BYD’s New Auto Insurance Business Earns $2.6 Million in 1st Half of 2024

Many are aware of Tesla’s insurance division. It got a lot of publicity, including here on CleanTechnica. But did you know that BYD, the largest plugin vehicle producer in the world*, also now sells its own car insurance?

Yes, starting in May 2024, BYD began selling auto insurance as well as automobiles (and batteries, and forklifts). So, how is that insurance for BYD’s many, many electric vehicles going? Apparently, very well!

The company pulled in RMB 67.26 million ($2.4 million) in revenue from its new insurance division. That’s from “a report dated July 30 and recently posted on the website of the Insurance Association of China,” CNEVPost writes. Removing costs, that led to RMB 18.46 million ($2.6 million) in net income.

Just looking at the 2nd quarter, BYD’s insurance division earned RMB 6.04 million ($850,000) in net income.

Background on BYD Insurance

The BYD background story is a bit interesting. “The China Banking and Insurance Regulatory Commission (CBIRC) approved BYD’s acquisition of 100 percent of E An Property & Casualty Insurance Co Ltd on May 6, 2023. Three years ago, the troubled and scandal-plagued insurance company owned by Tomorrow Holding was seized by authorities.

“On May 12, 2023, E An Property & Casualty changed its name to Shenzhen BYD Property & Casualty Co Ltd, one of four specialized online insurance companies in China.

“BYD Property & Casualty was authorized to conduct insurance business in several regions in May this year, marking the operation of BYD’s insurance business unit is officially on track.”

Interesting. … Not knowing much about it, I find it curious and shrewd that BYD bought a failed, seized insurance company in order to start up such operations.

Tesla Insurance in China

I also was not aware of Tesla’s auto insurance history in China. But, apparently, it seems that was delayed for and suddenly is moving forward under a new approach. “Tesla sought regulatory approval to sell insurance products in China more than three years ago, when it registered a company in 2020, but canceled that registration in April of this year,” CNEVPost writes. However, Tesla then “registered an insurance brokerage in China in late July, according to a national corporate information database.” Hmm … curiouser and curiouser.

*BYD sells far more plugin vehicles than Tesla, but Tesla still leads BYD in pure BEV sales — we think (we’ll see what Q3 numbers show).