Leader & Leader of the Week: BYD & U.S. EPA

Without a doubt, BYD has to be selected as the “Leader of the Week” here on CleanTechnica this week. The reasons are … numerous. However, I didn’t spot an obvious laggard, and I did want to give props to another leader who could not be skipped. So, we’ve got a “Leader of the Week” double header this week instead of a “Leader of the Week” & “Laggard of the Week.”

First of all, let’s look at BYD.

BYD is now on the verge of bringing its low-cost Dolphin electric car to Europe, with rumored price of around 30,000€. Just after that was announced, it was announced the larger, longer-range BYD Seal would come to Europe in 2023 as well. This comes shortly after BYD debuted the Dolphin and the Seal in Costa Rica, after it launched the Yuan Plus, Han, & Tang SUV, and did the same for the Atto 3, Han, & Tang SUV in Spain. BYD also just recently launched the Dolphin in Thailand, and it’s at price parity (not just cost parity) with popular gas-powered models.

A little distance away, BYD dominated BEV sales in Israel in the first quarter of 2023.

Over in India, BYD made a deal with a cab company there to deliver 100 BYD E6s. Think of the potential for BYD electric cab duty in India. …

Going on, Remeredzai showed this week how cost-competitive the BYD Qin Plus EV now is with comparably sized and equipped gas-powered cars. The EV revolution is truly arriving at the hands of BYD.

Meanwhile, it was announced that light commercial new energy vehicles from Weichai would use BYD’s Blade battery.

This is what you call winning.

The U.S. Environmental Protect Agency has released proposals for new rules/standards for vehicle emissions that should certainly accelerate the transition to electric cars and trucks, and may well be the death knell for new gasmobiles in the United States. Without a doubt, Republicans will spend the coming years trying to kill these standards. But the torch is lit, the path is clear, and the EPA is fighting the good fight. That’s a breath of relief after the EPA was run by coal lobbyists and oilheads for 4 years under Donald Trump.

“The administration said the new standards would save the economy $850 billion to $1.6 trillion between 2027 and 2055, avoid about 20 billion barrels in oil imports, and save the average buyer of a car or light-duty truck $12,000 over the vehicle’s lifetime,” Carolyn Fortuna writes.

“The announcement is just the beginning of the rule making process and begins a 30-day public comment period, which will be followed by an online public meeting scheduled for May 9 and 10. After the public comment period, the agency will consider the feedback provided by members of the public and various industry groups before issuing the final rules,” Steve Hanley adds. So, be sure to chime in.

Honorable Mentions

We also have a couple of honorable mentions to … mention. Volvo Trucks deserves a nod for its continued electric truck work. See: “Volvo Trucks South Africa Takes Its First Extra Heavy Electric Truck On A 600km Road Trip From Durban To Johannesburg.”

Walmart should probably be in here as well. The retail giant, whatever other issues it may have, is looking to get into EV charging in a big way, which will without a doubt help to increase EV adoption across the United States.

And, I should add there was one potential “Laggard of the Week” to highlight, but it’s more like a years-long thing. There’s Bogota’s red tape, which is blocking the use of the largest electric bus in the world. It’s a weird and fascinating story. I highly recommend it.