BYD Considers Building New Car Battery Factory in Spain

Leading Chinese new energy vehicle maker BYD is considering building a new battery super factory in Spain, according to a report by the Spanish newspaper Expansión on April 10. The Chinese automaker will be the latest company to join the competition for battery factory construction in Spain after Volkswagen/Seat, Envision, Inobat, and Tata Motors.

Spain is one of Europe’s top five automobile markets and an important target market in BYD’s internationalization strategy for passenger cars. Since 2016, the firm has been operating pure electric bus services in the Spanish market with its footprint covering major cities such as Madrid, Barcelona, and Valencia.

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On April 1, BYD announced its official entry of passenger cars into the Spanish market and simultaneously launched three pure electric vehicle models: Han EV, Tang EV, and BYD ATTO 3. These three models all adopt the “Dragon Face 3.0” design language created by BYD’s international design team and are equipped with blade batteries that feature high safety performance. The long battery life and endurance perfectly meet local driving needs in Spain.

In addition, two physical experience stores of BYD located in downtown Madrid and Barcelona will open in the near future.

It is worth mentioning that Tesla, BYD’s biggest competitor in the Chinese market, also announced on April 9 that it will build a new super factory in Shanghai specifically dedicated to producing Megapack commercial energy storage batteries. Tesla CEO Elon Musk retweeted the announcement on Twitter saying that “Tesla opening Megapack factory in Shanghai to supplement output of Megapack factory in California.”

According to statistics from relevant professional institutions, BYD experienced a 97.44% year-on-year increase in sales of new energy vehicles, selling a total of 207,000 units. In the first quarter of this year alone (January-March), it sold approximately 552,000 vehicles, an impressive year-on-year growth rate of 89.47%. Meanwhile, Tesla’s sales figures in China show that it sold 88,869 vehicles last month – up by 35% year-on-year and by 19.4% month-on-month compared to February’s sales figure of 74,402 vehicles. Tesla delivered a total of 422,875 vehicles globally in Q1 this year, which exceeded the widely expected figure of 421,200 units.