Image: BYD via Weibo
In recent years, BYD has gone from being an unknown brand to a well-known and respected player in the electric vehicle industry. The scale and growth reached new levels in 2023 with over 3 million New Energy Vehicles (NEVs) sold across the globe.
Now the company has announced that it has filed more than 48,000 patents globally. Out of these filings, over 30,000 have been granted according to a company report shared by cnevpost.
The brand also aims to increase its research and development (R&D) team, which today sits at over 90,000 engineers.
This investment growth is expected to increase investment in vehicle, battery and manufacturing technologies. Vehicle technologies will also include drive motors and vehicle electronics as well and it would help bring more models to market sooner.
The new models are no longer limited to the BYD brand as the company in recent years has launched multiple sub-brands catering for the more luxury markets.
Brands like Denza are aiming at the premium NEV market meanwhile the ultra-luxury models are being launched under the Yangwang brand.
The manufacturing capabilities and global expansion are also expected to benefit from the increase in the R&D team.
BYD in recent months has been exploring building multiple international factories to produce NEVs for markets it currently exports to.
Factories in North America and Europe are on the cards after plans to expand in Asia are already underway with factories coming online in Thailand in the coming months.
According to previous reports, as of 2023, BYD had over 570,000 employees globally.
In Australia, BYD currently sells three battery-electric models. These include the popular Atto 3 small to medium-sized SUV, an affordable electric hatchback in the form on BYD Dolphin and a sports sedan, the BYD Seal.
Collectively, the three models sold 12,438 vehicles with the Atto 3 making up nearly 90% of the total sales.
BYD has started 2024 with plans to launch two new models. These are expected to be an SUV and a long-awaited ute option, which could start out as a plug in hybrid. More models will also be added to the local lineup in 2025.
With rapid expansion into multiple markets and a growing product line, investment into R&D and patents will continue to provide BYD an edge over legacy automakers. This will ultimately push all brands to offer competitive EV offerings to drivers sooner.
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.
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