It was 2011 and Elon Musk was laughing. In a televised interview with Bloomberg, the Tesla boss had been tickled by a question suggesting that the Chinese automaker BYD was a rival.
“Why are you laughing?” the interviewer asked, to which Musk replied: “Have you seen their car? I don’t think they have a great product.”
At the time, Tesla had just gone public with a multibillion-dollar valuation, and was about to launch the Model S, which would go on to become the world’s best-selling electric car.
Meanwhile, BYD was struggling with declining sales in China and making headlines abroad for ripping off the designs of other cars.
But one advantage BYD did have was its experience in battery development. Founded in 1995 as a battery manufacturer, the Shenzhen-based company turned its focus to cars in 2003 – the same year Tesla was founded – with the intention of transforming the auto industry with battery-powered cars that could compete with fuel-powered vehicles.
This month, BYD achieved what some industry experts claim is the “holy grail” for electric vehicles: a battery that can fully charge in the same time it takes to fill up a petrol tank.
The Super E-Platform offers a range of up to 400 kilometres (249 miles) from just five minutes of charging thanks to 1,000 kilowatt charge speeds. Most Tesla Supercharger stations have an output of 250kW or less.
“The new charging performance blows the competition out the water,” Ryan Fisher, head of charging infrastructure research at Bloomberg New Energy Finance (BNEF), told The Independent. “It’s three to four times the charging power Tesla’s can consume, and the vehicles will be similarly priced in China as the Model Y.”
BYD said mass production of the new technology would “completely solve users’ range anxiety when travelling”, with plans to introduce the “flash-charge” battery in its Han L and Tang L models in China as early as next month.
The news comes during a period of unprecedented decline for Tesla. The company’s valuation has dropped by more than half since December, and it is about to record its ninth consecutive week of falling share prices.
BYD has played a considerable part in this downfall, having overtaken Tesla last year as the world’s leading electric vehicle manufacturer – a position Musk’s company held since 2019.
The Chinese firm’s latest charging announcement saw Tesla’s stock drop a further 10 per cent, with market analysts quick to point out that BYD would be delivering the technology to customers within months, rather than the years it typically takes Tesla to follow through on Musk’s hubris. (It’s been nearly eight years since he announced the new Tesla Roadster, and it is yet to even enter production).
BYD’s massive market share in China has also infringed on Tesla’s, with the US company seeing its Chinese shipments fall by 49 per cent year-on-year in February despite demand for electric vehicles sky rocketing.
Tesla sales are plummeting in Europe, too, both as a result of increased competition and the actions of its CEO.
Musk’s allegiance to US President Donald Trump, as well as his support for far right politicians in Europe, has seen Tesla’s brand suffer significantly. When he delivered what appeared to be a fascist salute during Trump’s inauguration celebrations in January, Tesla cars were quickly dubbed ‘Swasticars’ across social media, while the Cybertruck earned the nickname ‘W*nkpanzer’ in reference to Nazi-built tanks.
There have been protests at Tesla showrooms and charging stations across the UK, Europe and US, as well as acts of arson and vandalism taking direct aim at Musk.
Previously-loyal customers have buckled to calls for a boycott and switched to other automakers, with sales across Europe in freefall. Figures from market researcher Dataforce show that Tesla registrations dropped 44 per cent in February, following a decline of 45 per cent in January.
But while Tesla suffers from an increasingly toxic brand, BYD’s main issue in foreign markets has been brand recognition. Despite the vast number of vehicles that BYD makes, the majority of them are still sold in China. Passenger vehicles are not even available for purchase in the US, which is unlikely to change given Trump’s loyalty to Musk and love of tariffs.
There are BYD buses in the US, as there are in most of the world – if you’ve been on a London bus in the last decade, there’s a chance that it was built by BYD – but the company is yet to repeat the success it has reached in its domestic market when it comes to cars.
BYD may also face similar issues to other Chinese tech giants like Huawei and ZTE when breaking into foreign markets, with more than a dozen countries around the world restricting or banning their products over national security concerns.
But if such fears arise surrounding internet-connected electric cars, then Tesla may find itself caught up alongside BYD due to Musk’s control of the company.
BYD is yet to announce when its new ultra-fast changing system will be available outside of China, though industry experts say that their arrival could happen quickly.
“In the UK Tesla has been building its supercharger network for years. But BYD’s new chargers will incorporate battery storage which means they will require less grid connection to achieve such high power charging,” said BNEF’s charging infrastructure researcher Fisher.
“This could also enable the infrastructure to be rolled-out quicker if they do bring the car to the UK.”
BYD is already seeing a surge in sales in Europe – new car registrations were up by nearly 700 per cent in the UK last year – which could see the company take advantage of its industry-leading batteries with a push into markets previously led by Tesla.
Elon Musk’s company is now not only losing the brand battle, but also its technological dominance. And the scale of the battery breakthrough means BYD is not just taking on Tesla, but the decades-long dominance of combustion engine vehicles.
This actually fits with Musk’s original aim for Tesla, which he said in 2013 was to “accelerate the advent of sustainable transport”. So while he may no longer be laughing, he might at least afford himself a smile.
