusiasts would resent plug-in hybrids being lumped in with all-electric vehicles.

Whether they really should be categorized into one group depends on your perspective.

Published first on ValueWalk. Read here.

Image credit: Pixabay; Pexels; Thanks!

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