Even with the new 100% tariff on electric vehicles imported from China, BYD would still have the cheapest EV in the US. According to a new report, BYD’s lowest-priced EV would still undercut all US automakers at under $25,000.
After discontinuing the production of vehicles powered entirely by internal combustion engines in March 2022, BYD has been at the forefront of the industry’s shift to EVs.
Honestly in my opinion it is time to remove all tariffs on EVs under 25k and let anyone who wants to fill that slot in. American car manufacturers refuse to fill the market need.
Because all those foreign manufacturers are already selling their vehicles here and for comparable prices to the tiny share of remaining US companies that still exist (GM, Ford, Tesla). If you think these high prices are just US companies being greedy, then how do you explain VW, Hyundai, Kia, Toyota, etc selling their cars for the same price?
In reality it’s all about the battery manufacture. It’s the most expensive component and BYD is vertically integrated (they even mine their own lithium, they are a huge battery manufacturer in their own right and sell cells to other companies to make cars) and has done extensive research on making it cheap with their BYD blade. Nobody can afford to compete with them, but it’s not because they’re getting subsidies. It’s because they’re a company that’s built completely different when you compare it to buying batteries from third parties.
The cry foul that people make is no company would’ve survived in building that sort of initial vertical integration without the government propping them up. That’s right, but I don’t see the US trying to develop an industry that even compares.
This is obviously false as Tesla has their own battery factories and still can’t sell that cheap, Korea has Samsung and LG manufacturing batteries on a comparable scale and Hyundai/Kia can’t sell that cheap, Japan has (partnered with Tesla) Panasonic and can’t sell that cheap. China is heavily subsidizing these vehicles. You can’t sell an equivalent car for less than half the competition, tens of thousands of dollars cheaper, just because you happen to be vertically integrated in manufacturing a big part of the car.