BYD Wants To Supply Electric Car Components With Others, Partners With Toyota

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BYD is one of the largest electric car manufacturers in China, but the coronavirus and a reduction in government subsidies have combined to knock the stuffing out of recent sales. To help the company keep its factories open and its workers employed, BYD is now seeking customers for its electric car components and technology.

BYD SUV
Image credit: BYD

According to Power Technology, the company has begun offering a full range of EV components to its competitors and to newly formed auto manufacturers. It plans to make electric car batteries, powertrains, lights, and other components available to others. The new business model will be called FinDreams and will have five auto parts subsidiaries — FinDreams Vision, FinDreams Technology, FinDreams Moduling, FinDreams Battery, and FinDreams Powertrain.

One of the technologies BYD would like to share with other companies is its new Blade Battery, a lithium iron phosphate device that is much less prone to fires and explosions than traditional lithium-ion batteries. In addition to being safer, it takes up about 40% less space, which helps to offset its somewhat lower energy density.

Collaboration With Toyota

Toyota is in big trouble in China thanks to its singleminded focus on conventional hybrids instead of battery electric cars. As a result, its product offerings are hopelessly out of whack with the Chinese government’s New Energy Vehicle program. So it has turned to BYD to pull its chestnuts out of the fire. The two signed a joint venture agreement last November to cooperate. Their new venture, BYD Toyota EV Technology, is now up and running and ready for business.

According to a Toyota press release dated April 2, CEO Zhao Binggen says, “This joint venture company will focus on the research and development of battery electric vehicles with technology and know-how from both China and Japan. The company is committed to promoting and populating high-quality technologies that make battery electric vehicles more environmentally friendly, safe, comfortable, and intelligent. Our vision is to create a future customer-first mobility style, and a harmonious society for humans and nature.”

BYD and Toyota will work together to meet the diverse needs of customers by researching and developing BEVs that appeal to customers and promoting their widespread adoption and also hope to contribute to improving the environment in China. Lofty goals, which may or may not be relevant in a post COVID-19 world.


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Steve Hanley

Steve writes about the interface between technology and sustainability from his home in Florida or anywhere else The Force may lead him. He is proud to be "woke" and doesn't really give a damn why the glass broke. He believes passionately in what Socrates said 3000 years ago: "The secret to change is to focus all of your energy not on fighting the old but on building the new." You can follow him on Substack and LinkedIn but not on Fakebook or any social media platforms controlled by narcissistic yahoos.

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