Hello everyone, I am the president of the Electric Vehicle Commune.
BYD, completely discontinued fuel vehicles!
And this time is not like some traditional car companies, although the mouth said "20XX production of fuel vehicles", but now it is still in order to make more money, selling fuel vehicles to sell flying. BYD is practicing and completely transforming new energy.
Of BYD's more than 100,000 units sold in March, half DM and half EVs, not even a single fuel car!
Yes, BYD's sales in March broke through 100,000. Moreover, in the first quarter, domestic new energy sales have reached 287,000 units, catching up with Tesla's global sales of 310,000 units.
As soon as the news came out, the headlines on the major front pages were reprinted, and the group of friends also exploded:
No one expected that a Chinese company actually "killed" the fuel vehicle first, earlier than those centuries-old traditional car companies that called for environmental protection!
But BYD did not make a decision on a whim, but was premeditated.
In order to complete this new energy puzzle, BYD waited for this moment and waited for a full nineteen years.
Puzzle Piece 1: Learn to build a car
BYD's idea of "killing" fuel vehicles began in 2003.
At that time, BYD, backed by cheap batteries and export opportunities brought about by the Asian financial turmoil, had become the first and second largest rechargeable battery manufacturer in China and the world, and its employees had grown rapidly from 20 in 1995 to 15,000.
After becoming bigger and stronger, BYD has set its sights on a new track - building cars.
The reason is also similar to many later "home appliances to build cars": building cars is really too profitable.
Even BYD, which is the first in China to make batteries, has a profit of only a little more than 500 million yuan in 2002, and you can see the head at a glance. And in the automotive field next door, Volkswagen, which sells 40 million cars worldwide, can earn 4 billion, or euros!
Even according to Volkswagen's 5 million sales in the Chinese market, the profit is ten times that of the battery, which is difficult not to be eye-catching.
In 2003, when BYD made cars, it was just when the fresh "high-tech" of the hybrid system entered the vision of domestic car companies. GAC, SAIC, BAIC, Dongfeng... They are all gearing up and getting on the hybrid project.
Objectively speaking, the manufacturing cost and research and development cost of hybrid vehicles will be 30% higher than that of fuel vehicles, and the price will be much higher. But whether it is from the perspective of car cost or driving experience, there are great advantages.
The same is true for pure electric models, but limited by the battery technology at that time, there are still certain problems with battery life.
But compared with other car companies, BYD's biggest advantage is the battery.
Wang Chuanfu also believes that the key to new energy vehicles is battery technology. As lithium battery technology matures, the energy of the electric vehicle market will soon be revealed in a few years.
As a result, BYD acquired Qinchuan Automobile and embarked on the road of car building.
This also laid the initial foundation for today's BYD DM+ EV dual-track parallel strategy.
The second piece of the puzzle: independent research and development
However, the matter of building a car is not as simple as imagined.
In the first year of announcing the car, BYD angrily invested hundreds of millions of dollars and launched the new car "316" with outsourced design + independent research and development.
At that time, one hundred million yuan was equivalent to one-fifth of BYD's annual income, and it was also equivalent to 300 suites in Beijing, which was not a small amount.
However, after Wang Chuanfu excitedly introduced 316 to eight dealers, he was left with only the backs of seven dealers and a slightly embarrassed face on the scene.
After a while, bydy employees "kindly broke the siege": "Our car is really ugly..."
No one could know how lonely Wang Chuanfu really was at that moment. But everyone understands that after Wang Chuanfu smashed the car with a hammer, BYD once again confirmed BYD's development ideas: independent research and development, technology is king.
Many people know that the BYD F3 listed in 2005 is almost a replica of the Toyota Corolla. It not only borrows the chassis of the Toyota Corolla, but also looks very similar to the Corolla.
Even after 10 years of production of Corolla, some parts can still be used by BYD F3 to continue life, which also gives BYD a "plagiarism" hat.
But what many people don't know is that BYD F3 uses three powertrains - fuel (F3), pure electric (F3e) and hybrid (F3DM), which is unprecedented!
In this way, BYD is the originator of oil to electricity.
And unlike the previous "outsourcing, outsourcing" program, BYD's engine, battery, motor, electronic control related parts are all required to be self-developed, the purpose is to firmly grasp the core technology in their own hands.
The benefits of this have only really become apparent in recent years.
In 2021, almost only Tesla and BYD Han use SiC silicon carbide to improve the efficiency of electric drives in mainstream electric vehicles around the world.
This is not because other car companies do not have SiC technology, but because Tesla alone has eaten almost all of the world's silicon carbide production capacity! If you want to use it, I'm sorry, wait until the expansion of production in 2022.
But BYD Han can use SiC precisely because BYD can build it itself.
Even if this IGBT team needs to develop from 2005 to 2020, the 15 years of waiting are worth it.
The third piece of the puzzle: the development of new energy
Some people believe that BYD made a new energy vehicle after the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology issued the "New Energy Vehicle Manufacturers and Product Access Management Rules" in 2009, after all, F3DM was unveiled in 2009.
However, this is not the case.
As early as the off-line ceremony of BYD F6 in 2007, Wang Chuanfu once said something amazing:
"BYD Automobile will not only enter the hybrid and pure electric vehicle market, but also become the 'No. 1 in China' automobile manufacturer in 2015 and the 'World's No. 1' automobile manufacturer in 2025!"
Moreover, BYD not only does not follow the rhythm of the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, but also does the opposite -
In the 2009 "Rules", according to the four major angles of vehicle, technology, standards and industry, new energy vehicles are divided into three different stages: starting period, development period and maturity period.
Among them, the definition of maturity period is hybrid models and pure electric models that use safe lead-acid batteries, and hybrid models that use nickel-metal hydride batteries. Lithium batteries are only listed as a development period.
In other words, at that time, the domestic automotive industry also generally believed that lithium batteries were not safe and stable enough.
Only pure electric vehicles with lead-acid batteries such as the General EV1 or HEVs with nickel-metal hydride batteries like toyota Prius are considered the right way.
However, BYD does not believe in evil and is still developing its own lithium iron phosphate battery route.
To this end, he even refused to amend the application for the "863 Energy Conservation and New Energy Vehicle Major Project" after it was rejected, and gave up the opportunity to apply for subsidies again.
Interestingly, only 1 year after the release of the "Planning", BYD invested a large number of e6 as pure electric taxis in Shenzhen, which seems to be a silent rebellion. At that time, there were also netizens at Tianya who expressed their personal views on this matter:
But at this time, due to the lack of popularity of charging piles, the development of new energy is still extremely difficult. Often only the B-end travel market and some electric vehicle owners with home piles can enjoy the benefits of electric vehicles.
So BYD was forced to embark on the road of "curve rescue" and develop the second generation of DM hybrid technology, which is the "542" strategy that was later known to many Di fans.
To put it simply, it is to use plug-in hybrid to increase the instantaneous power of the fuel vehicle, and can also use a large battery to provide tens of kilometers of pure electric endurance.
BYD, which has begun to see the beginning of new energy technology, has also made up its mind from this time to completely abandon its own fuel vehicles.
Puzzle Piece 4: Design
In 2014 and 2015, BYD experienced a wave of transition pain.
From the perspective of the entire auto market, the competition in the auto market at that time was extremely fierce, and joint venture brands have launched new cars, and the price of new cars has been continuously explored, which has been squeezed into independent brands.
The market share of independent brands has also dropped from 40.5% to 38.4%.
The environment is not easy, and BYD is also not easy. In 2014, DUED could only watch its sales being cannibalized due to the strategy of abandoning fuel vehicles, down 21% year-on-year, leaving only 370,000 vehicles.
But at this time, the new energy vehicles have not yet become a climate at all.
Even BYD, which has won the new energy sales champion for many years, is only less than 100,000 units, which is a drop in the bucket compared to the sales of fuel vehicles in the past five years.
But when it fails, it is the fastest time to grow, and ATD at this time makes up for its own shortcomings: design.
"The appearance doesn't determine the quality of the car, but it definitely affects sales."
Before 2014, many of BYD's models had borrowed from the Toyota next door, such as the F3 Toyota Corolla and the S6 Lexus RX.
On the one hand, plagiarism is indeed the fastest way to remember, but on the other hand, due to the self-development of fuel vehicles and new energy, BYD really can't afford to take care of the design.
However, after abandoning the fuel car, BYD is like a programmer who just resigned from the 996 factory, and finally has the opportunity to free his hand to throw away the plaid shirt worn by others and make a good deal of his own appearance.
It's just that ATD has not yet adapted to it, and some "too much force" has been used.
Qin, Tang, Song and Yuan, the original dynastic models, creatively used the luminous car logo. It's just that the big red color with the byd letters is really red and a little earthy.
With the extremely fast zero-hundred acceleration of the second generation of DM hybrid technology, it seems that it is not contrary to the harmony... Just a little hot eyes.
But after the addition of former Audi and Lamborghini "design master" Egger, BYD finally ushered in a turnaround!
Just three months later, BYD's Dragon Face dragon face design that is still used today has been finalized. The 360° appearance without dead angles has reversed BYD's previous stereotypes of "plagiarism" and "ugly" to a certain extent.
In terms of interior, BYD also invited the former senior interior designer of volkswagen group to be responsible.
Both inside and outside, the overall situation is achieved.
Puzzle piece five: blade battery
The shortcomings of BYD's soft power have been made up, but the hard power over there has not fallen.
At the beginning of 2020, BYD announced a blockbuster news at the China Electric Vehicle 100 People Conference:
BYD's new generation of "super lithium iron phosphate battery", that is, BYD's "blade battery" is coming! Debut model Han EV!
As soon as this news came out, it could be said that a stone stirred up a thousand waves.
Prior to this, the lithium iron phosphate battery that BYD insisted on developing has always been a representative of low cost, poor endurance and slow charging, and basically only low-end models will be used.
Even BYD itself hesitated, briefly switching to the camp of ternary lithium batteries.
The introduction of the blade battery almost solves the problem of low power density and energy density of lithium iron phosphate batteries, and it is safer than ternary lithium batteries!
The cost of the battery pack can also be reduced by about 30% compared with before, which is reflected in the price that it can be 10,000-20,000 pieces cheaper.
The specific interpretation was also analyzed by the president two years ago. At that time, BYD's stock price only "soared to 60 yuan", and now it has exceeded 240, which is the BYD that the president cannot afford. For details, please stamp:
Let BYD's market value soar by 60 billion! What is the black technology of "blade battery"?
The final result is that the Han EV equipped with blade batteries can have a range of up to 605 kilometers, which is not worse than the ternary lithium battery model of that year.
Coupled with the cost reduction ability of comprehensive self-development, the 2020 BYD Han can set the price of a B-class car (219,800-27.95 million yuan) as a C-class car.
And bydir Dolphin, which locates small cars, BYD Qin and BYD Song, which are compact, can also be called price killers in the same level.
What's even more outrageous is that this blade battery can not only be used in pure electric models, but also provide high-rate discharge that ordinary lithium iron phosphate batteries cannot achieve.
This means that the new power blade battery can have a high power output of 160 kW with less than 10 kWh of capacity, and can also be used in hybrid models!
This gives BYD the opportunity to spell out the last piece of the puzzle.
Puzzle Piece 6: DM-i
At the 2020 Guangzhou Auto Show, BYD held a new energy conference.
What is very outrageous is that at the press conference, BYD actually "released" an engine!
Because this engine uses operations such as removing the gear train and electrifying the accessories, it cannot be used on conventional fuel vehicles. The very narrow engine efficiency range also means that this is a hybrid engine.
And this hybrid system, that is, BYD spent a lot of money in 2017 to develop DM-i super hybrid technology.