Is BYD wrong? Experts: Key information to be published and verified, BYD currently has no obvious errors

Reporter | Zhao Baiyuan

In the history of business development, the conflict between the public interest and large companies is by no means unique, and BYD's latest environmental storm has once again brought this topic to the forefront: When personal interests and company interests are at odds, which party's statement is closer to the truth? How does the bottom line of regulation and corporate business ethics play a role?

Usually when a company becomes a leader in the industry and builds a stable brand image over the years, its moral bottom line will also be improved, because doing so is good for the business. But for skeptics, notorious cases also tend to happen to big companies.

The most recent one is Boeing.

In February, a documentary about the Boeing 737max crash, "Downfall: The Case Against Boeing," detailed Boeing's deception before and after the two crashes and during the trials. They packaged a technique to prevent the head elevation of the aircraft from being too large as an unimportant change to avoid new training for airline pilots. As a result, when the sensor delivers incorrect data to the rear elevator, causing the nose to constantly press down, it is almost impossible for the pilot to make a correct judgment because he is unaware of the existence of the system. Boeing management was aware of the cover-up from start to finish, but they continued to point the finger at the pilot's mishandling and inadequate training in the prussia and defense process, ultimately costing $2.5 billion for 346 lives and avoiding criminal prosecution.

It took less than three years from the time the Boeing case occurred to the time the cause was clarified, while some similar cases took more than a decade or even decades to find the truth.

DuPont's Teflon waste pollution incident lasted nearly 50 years, and it wasn't until 2017 that it settled with more than 3,500 plaintiffs in $670 million in damages. Although there was the first death in 1970s in the famous Pinto case of Ford Motor Co., Ltd. in 1970, it was not until 1977 that the plaintiff submitted a copy of a company memorandum to the court that it was confirmed that Ford had already discovered the design defect of the Pinto, but chose the latter between actively repairing the defect and waiting for compensation, for Which ford calculated at the time that it could save at least $80 million, which time magazine also called " One of the most notorious document records of the automotive industry".

These examples do not mean that BYD has made a mistake in this environmental storm or has caused irreparable damage to residents near the factory.

So far, BYD's situation is completely different from the above cases.

But history clearly tells us two facts: the ethical bottom line of large corporations changes under the influence of regulatory intensity and interests; and the way companies operate as organizations tend to prioritize efficiency and cost.

It's always hard and time-consuming to prove them wrong. Proving their fault is directly related to the public's loss, or even harder. Toyota's accelerator pedal incident that year and Tesla's brake failure in China last year are in some kind of middle ground, defects and faults can not be clearly traced, consumers have been hurt, the company insisted that there is no problem with the product, testing data and official agency investigations also prove this to some extent, but recalls or compensation can not be avoided.

Differences in public and corporate positions have led to huge differences in perceptions. The public sees the problem as having only two outcomes, good or bad, and companies have to balance it out in a complex reality where they can accept a broad middle ground. In other words, there will always be problems in factory operations and product launches.

Returning to the BYD incident, an environmental expert we quoted in the previous report said that residents lack the complete information and expertise to prove the correlation between nosebleeds and emissions. After that, we listened to the full recording of BYD's communication and coordination with residents, and interviewed nine professionals from hospitals, universities, EHS (Environment, Health, Safety) engineering and painting workshops, and overall they concluded that some key information needs to be released and verified, and BYD has not made any obvious mistakes so far.

A doctor from a top three hospital pointed out that it is impossible to judge the cause by looking at the symptoms alone, but the children's symptoms are more obvious, fatigue and dizziness, which are one of the symptoms of anemia and leukemia.

Three EHS managers all believe that BYD's Changsha plant must have corresponding environmental protection facilities, and the currently exposed environmental impact assessment data is up to standard, and it is believed that symptoms and odors are less likely to be related to BYD. One of them said that the environmental protection requirements of the automotive industry are very high, the management ability is very strong, and the exhaust gas treatment efficiency is above 95%, which has little impact on the health of workers on the production line. He has worked on environmental safety at first-line joint venture brands and leading new power automotive companies.

A painting workshop manager told us that the painting workshop is the most polluting part of the vehicle manufacturing, not all automobile factories use water-based paint, and not all automobile factories use RTO incinerator exhaust gas treatment, which is highly efficient, but the one-time input and operation and maintenance costs are also higher. BYD will use both water-based paint and RTO after the technology upgrade.

They also pointed out that under normal circumstances, local environmental impact assessment standards will be stricter than national standards, and there is only one reasonable explanation for BYD's Changsha plant to meet local standards but not national standards, that is, local standards are promulgated first, and national standards are promulgated later, which may require enterprises to implement according to stricter standards.

An environmental solutions supplier who has dealt with Toyota, Honda and Geely said that Honda, Toyota and other companies will implement it according to national standards, that is, more relaxed standards.

The above views seem to be more favorable to BYD, but these professionals also point out where BYD may make mistakes.

For example, the expansion of production in the short term may lead to waste gas treatment facilities not keeping up, some factories will shut down the direct emission of waste gas treatment equipment at night, and there is a possibility of falsification of data and testing processes.

In addition, the environmental impact assessment report published in December 2021 shows that the exhaust gas of the electrophoresis process of the bydiron factory in the early days of BYD's Changsha plant was directly and unorganized without collection, and the middle coating and topcoat links were discharged after hydrocyclone treatment, which is mainly for large particle exhaust gases, and volatile VOCs should be adsorption, incineration, etc., which is one of the main sources of pollution and the highest cost of environmental protection disposal.

A university professor, a doctor of environmental science and engineering, said that even if the average emission concentration meets the standard and the total emission standard, it does not mean that the values of each component do not exceed the standard, and the BYD environmental impact assessment report has 24 types and values of organic matter that are not disclosed, some of which may be more harmful to the ecological environment and human body.

From the views of these professionals, we can see that even those who are supportive of the automotive industry and BYD cannot conclude that BYD is flawless, and residents and skeptics do not have sufficient evidence. Perhaps the investigation by the Changsha Municipal Party Committee and Municipal Government in a few days will give the public a truth.

Timeline of environmental protection measures at BYD's Changsha plant:

In November 2004, it obtained the approval of environmental protection completion acceptance

In 2012, the exhaust gas was sprayed by water spin treatment

Construction of incinerators began in October 2020

The installation of the new RTO was completed at the end of August 2021

At the end of 2021, we will invest 700 million yuan to renovate the second phase of the project, using water-based paint, and changing the spray three times to two sprays

(Participating in the interview: interface reporter Zhou Shuqi intern reporter Zhang Huanrui Liu Shuang Shi Wang Junyu Wang Miqi Li Ziqing )