Comparing Tesla BYD Nio Xpeng and Li Auto

This is a comparison of Tesla with the four top electric car companies in China. The top EV companies that are compared are BYD, Nio, XPeng and Li Auto. SAIC Motor’s makes a lot of cars and EVs in joint ventures with GM and VW. SAIC sells a lot of the $5000 Wuling Mini EV. The BYD, Nio, XPeng and Li Auto are nhigher priced EVs that are closer competition with Tesla. Nio, XPeng and Li Auto are pure EV companies. BYD is older and also makes a lot of hybrids and ICE cars.

BYD made CNY91 billion (USD14 billion) and made a profit of CNY1.17 billion (USD180 million) for the first of 2021. Tesla made USD23.2 billion in revenue with $1.58 Billion in GAAP net income in the first half of 2021.

BYD was an early leader with electric vehicles. BYD makes ICE cars, hybrid cars and electric cars. BYD has only been selling in China until recently. China had a slump in electric vehicles sales for the latter half of 2019 when there were EV subsidy reductions. 2020 saw the Tesla Shanghai ramp which contributed to a decrease in BYD EV sales.

BYD passed Tesla in cumulative EV sales as BYD ramped up operations in China from 2016 to 2018. In 2018, Tesla passed BYD in annual BEV sales. The Model 3 helped Tesla pass BYD in cumulative EV sales in 2019.

BYD sold 147,000 BEV in 2019 and 131000 consumer BEV in 2020. BYD also sells electric buses and commercial electric vehicles. Tesla sold almost 500,000 BEV globally in 2020 and sold 367,500 cars in 2019. In 2018, BYD sold 103,263 units BEV and 123,889 units plug-in hybrid vehicles. BYD sold 520,687 total vehicles in 2018. BYD EV and hybrid sales cratered in the second half of 2019 and started recovering from April 2020 with the introduction of new competitive models. BYD is phasing out its ICE vehicles.

BYD sold 20,016 BEV units in June 2021 and 93441 BEV in the first half of 2021. BYD had another 20,000 hybrid in June and 57000 in the first half of the year. BYD sold 92000 ICE vehicles in the first half of the year. BYD first half of 2021 sales of 248000 were slower than BYD overall vehicles sales in 2018.

BYD had almost 25000 BEV and 25000 PHEV sales in July.

Tesla had about 67,000 cars produced in June and 386,400 in the first half of 2021. Tesla likely had about 72,000 cars produced in July. We do not have monthly Fremont production numbers. Tesla is still roughly tripling BYD in overall monthly BEV sales in 2021. Tesla could make 90,000 vehicles in September if the report of 1000 per week production starting in Mid-August for the Model Y is correct.

BYD Han EV are CNY 229,800 ($35,460) and CNY 279,500 ($43,130).

Consumer Reviews of Tesla vs BYD Han

There were reported results of Chinese consumer surveys for the BYD Han compared to the Tesla Model 3 and Model Y.

BYD Han is well received in terms of appearance and power, but it needs to be improved in terms of energy consumption and handling. BYD automatic driving assistance system is completely helpless. BYD has an in-vehicle interconnection failure problem.

The chinese report claims that BYD is strong technically but has a brand image problem. BYD launched the F3 in 2005 and monthly sales exceeded 40,000. BYD paid too much attention to marketing and ignored quality control. F3 had serious quality problems such as rust problems and poor assembly. It is reported that chinese consumers over the age of 30 view BYD as synonymous with “poor quality”.

BYD sales were strong in July so BYD could be overcoming its legacy brand problems.

Xpeng, Nio and Li Auto

XPeng, Nio and Li Auto are pure chinese BEV startups. Li Auto, XPeng and Nio were all about 8000 July deliveries. NIO delivered almost 50,000 vehicles for the first 7 months which were about 11,000 more than XPeng and Li Auto for the first 7 months. They are at about one-third the July BEV car production of BYD and each are about 9 times less than Tesla in July.

XPeng total deliveries for the first half of 2021 reaching 30,738 which was up 4.5 times compared to the first half of 2020. XPeng reached 8,040 in July 2021 (228% increase year- over-year). July deliveries were 6,054 P7s, XPeng’s sports sedan and 1,986 G3s, (compact sport utility vehicle -SUV). As of July 31, 2021, year-to-date deliveries were 38,778, representing a 388% increase year-over-year.

The XPeng P7 starts at CNY229900 ($35500). The Xpeng has an NEDC range of 350 miles while the Model Y NEDC range is 369 miles. NEDC EV ranges tend to be higher.

XPeng had US$1.05 billion in revenue and a $185 million loss for the first half of 2021. XPeng automotive gross margin has reached 11%.

SOURCES – Tesla, NIO, Min, Xpeng, Li Auto, BYD, Cleantechnica, Breaking Latest, Inside EV, Tesla Daily
Written By Brian Wang, Nextbigfuture.com (Brian owns share of Tesla)

1 thought on “Comparing Tesla BYD Nio Xpeng and Li Auto”

  1. "It is reported that Chinese consumers over the age of 30 view BYD as synonymous with “poor quality”."

    Really that is all you need to know. Because for the most part people only over 30 in China have enough discretionary income to buy an EV.

    If you are less than 30 you are priced out of the housing market, marriage market, the mostly everything market due to "don't call it inflation, things are just very expensive".

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