BYD plans to enter the two-wheeler EV market

The Chinese Original Equipment Manufacturer (OEM)

BYD

While announcing the update, the company’s wholly-owned battery subsidiary FinDream posted on WeChat that it will manufacture reliable and safe batteries for the two-wheeler electric vehicles in the upcoming years. The post reads, “Our mission is to let people use batteries without worries,”

According to the reports, the company is expected to collaborate with different third-party stakeholders to produce efficient indoor batteries. 

At 15.8% of the worldwide EV battery market in 2023, BYD is the second-biggest manufacturer in the world. Until now their batteries were used in electric cars and stationary storages, but after the update, BYD may soon be seen in electric scooters and e-bikes segments as well. 

Currently in India, BYD operates only in the 4-wheeler segment and plans to further scale the business. However, the ambition to grow further in India saw an impediment when the government rejected BYD’s proposal of investing $1Bn in the Indian domestic market.  At the same time, the discussion of EV giant Tesla with the government to enter the Indian EV market has been at its peak. Although earlier, reports have suggested that BYD has overtaken Tesla in sales numbers, the “China-Factor” still holds significance in the Indian policy-making side.

For the past few years, the government of India (GOI) has been actively participating to decrease the reliance of India on the import of EV’s raw components from China. The “vocal-for-local”, and “Aatm-Nirbhar Bharat” among many other initiatives have resulted in raising $4.8 billion in the EV industry, according to the latest reports.

Moreover, the highly incentivised policies of the GOI  to promote local manufacturing from the supply side and subsidies for the customers on the demand side have established an EV ecosystem which BYD may find difficult to penetrate. 

Meanwhile, it will be interesting to note that markets like Africa where the success of Indian two-wheeler brands has already been established will be able to sustain the transition towards clean energy or not after constantly increasing competition. The update of BYD’s entry into the 2-wheeler segment may counter the unreliability of Chinese products in the world market. Earlier, in the ICE segment, Chinese products were reported to have poor customer satisfaction in the African market. However, BYD’s entry may foster new customer reliability and induce novel competitive challenges for countries like India.