Wang Chuanfu, a post-60s native from rural Wuwei County, Anhui Province, started BYD from scratch and made the company listed in MIT Technology Review's "15 Climate Tech Companies to Watch" list twice in 2023 and 2024.
The list is a list of start-ups and established companies that MIT Technology Review considers most likely to dramatically reduce greenhouse gas emissions or otherwise address the threat of global warming. Among the 15 companies on the list in 2024, BYD is also the only one from Chinese mainland on the list.
The other 14 companies on the list include:
LanzaJet、Pano AI、Solugen、Celbo、Rondo Energy、Rumin8、Gogoro、Subllme Systems、Sun KIng、Kairos Power、Form Energy、Electric Hydrogen、PIvot Blo 和 First Solar。
图 | 含比亚迪在内的 15 Climate Tech Companies to Watch 榜单（来源：《麻省理工科技评论》）
MIT Technology Review was founded in 1899 and has been around for 125 years. Why did it choose BYD twice in a row?
Casey Crownhart, a climate journal·ist for MIT Technology Review, wrote: "If you include plug-in hybrids, BYD will take the crown." But if you're after purity and only consider cars that are completely battery-powered, then the number one spot is Tesla. And now, BYD is priing Tesla's throne and trying to beat it in the all-electric space: BYD surpassed Tesla in sales in the last quarter of 2023. BYD's speed and scale in EV deliveries make it the focus of my attention. ”
(Source: MIT Technology Review)
In October 2023, Charlie Thomas Munger, a 99-year-old United States invest·or, said in an interview with United States business podcast Acquired, "I may be a big fan of BYD, but I feel very nervous when this company is speeding around the track. ”
Munger recalled: "We discouraged them [BYD] from entering the automotive industry easily. BYD entered the automotive industry by acquiring a bankrupt car company. I think it's a grave for them...... But they didn't heed the advice and continued to act. ”
As it turned out, Wang Chuanfu finally handed over a report card that satisfied Munger. Later, Munger introduced Wang Chuanfu to his partner Warren · Warren E. Buffett, and then there was the story of Buffett's investment in BYD.
Warren Buffett calls Wang one of his four most admired CEOs, and considers Wang a hybrid of Edison and Welch (formerly the CEO of General Electric Group).
BYD was founded in 1995 and started as a battery. In 2003, BYD began building cars across borders through the acquisition of Qinchuan Automobile, a decision that was not favored at the time.
In this regard, at BYD's 5 million new energy vehicles rolling off the assembly line in 2023, Wang Chuanfu recalled in his speech: "In 2003, we entered the automotive industry with the dream of new energy. How dare a person who makes batteries make cars? All kinds of doubts or ridicule came to our faces, and on the first day of entering the automotive industry, BYD's stock price fell by 20%, and the capital market poured cold water on us. ”
At the 2004 Beijing International Auto Show, BYD unveiled three new energy vehicles for the first time, and the rest of the booths were full of fuel vehicles.
At that time, no one believed that new energy vehicles had a future, and even the term new energy vehicles had not yet appeared.
"People can't understand it, they can't look down on it, and they look down on it. Everyone is questioning whether BYD can make electric cars? Wang Chuanfu said in the above speech.
However, 20 years later, BYD shattered the doubts of the year. In 2023, BYD sold 3024417 new energy vehicles, including pure electric vehicles and hybrid vehicles, with sales increasing by 62% year-on-year.
In response, in an MIT Technology Review article, journalist Rhiannon Williams writes: "The Shenzhen, China-based company quickly became the undisputed leader in China's automotive industry and the world's largest producer ·of electric vehicles (both battery electric and plug-in hybrids). ”
In the past, BYD has been the leader in China's new energy vehicle sales for 11 consecutive years and the global new energy vehicle sales champion for two consecutive years.
As the world's largest NEV company, BYD sold 419426 vehicles in September 2024 and expects to sell more than 3.6 million vehicles in 2024 (this sales target has been raised to 4 million units).
So, why does BYD do it? From the review article of MIT Technology Review, its advantages can be summarized into four points: manufacturing advantages, overseas layout, autonomous driving capabilities that are trying to "make up classes", and chip manufacturing capabilities.
At the same time, behind these four capabilities, BYD's resource investment and strategic layout are also inseparable.
(Source: MIT Technology Review)
Manufacturing: Take the route of "big package", and resolutely do not outsource the manufacturing by yourself
UBS once said in an analysis report that BYD has a 25% cost advantage compared with traditional manufacturers in Europe and the United States. UBS analysts dismantled a BYD 2022 model and found that about three-quarters of the parts were made by BYD itself.
In terms of manufacturing, BYD takes the route of big package, as long as the self-developed price is cheaper than the external procurement price, it will choose to do it yourself. Even if it is going to sea for transportation, it also spent 5 billion yuan to buy 8 cargo ships to solve the problem of sea transportation from the source.
In automobile manufacturing, Wang Chuanfu replicated the experience of making batteries in his early years. For simple processes, he tries to hire workers to avoid expensive investments in automation equipment. It was with this manufacturing advantage that BYD was able to reduce the price of the F3 in its early years to $8,000, which was only half the price of the Toyota Corolla at that time.
Wang Chuanfu once took Toyota as a role model for himself to catch up, and BYD's careful calculation of manufacturing costs in turn attracted the envy of the role model. In 2018, BYD, which had begun to emerge, attracted Akio Toyoda, then CEO of Toyota, to visit Wang Chuanfu in Shenzhen.
According to media reports, Mr. Wang told colleagues that he was worried that Mr. Toyoda would mention that BYD's early cars were similar to Toyota's models. However, according to people familiar with the matter, most of the meeting, Mr. Toyoda instead asked Mr. Wang questions and how he achieved low-cost production.
In the MIT Technology Review article, journalist Leannon · Williams wrote: "BYD can source everything through its own subsidiary, including batteries, motors, and most of the parts needed to make affordable electric and plug-in hybrids, electric buses, and monorails." Not only does this approach allow it to build cars at a lower cost than its competitors, but its tight controls also allow it to innovate throughout the supply chain and quickly bring new features into production. ”
This makes BYD's car-making speed accelerate year by year. 13 years to produce the first million cars; production of the second million cars, which took 1 year; the production of the third million vehicles, which took 0.5 years; The ninth million vehicles were produced in just 0.17 years (i.e. 2 months)[1].
And initially, BYD did not consider sourcing parts from suppliers. However, due to the fact that it did not have the advantage of negotiation at that time, BYD insisted on making its own parts with high cost and low external collaboration efficiency, and finally realized the independent and controllable supply chain.
And it has become one of the few enterprises that has mastered the core technology of the whole industrial chain of electric vehicles. From silicon purification, to wafers, to chip manufacturing, to parts production and research, and then to vehicle assembly, it has formed a self-research and self-production of the whole industry chain.
In the automotive field, BYD has mastered core technologies such as batteries, motors, and electronic controls, and has opened up more development opportunities for itself with technologies such as blade batteries, DM-i super hybrids, e-platform 3.0, CTB battery-body integration, "Yi Sifang", Yunyuan system, and DMO super hybrid off-road platform.
Among them, the blade battery is the most famous, which has the characteristics of high safety, long life, long battery life, etc., does not contain nickel and cobalt metal, and has passed the industry's most stringent single battery acupuncture test. For this battery, some media commented: "(Blade battery) almost single-handedly pulled lithium iron phosphate batteries back to the right path of industry development." ”
There are media reports that even rival Tesla wants to buy BYD's batteries. Although Tesla later came forward to refute the rumor, it can still see a lot of reports in foreign media.
(Source: Data map)
In an MIT Technology Review article, journalist Leannon · Williams wrote: "The affordability of BYD models is a key part of their appeal. The company's cheapest car is the Seagull, which sells for less than $10,000 in China. ”
Such a manufacturing advantage even allowed BYD to complete the rapid support of mask manufacturing during the new crown epidemic. During the new crown epidemic, Wang Chuanfu urgently organized manpower to produce masks. Most of these masks are donated free of charge to sectors and specific groups of people in urgent need, while the rest are supplied to the market.
The mask production period coincided with the Spring Festival holiday, but BYD employees gave up their vacations, Wang Chuanfu mobilized 30,000 engineers to draw drawings, made the first mask machine in seven days, and completed the design and manufacture of mask meltblown cloth within three weeks. In this regard, Wang Chuanfu said: "This is not for money, but for social needs, and for a kind of responsibility. ”
During the mask manufacturing period, a total of 100,000 BYD employees participated in it, and even moved the automobile manufacturing production line out to make room for the mask production line, and the maximum production capacity could produce 100 million masks a day, which is about five times that of other mask companies.
So much so that BYD still has the spare capacity to ship masks to countries such as Italy and Serbia for use.
Wang Chuanfu said: "This is the advantage of China's manufacturing industry, that is, it can move the entire industrial chain. When the country is in trouble, when we, the representatives of the manufacturing industry, stand up, we can build anything. ”
Going global: New energy vehicles have a footprint in 94 countries around the world
In BYD's eyes, its market scope has no boundaries. At the above-mentioned BYD's 5 million new energy vehicle off-line event, the Beyond song "Sea and Sky" sung by BYD employees and car owners was played on the spot, in which car owners from China, Mexico, Sweden and Thailand participated in the singing, reflecting BYD's determination to go overseas.
After the song video was broadcast, perhaps because the lyrics described it was similar to BYD's growth experience, Wang Chuanfu rarely began to choke.
(Source: Data map)
He said: "I just watched this video of the sea and the sky, which evoked a lot of memories, in fact, this song is also BYD's mental journey along the way." Everyone is questioning whether BYD can make electric cars? In the face of these doubts or ridicule, we did not give up...... BYD wanted to do a proof question. What does it prove? Proof that BYD can, new energy vehicles can, and Chinese cars can. ”
Figure | Video screenshot of the Beyond song "Sea and Sky" sung by BYD employees and car owners (source: screenshot of BYD video account)
From entering the automotive field in 2003 with cold eyes and ridicule, to being crowned "King Di" by netizens in 2023, Wang Chuanfu believes that BYD has taken a road that no one has walked.
The China-Europe Business Review also commented on BYD, saying: "This is another example of another Chinese high-tech manufacturing company that has relied on long-term technology investment in addition to Huawei." ”
In an MIT Technology Review article, Leannon · Williams wrote: "BYD may not have reached the point of becoming a household name outside of China, but it has already gained recognition in overseas markets for its affordable, easy-to-use electric vehicles." In 2023, BYD's international market accounted for only 8% of its total sales, and in order to expand this market, BYD is rapidly building factories around the world and investing heavily in and building a large fleet of car carriers. Over the past 18 months, the company has entered new markets such as Brazil, Australia and Thailand, and announced that its new plant in Indonesia has produced its first cars. Meanwhile, BYD has begun building its first European factory in Hungary and recently unveiled plans to invest $1 billion in a factory in Turkey that is expected to produce 150,000 electric and hybrid vehicles per year. Despite strict regulations in Western countries, BYD is working to lower the barriers to manufacturing and shipping its vehicles globally. ”
In contrast, BYD's overseas report card in Southeast Asia, especially in Thailand, seems to be more eye-catching. In July 2024, BYD held an event to complete the completion of its Thailand plant and roll off the assembly line of its 8 million new energy vehicles.
On the road from Suvarnabhumi Airport, the capital of Thailand, to the center of Bangkok, the slogan "BYD NO.1" is covered in viaducts, buildings and shops.
Until then, the Thailand car market has been firmly occupied by Japanese cars. Under BYD's attack, the world has changed here.
According to media reports, as of August 2024, BYD's new energy vehicle footprint has spread to 94 countries and regions around the world, and its passenger car footprint has covered 84 countries and regions around the world and more than 400 cities [2].
Intelligent driving: Invest 4,000 people and 100 billion yuan to try to narrow the gap
Intelligent driving was not BYD's longboard at the beginning, and even Wang Chuanfu's remarks questioning intelligent driving a few years ago are still widely circulated on the Internet.
However, the emergence of the AI wave represented by ChatGPT has made BYD begin to work intelligent driving.
In the first half of 2023, Wang Chuanfu upgraded intelligent driving to one of BYD's core strategies. According to media reports, Wang Chuanfu will discuss the issue of intelligent driving with his colleagues at 11 or 2 o'clock in the evening.
In mid-2022, there are only more than 100 people in the intelligent driving team of BYD New Technology Institute. By August 2024, the team has 4,000 people.
Previously, BYD preferred to train managers from within, such as Li Yunfei, general manager of BYD's brand and public relations department, who joined BYD when he graduated in 2004 and grew from a channel developer to "public relations No. 1" in 20 years.
However, in the past two years, BYD has also begun to "look outward" in intelligent driving, such as recruiting Xu Lingyun, the former director of Gaohe Intelligent Driving, to his command.
According to media reports: "(The 4,000-person intelligent driving team) is five times the size of Tesla's intelligent driving team, and the same size as Huawei's intelligent driving team." In the future, BYD will also invest 100 billion yuan in the field of vehicle intelligence.
In August 2024, Yang Dongsheng, head of BYD's intelligent driving team, told the media: "The intelligent driving team began to accumulate three years ago. Now there are nearly 4,000 people, six or seven hundred people do regulatory hardware, about 1,000 people do software algorithms, and others do engineering and testing. ”
He hopes that within two years, high-end intelligent driving can be used in mid-range models and Volkswagen models, and even models under 100,000 yuan can be used.
In general, BYD's vigorous catch-up in autonomous driving is indeed obvious to all.
In an MIT Technology Review article, Leannon · Williams wrote: "It has been lagging behind companies like Tesla when it comes to automotive software. Now, it's working to close the gap. It recently unveiled the Xuanji Smart Car System (built by the team led by Xu Lingyun above), which includes features such as automatic parking and artificial intelligence voice recognition. BYD is also one of the first automakers in China to receive a license to test cars equipped with Level 3 autonomous driving capabilities, which means they can fully control the car on designated highways under specific conditions. At the same time, BYD will cooperate with Uber to conduct autonomous driving tests. In the future, if they can be approved by governments around the world, BYD's driverless cars can be used to pick up and drop off passengers. ”
Chips: self-research as soon as possible, and actively cooperate
In the MIT Technology Review article, Rianon · Williams wrote: "BYD is working with chipmaker Nvidia to introduce next-generation automotive chips into its models starting in 2025. ”
In addition to cooperating with chip manufacturers, BYD itself has many years of accumulation in the field of semiconductor manufacturing. As early as 7 years ago, BYD Semiconductor was established in 2002.
Initially, BYD Semiconductor was not an independent company, but existed as BYD's IC (Integrated Circuit Design) design department. Since then, the department has entered the entire industry chain of IT microelectronics, optoelectronics, and LED (light emitting diode) until 2020, when this department was integrated into an independent company, BYD Semiconductor Co., Ltd.
During this period, BYD acquired Ningbo Zhongwei Semiconductor in 2008 and won a national award in 2009 for its achievements. In the case of "lack of core and soul" and being surrounded by the outside world, it has resisted many external risks through forward-looking layout.
Today, BYD has a wide range of layouts in intelligent driving SoC (system-on-a-chip) chips, computing platforms, sensors and core algorithms, and has independently developed not only a new generation of on-board computing platforms, but also BOS operating systems and a new generation of AI chips.
Regarding the self-development of technology, Wang Chuanfu said: "I am an engineer first, and an entrepreneur second. Technical barriers are a kind of fear created for latecomers, and they are the 'paper tigers' that force you to give up. So, I've never been scared of the core technology. Others have it, I dare to do it, others don't, I dare to think. As long as it is man-made, not created by God, and others can make it, so can we [3]. ”
The cornerstone of the four strengths: investment and strategy
The formation of the above advantages is inseparable from BYD's investment in research and development. In the first half of 2024, BYD's R&D investment reached 20.177 billion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 41.64%, a record high [4]. And from 2011 to 2023, BYD's R&D investment exceeded the net profit of that year for 13 consecutive years.
BYD's 2024 interim results report shows that it has invested nearly 150 billion yuan in R&D [5]. At the same time, BYD has more than 900,000 employees, including about 110,000 technical R&D personnel [6].
In the past two years, 80% of BYD's nearly 50,000 school recruitment positions were R&D positions [7]. Focusing on strategy, industry and products, it has established 11 research institutes.
The premise of making a high income from investment is to have the right decision. Wang Chuanfu's judgment on new energy vehicles is both risky and forward-looking, as mentioned earlier he laid out new energy more than ten years ago, and stopping the production of fuel vehicles seemed to be too radical at the time, but the final results proved the correctness of this decision.
In this regard, he once said: "March 2022 is a turning point, BYD should stop the production of fuel vehicles and transfer all its energy to new energy vehicles, so as to be able to develop new energy vehicles faster and better serve the market." ”
In fact, as Wang Chuanfu said: "If the mold is broken, it may lose hundreds of thousands, and if a model is broken, it will lose hundreds of millions, but if the strategic direction is wrong, it may be gone in 5 years, and time and money cannot be bought." "And you can't compete with others if you follow the path that others have walked.
There is no need to "introduce yourself" and there is no need to drink electrolyte anymore
In the talk show "Discretion", Wang Chuanfu said: "When we started our business in the early days, we were relatively poor, but when you really have a large-scale enterprise, starting a business is no longer to make money, in fact, the rest is all for a backbone." ”
He mentioned that he went abroad for an inspection in his early years, but was asked by customs to see the return ticket. He said: "The first time I went to United States, they always asked me to show him a return ticket, I felt very uncomfortable, as if I was going to rely on you in United States and not come back, why should I rely on you in United States and not come back?" ”
For this backbone, he insisted on using Chinese keys and used Chinese dynasty names such as "Xia", "Qin", "Tang" and "Song" to name car models. In the face of doubts, he said: "It's okay, I will bear the mistake, and I am willing to sell this amount." ”
Now, as one of the earliest participants in the new energy vehicle industry, BYD is also ushering in rapid development in the tide of the times. Wang Chuanfu said: "New energy has provided a new acceleration for Chinese cars, from the first new energy vehicle to the 10 millionth, China took 14 years. From 10 million to the 20 millionth, less than a year and a half. ”
When BYD was first founded, when negotiating with foreign companies, if the other party gave him an hour to negotiate, Wang Chuanfu often had to spend half an hour to introduce himself.
In 2008, David Sokol·, then Buffett's deputy, went to Shenzhen to inspect BYD, and Wang Chuanfu took a sip of the electrolyte to prove the environmental friendliness of BYD's electrolyte [8]. Nowadays, BYD no longer needs too much "self-introduction", and Wang Chuanfu no longer needs to drink electrolyte.
"The 70-year history of car building is the win or loss of the Chinese from standing up to getting rich and then becoming strong." The 20-year history of car manufacturing is also the "history of competition" between Wang Chuanfu and BYD. As he said, "We are not stupid or lazy, as long as we are given the opportunity, we should be stronger." ”
Resources:
1.https://baijiahao.baidu.com/s?id=1812417163500073875&wfr=spider&for=pc
2.http://paper.xinmin.cn/html/xmwb/2024-09-09/T37/192610.html
3.https://baijiahao.baidu.com/s?id=1791062525451347285&wfr=spider&for=pc
4.https://www.sznews.com/news/content/mb/2024-09/12/content_31208392.htm
5.http://news.sohu.com/a/807810454_120952561
https://www.technologyreview.com/2024/10/03/1104910/15-climate-tech-companies/
6.https://baijiahao.baidu.com/s?id=1810051220917858034&wfr=spider&for=pc
7.https://baijiahao.baidu.com/s?id=1810724969032674418&wfr=spider&for=pc
8.https://www.chinanews.com/cj/news/2009/09-04/1849880.shtml
https://www.technologyreview.com/2024/10/01/1104432/2024-climate-tech-companies/
https://www.technologyreview.com/2024/10/01/1104363/2024-climate-tech-companies-byd-affordable-evs/
https://export.shobserver.com/baijiahao/html/802994.html
https://mp.weixin.qq.com/s/riMeGvNNblsuN-xZQekbRw
https://mp.weixin.qq.com/s/-prachylD7FMLObzdKWPvA
https://mp.weixin.qq.com/s/rSRCVKER5XAW4R_RuHsuYg
https://mp.weixin.qq.com/s/r9IrPwYFjL-0gTFasHJfdg
https://mp.weixin.qq.com/s/Ek4MrrgI9BRBUja_lk2TKA
https://mp.weixin.qq.com/s/aUuYxBNVkQYGT2dwrBgZIw
https://mp.weixin.qq.com/s/NxjKvr9tlo8wihlmxGqbMQ
Support: Ren
Operation/Typesetting: He Chenlong