BYD supplies batteries for Tesla , which is actually not a big news. rumors similar to
actually existed very early. As early as August last year, media reported that BYD will supply Tesla with " blade battery " in the second quarter of this year. Tesla models equipped with "blade battery" have entered the C-sample testing stage.
In February this year, another netizen revealed that Tesla has officially placed a purchase order of 204,000 units per year for Fudy battery . The mass production time is March 2022, and screenshots have been posted as evidence.
BYD senior executives have previously revealed meaningfully: "All the car brands you can think of are discussing cooperation with us."
This time, BYD Group executive vice president and director of Automotive Engineering Research Institute Lian Yubo revealed in an interview with CGTN host Liu Yingchun that BYD will provide Tesla with battery products, which can be regarded as an official announcement.
Affected by this news, BYD's stock price soared, with a total market value of US$128.57 billion, surpassing Volkswagen and returning to the third place in the global automaker's market value ranking, second only to Tesla (US$742.46 billion) and Toyota (US$228.44 billion). In the A-share market , BYD's market value has once again approached its old rival CATL .
and so excited Di fans began to advocate that BYD surpassed Tesla and beat CATL, and the whole universe was invincible.
Don’t be excited. For BYD, becoming a supplier of Tesla is a good idea from any perspective. But from the current perspective, the supply framework agreement between CATL and Tesla has been extended to 2025. In other words, as long as CATL does not commit suicide, BYD will be just Tesla's second supplier, not a replacement supplier.
In fact, Tesla's future focus is obviously on its own 4680 cylindrical battery. Once the 4680 battery is successfully mass-produced, both CATL and BYD will probably feel the pressure.
On the other hand, even though BYD's sales exceed Tesla, it is still far behind Tesla in terms of profitability.
Tesla's current gross profit margin has reached an astonishing 32.9%, and its net profit in the first quarter of this year was about 21 billion yuan. In comparison, BYD's net profit in the first quarter was about 700 million yuan, and the profit of bicycles was only about 3,000 yuan.
So it is too early to say that BYD surpasses Tesla in all aspects. At best, it can only be said that after BYD releases external battery supply, it should be able to increase profits to a certain extent.
From the perspective of Tesla, choosing BYD means Musk is already panicked.
In fact, in the past two years, except for a 4680 cylindrical battery, Tesla has not made many new moves in technological innovation. Whether it is the 4680 cylindrical battery that has not yet been mass-produced, or the previous super factory, integrated die-casting, etc., Tesla is actually doing only one thing: it is to reduce costs and increase production madly.
Musk's logic is very simple, using the highest efficiency and lowest cost to build the most Tesla models. This is the fundamental reason why Tesla can maintain high gross profit margins in addition to brand premium.
Especially on the one hand, chip shortage, supply chain costs have increased, and global economic stagflation have been in the past two years. Enterprises must reduce costs and increase efficiency, increase revenue and reduce expenditure, and Tesla is no exception. Moreover, it is said that Tesla has not delivered 400,000 units, and it is enough to solve the delivery problem to Musk.
On the other hand, Tesla also felt the pressure brought by the rise of Chinese new energy vehicle companies. In the mainstream consumption range of 150,000 to 300,000 yuan, Chinese automakers gather in large numbers. If Tesla cannot maintain a high profit margin, it will not be able to reduce the dimensionality of Chinese automakers.
So we see that Tesla, which has been using ternary lithium batteries in the past, has started to install lithium iron phosphate on Model 3.I replaced LG with CATL, and even the CTP lithium iron phosphate of CATL before the BMS battery management system was launched hastily, resulting in the initial batch of Model3 equipped with lithium iron phosphate batteries having problems charging, and the problem was fixed after several OTAs in the later period.
Now, BYD is introduced to fill the production that CATL cannot meet. It is the same reason. Anyway, for the Beggar's Model 3, no one cares whether it is lithium iron phosphate or ternary lithium battery, no one cares whether Ningde is better or BYD is better, people only care about whether there is a Tesla logo and whether the price is affordable.
Therefore, as long as the battery price is lower, the production capacity is larger, the volume can be increased quickly, and the product strength is sufficient. This was actually Tesla's helpless choice before the mass production of the 4680 battery. Perhaps soon, we will see more power battery companies becoming Tesla's suppliers. (Text/Youshi Auto Laopao)
Note: The pictures are from the Internet, and the rights belong to the original author. Thank you! This article only represents the author's personal views and does not represent the position of USIC Auto.
