With each passing year, the electric vehicles (EVs) market is taking gigantic leaps in terms of vehicle production and sales. As the competition between the EV car makers grows more intense, all eyes are on the BYD vs Tesla race that would eventually determine which one of the two would rule the market in the long run.
According to Portland-based Allied Market Research, the global EV market is projected to reach USD 824 billion by 2030 (at a CAGR of 18 per cent). With rising sales, the revenues of Tesla, BYD and other automakers that produce battery-powered or hybrid vehicles, including cars, buses and semi-trucks, are also seeing a steady northward trend.
The name Tesla perhaps clicks with anyone who has ever heard of EVs. After all, the American automaker, which is headed by its charismatic (and controversial) chief executive officer (CEO) Elon Musk, has become more or less synonymous with the term ‘electric cars.’
The reason is simple: Tesla made EVs a household name with the introduction of the luxury electric sports car Tesla Roadster in 2006.
Yes, the first electric cars emerged in the late 19th century, and Toyota introduced the world’s first mass-produced hybrid EV, Prius, in 1997, but the concept didn’t really take off until Tesla came vrooming down the roads with the Roadster.
The car went into mass production two years after its introduction and paved the way for all EVs and hybrids that have since followed anywhere in the world. Tesla Motors, therefore, rightfully deserves to be called the company that revolutionised the auto industry in the 21st century.
Over the next decade since the production launch of the Tesla Roadster, Tesla gained a strong footing in the overall auto market, which includes internal combustion engines (ICEs) such as petrol- and diesel-engine cars besides EVs. Eventually, it became the leading EV producer in the world.
But this dominance has come under increased threat from the Chinese auto giant BYD Auto Co., co-founded and led by Wang Chuanfu, which completely shifted to new energy vehicles (pure EVs and hybrids) in March 2022.
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Comparing Wang Chuanfu’s BYD and Elon Musk’s Tesla
BYD vs Tesla: Who sold more battery-electric cars in 2023?
As the world entered the new year in 2024, both Tesla and BYD Auto released their respective sales figures for the fourth quarter of 2023. The reports indicate that BYD has gone past Tesla in terms of sales in the final quarter of the year.
While Tesla delivered 484,507 battery-only cars (pure EVs) in the October-December period of 2023, BYD sold 526,409 battery-only cars for the same period. Though Tesla’s company filing revealed that the sales were up more than 11 per cent from the previous quarter, it clearly wasn’t where BYD stood.
When annual sale for 2023 is considered, it might appear that BYD has surpassed Tesla by many miles given that its overall sales are 3.02 million vehicles — almost double that of Tesla. But that is far from the truth.
It is important to note that while Tesla produces purely battery-powered cars, BYD sells both battery-only cars and hybrids. When we break down the data, it emerges that Tesla produced 1.84 million cars in the entire year. BYD, by comparison, produced just below 1.6 million battery-only cars. It is only when sales of 1.4 million BYD hybrid vehicles are added that the Chinese company’s total production for the year 2023 surpasses the 3-million mark.
According to the BBC, Tesla’s end-of-year performance was better than analysts had expected. Its sales rose 20 per cent from the same period in 2022. BBC quoted analyst Dan Ives of Wedbush Securities describing Q4 as a “clear win” for Tesla.
Irrespective of how one sees Q4, Tesla is still the world leader in battery-only cars by annual sales.
Advantage: Tesla
BYD vs Tesla: Who offers high-end EVs at a better price?
One of the reasons why BYD Auto has recorded high sales in a short period is due to the pricing of its vehicles. This is an area where Tesla is struggling.
Forbes reported in November 2022 that most of BYD’s line-up of cars sold for between USD 13,200 and USD 46,700 compared to Tesla’s starting price of around USD 50,000 before the latter introduced price cuts.
Not much changed in 2023.
The best example of how the prices differ today can be seen from the two most famous EVs produced by the companies — Tesla Model 3 and BYD Han, both of which are sedans and are thus comparable.
A high-performance Tesla Model 3 all-wheel drive costs around RMB 297,400 (HKD 332,577 approx.) in China. A four-wheel drive high-performance version of BYD Han costs RMB 279,500 (HKD 312,560 approx.). When it comes to performance, BYD Han has an acceleration of 0-100km/h in 3.9 seconds compared to Tesla Model 3’s 4.4 seconds.
Data shows that one-fifth of Tesla’s total sales in the quarter ended 30 September (Q3) was in China. In December 2023, it sold 94,139 China-made cars, or around 69 per cent more vehicles compared to the same month the previous year. Yet, it clearly is far from BYD’s stranglehold on the highly competitive EV market in China.
The most significant reason is the price, which Tesla tried to lower. Even though the American automaker could not meet the ambitious goal of the 2-million annual internal target set by Elon Musk, it saw a rise in sales towards the end of 2023 due to a sales push focussed on discounts and other incentives.
According to Reuters, six months of free fast charging was offered to customers who took deliveries by the end of December 2023. The report said that the sales push came just before some variants of its compact Model 3 sedan lost US federal tax credits in 2024.
BYD, on the other hand, was expected to produce 3.05 million new energy vehicles. The actual production was, therefore, only marginally lower than expectations. The low price of its vehicles was the key.
Speaking to Reuters, Susannah Streeter, head of money and markets at Hargreaves Lansdown, said that price cuts are working for the Chinese company.
“The fight will hurt margins for both companies, but BYD clearly believes it’s a price worth paying to increase market share and recognition,” noted Streeter.
Advantage: BYD
BYD vs Tesla: Who has more experience as an automaker?
Experience counts, be it in individual competition or a race between global giants.
BYD Auto traces its roots to BYD Company Limited (simply BYD), which was founded by Wang Chuanfu in 1995 in Shenzhen with his cousin Lu Xiangyang. The name ‘BYD’ is an acronym for “Build Your Dreams.”
BYD was created to manufacture mobile phone batteries. By the early 2000s, it became the first Chinese lithium-ion phone battery supplier to the then-world-leading mobile phone makers Motorola and Nokia.
BYD Auto, the subsidiary of BYD, was formed in 2003 when Wang acquired a failing state-owned automaker named Tsinchuan Automobile. In 2008, the company launched China’s first plug-in hybrid, BYD F3DM. But by then, the company had already built a reputation for itself with numerous ICE vehicles in the China market starting with the BYD F3, a petrol-engine four-wheeler.
BYD Auto has expanded rapidly both in terms of footprint around the world and as an auto giant at home with multiple sub-brands and subsidiaries under its umbrella.
For instance, BYD Auto entered into a 50:50 joint venture with Mercedes-Benz AG in 2010 and formed the Shenzhen Denza New Energy Automotive, popularly known as Denza, to produce luxury electric vehicles in China. It also owns the subsidiaries Yangwang and Fangchengbao, the former focused on making luxury cars and the latter, created in 2023, for off-road custom vehicles.
Besides BYD Auto, BYD’s subsidiaries include BYD Electronic, BYD Semiconductor, BYD Transit Solutions and FinDreams. All the subsidiaries and the main BYD together form the vertical integration chain for BYD Auto, supplying and building everything from batteries to automatic systems within the group.
Today, BYD has more than 30 industrial parks across six continents. It is listed on both the Hong Kong Stock Exchange and Shenzhen Stock Exchange. The annual revenue of the company in 2022 was around USD 60 billion.
Tesla, on the other hand, was also founded in 2003 by entrepreneurs Martin Eberhard and Marc Tarpenning. It was named after Serbian American inventor Nikola Tesla, hailed by many as one of the most brilliant minds of the 20th century. Originally named Tesla Motors, Inc., it changed its name to Tesla, Inc. in 2017.
The company was created with a specific objective: to build the world’s first electric sports car. It received funding from a variety of sources. One of the most significant of those sources was Elon Musk, who pumped in USD 30 million.
Musk became the chairman of the company starting 2004. Eberhard served as Tesla’s CEO and Tarpenning, its chief financial officer (CFO). Both Eberhard and Tarpenning later left the company.
Tesla began deliveries of its first car, the all-electric Roadster, in 2008. At the time of its launch, there was no electric car in the world which could match the performance of the Tesla Roadster. It could go up to 394 km on a single charge, accelerate at 0-96 km/h in less than 4 seconds, and have a top speed of 200 km/h. It was included in the Best Inventions of 2006 list by TIME magazine, which called it “twice as efficient as a Toyota Prius.”
However, it was seen as a luxury car and not a wider-market vehicle due to its extremely high price tag of more than USD 100,000, despite a federal tax subsidy of USD 7,500.
While Tesla is more directly in competition with BYD Auto than the latter’s parent, the Musk-led company is not a subsidiary but a parent company. Among the several companies that are Tesla’s subsidiaries and part of its vertical integration are automated manufacturing systems maker Grohmann Engineering (now Tesla Automation), battery-producing start-up SiILion, Inc., battery-making company Hibar Systems, computer vision start-up DeepScale, high-volume machinery maker Perbix Machine Co. Inc., and battery and transmission assembly lines manufacturer ATW Automation. In 2021, Tesla also bought several patent applications from a Canadian start-up called Springpower International. However, it is not clear if Tesla has acquired the smaller company.
Its most famous subsidiary, with a clearly distinct identity of its own in the market, is its clean-energy division Tesla Energy, which manufactures the home energy storage system Tesla Powerwall.
As for the billions it makes, Tesla reported an annual revenue of USD 81.4 billion in 2022. The automaker has stores in 42 countries, many of which also have the company’s collision centres and destination charging facilities. It has car manufacturing facilities in Germany, China and the US.
Yet it is clear that BYD Company has been around as a business for close to 30 years, even though BYD Auto was founded the same year as Tesla. This means that BYD has more experience than Tesla, as it is much older and started with battery manufacturing — a cornerstone of all EVs. Moreover, BYD Auto has produced far more vehicles than Tesla has to date. That, in itself, becomes a decisive edge for any automaker in the world.
Advantage: BYD
BYD vs Tesla: Who has more models in the line-up?
Unlike Tesla, a purely EV maker since inception, BYD Auto also produced ICE vehicles in the beginning. Data shows that it manufactured combustion vehicles more than new energy vehicles till 2020. After the production of ICE vehicles, BYD Auto is now completely a maker of pure EVs and hybrids since March 2022.
BYD Auto produces vehicles under its own eponymous brand name, as well as under the brand names of Denza, Yangwang and Fangchengbao. It also makes electric buses and trucks.
To date, the main BYD brand alone has launched over 20 vehicles. The brand produces its cars in three series: Dynasty series, Ocean series, and the “e” series, the last of which includes ride-hailing cabs and taxis. Dynasty was the first in the series. It started with the introduction of BYD Qin in 2012. All cars produced under the three series are either hybrid or all-electric.
BYD Auto’s Denza brand started with the electric car in 2014. In 2022, it launched D9 and the following year, launched the Denza N7.
Both Yangwang and Fangchengbao began introducing their respective line-ups in 2023, with the former showcasing the plug-in hybrid SUV U8 and battery-electric sports car U9 and the latter releasing plug-in hybrid SUV Bao 5 in three variants at a starting price of CNY 289,800 (USD 39,760).
By comparison, Tesla has produced a very limited number of car models to date. Its first was the Tesla Roadster. The Model S followed in 2012, the Model X SUV in 2015, the Model 3 sedan in 2017 and the Model Y crossover in 2020.
In 2022, Tesla introduced the Tesla Semi truck. The following year, it presented a light-duty pickup truck named Tesla Cybertruck.
To date, Tesla’s Model 3 is the best-selling all-electric car of all time and is the first electric car to have sold 1 million units, which it achieved in 2021.
Clearly, BYD has a much larger and more comprehensive line-up of cars that caters to a much wider demography as well as preferences.
Advantage: BYD
BYD vs Tesla: Whose leader is more famous and richer?
Wang Chuanfu, who is 57 years old, was born in 1966 in one of China’s poorest regions. He became an orphan when he was a teen and was raised by his siblings. Though academically gifted, he had to struggle financially in his early years before becoming a vice supervisor at Beijing Nonferrous Research Institute, a government organisation, where he researched rare-earth metals.
Wang and his cousin had started BYD Company with USD 300,000, which included a loan from a friend. The stupendous success of the company under Wang’s leadership led to the birth of BYD Auto.
According to Forbes, BYD’s net profit in the first nine months of 2022 was USD 1.3 billion, which was around four times more year-on-year. Its market capital touched USD 100 billion.
This, in turn, ensured that Wang would enjoy a net worth of around USD 18 billion at the time, making him one of the 15 richest people in China according to Forbes. Not only Wang, BYD produced two more billionaires — his cousin and vice-chairman Lu, whose net worth was around USD 13 billion and the company’s director Xia Zuoquan.
By the end of 2023, all three continued their run as billionaires with Wang having a net worth of USD 18.7 billion, Lu with a net worth of USD 13.2 billion and Xia at USD 3.6 billion.
Compared to Wang, Elon Musk didn’t have to struggle as much in his early life. He was born to engineer and entrepreneur Errol Musk and Canadian model and nutritionist Maye Musk in 1971 in Pretoria, South Africa.
His parents divorced in 1980. Though Musk lived primarily with his father, he would later go on to say that Errol is a “terrible human being…almost every evil thing you could possibly think of, he has done.”
It is believed that his father owned an emerald mine. But Musk has refuted the rumours, stating that he was raised in a lower-middle-class family trying to transition to upper-middle-class.
“I grew up in a lower, transitioning to upper, middle-income situation, but did not have a happy childhood. Haven’t inherited anything ever from anyone, nor has anyone given me a large financial gift. My father created a small electrical/mechanical engineering company that was successful for 20 to 30 years, but it fell on hard times. He has been essentially bankrupt for about 25 years, requiring financial support from my brother and me,” he tweeted in May 2023.
He said that his father did say that he owned a share in a mine in Zambia, “but nobody has ever seen the mine, nor are there any records of its existence.”
Musk is considered by many as one of the most brilliant minds in the world today. This puts him in the league of Wang, who, too, is known for his academic brilliance.
When he was 17 years old, Musk moved to Canada. He studied for two years at Queen’s University and then transferred to the University of Pennsylvania in the US, from where he graduated with double majors — a Bachelor of Science degree in physics and a Bachelor of Arts in economics from the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania.
He then moved to California to pursue a PhD in applied physics at Stanford University but dropped out after only two days.
In 1995, while he was still a student, Musk launched the web software company Zip2 with his younger brother Kimbal. Interestingly, it is the same year Wang founded BYD with his cousin. Created with just USD 15,000, Zip2 was acquired by computer major Compaq for USD 341 million in 1999.
Musk then founded a fintech venture named X.com, which merged with Confinity to become PayPal. When PayPal was acquired by eBay in 2002, Musk received around USD 180 million. He later used this money to finance SpaceX, Tesla and SolarCity (now Tesla Energy).
“My proceeds from PayPal after tax were about USD 180 million,” Musk said in a 2018 interview to web publication PandoDaily. “USD 100 (million) of that went into SpaceX, USD 70 (million) into Tesla, and USD 10 (million) into SolarCity. And I literally had to borrow money for rent.”
Today, Musk is at the helm of all three companies. Among the other companies led by Musk are Hyperloop developer The Boring Company and co-founded brain-computer interfaces company Neuralink. Perhaps his most famous as well as controversial ownership is Twitter, which he renamed to X after acquiring it for USD 44 billion in 2022. He also owns the domain name, X.com, which he bought from PayPal in 2017 for an undisclosed sum.
Musk is known as one of the world’s most outspoken personalities who is highly active on social media, while Wang is known for maintaining a low profile. The Chinese billionaire has been praised for his work ethic by many, including American billionaire Warren Buffett who gave a major boost to BYD’s fortunes by investing USD 225 million in 2008.
In an interview in the Winter 2010 issue of Columbia Business School’s newsletter Graham and Doddsville, Buffet showered lavish praise on Wang, calling BYD “a remarkable company run by a remarkable guy.”
“It took eleven months for the transaction to be approved. BYD could have backed out of the deal terms – the price had run up to HKD 40 from HKD 8 – but Wang Chuan-Fu did not. I don’t understand the product, so I am betting on the man,” Buffett said.
Yet, despite the controversies he frequently creates on X with his tweets or his statements on podcasts and interviews, Musk is also seen as one of the most successful businessmen whose companies are radically reshaping the future of technology and the lives of people around the world. Tesla’s Starlink, for instance, brings Internet connectivity to some of the remotest corners of Earth.
Due to the success of his businesses and, perhaps, his popular image, he frequently tops lists of the world’s richest billionaires. His net worth has long been above the USD 150 billion mark and was more than USD 200 billion as of the year ending 2023.
Advantage: Tesla
Final verdict: BYD leads
BYD Auto has a tremendous hold on the China market as well as beyond. It produces far more car models than Tesla and, unlike the latter, offers both battery-electric and hybrid. Moreover, the cars produced by BYD Auto are lower in price than any of Tesla’s machines. The price point coupled with the advantages that BYD Auto enjoys through its parent company’s overall experience in battery production gives it leverage over all of its competitors both domestically and internationally.
Tesla is still the market leader in battery-electric vehicles, but it is a foregone conclusion that BYD is set to easily surpass it in 2024.
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(Hero image: Courtesy of Andres Jasso/@andresjasso/Unsplash; Michael Förtsch/@michael_f/Unsplash; Featured image: Courtesy of P. L./@partrickl/Unsplash)
This article first appeared on Lifestyle Asia India
Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)
– Is BYD bigger than Tesla?
Yes, BYD is bigger than Tesla in terms of the number of vehicle models in the marquee and total sales of new energy vehicles.
– Has BYD beaten Tesla?
No, BYD has produced far more new energy vehicles than Tesla in the year ending 2023. But Tesla manufactures only battery-electric cars while BYD makes both battery-electric and hybrid cars. Tesla is still the world leader as of the year ending 2023 in battery-electric cars.
– Is BYD the next Tesla?
Yes, BYD is expected to officially topple Tesla as the world’s largest producer of battery-electric vehicles. When its hybrid vehicles are added to that number, BYD will certainly be the world leader on all counts.
– Does BYD make luxury cars?
BYD produces luxury electric cars through its subsidiaries, Yangwang and Fangchengbao. It also has a luxury electric car-making JV with Mercedes-Benz AG, known as Denza.
– What is the cost of a BYD car?
BYD cars are more affordable than Tesla cars. The cost of BYD’s line-up of cars was between USD 13,200 and USD 46,700, according to Forbes, in 2022, compared to Tesla’s starting price of USD 50,000.
