Tesla’s biggest rival sees an upside in the oil price shock: more EV buyers.
Stella Li, the executive vice-president of Chinese EV giant BYD, said on Wednesday that the rapid rise in global oil prices following the war in the Middle East was a “wake-up call” for car buyers who had been reluctant to go electric.
“People suddenly realize that electric and hybrid cars are saving them money. With the oil price increasing, it’s hurting their daily life,” the BYD executive told the Financial Times’ Future of the Car Summit.
“This helps us, also. It’s making a lot of people who never wanted to try out an electric car start to come to our shops,” added Li, who is second-in-command to BYD CEO Wang Chuanfu and the public face of the Chinese company.
Crude oil prices soared above the $100 a barrel mark after the US and Israel attacked Iran in March, and have remained volatile since then.
The oil shock has driven up fuel prices worldwide, with US gas prices hitting a four-year high of $4.22 in recent weeks. Some nations have introduced four-day workweeks and urged their citizens to avoid unnecessary car journeys to conserve fuel.
The rising cost of filling up at the pump comes at an opportune time for BYD, which is betting on overseas sales as it faces pressure back home.
The automaker announced last month that first-quarter profits had fallen by more than 50% amid fierce competition from rival EV makers in China.
Li said on Wednesday that BYD’s ambition was to become a “global manufacturer” this year, with the company looking to build an additional two factories in Europe, in addition to its plant in Hungary.
BYD is also planning to roll out its first EV designed exclusively for the European market in the coming months, a hybrid hatchback called the Dolphin G, and is set to roll out its five-minute EV charging stations across the continent.
BYD is unlikely to bring its low-cost electric vehicles to the US anytime soon, however, due to high tariffs on Chinese EVs.
Despite global gas prices remaining high, EV sales have yet to see a significant uplift.
Global sales of electric vehicles grew 6% year over year in April, according to data from Benchmark Mineral Intelligence, with surging sales in Europe offset by falling demand in North America and China.
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