BYD is one of the fastest-growing car companies in the world with a strong focus on new energy vehicles “NEVs”, and it is challenging Tesla for the right to be called the biggest EV maker in the world.
To support this growth, the company in recent years has suggested having its own car carrier ships as it sets its eyes on global export markets. The first of these carrier ships has now begun construction and will be able to transport up to 7,000 vehicles on every voyage.
This was first reported by cnevpost which states that the first ship, to be built by Guangzhou Shipyard International, will be 200 metres in length and can travel up to 18 knots or 34 km/h. The ships will be fuelled by LNG, but will also have a battery and energy reduction devices are on board.
A report from last year indicated that BYD was planning on ordering 8 car-carrier ships with an estimated cost of $US686 million or just over $A1.07 billion.
In Australia, BYD has delivered 11,831 electric vehicles onto local road, and all but 100 have been the very popular BYD Atto 3 SUV.
Deliveries of the lower cost BYD Dolphin began in October and with many more hundreds to make it to customers in the last two months of the year, BYD will be shipping more cars into the country than ever before.
On top of this, the company has also launched a performance-orientated sedan, the Seal, at a price point that surprised many last month.
This sets the stage for BYD’s plan for the local market as it heads into 2024 with two more models on the horizon, including a ute in the second half of the year.
Riz is the founder of carloop based in Melbourne, specialising in Australian EV data, insight reports and trends. He is a mechanical engineer who spent the first 7 years of his career building transport infrastructure before starting carloop. He has a passion for cars, particularly EVs and wants to help reduce transport emissions in Australia. He currently drives a red Tesla Model 3.