Christopher Ho

Elon Musk once laughed at BYD for competing with Tesla. But the same company forced Tesla to sell their cars at dirt cheap prices and is now ambushing Elon to back out of China. How a "man you've never heard of" pressured Elon to rethink everything 👇

In 1995, a chemist named Wang Chuanfu started BYD making batteries for Nokia phones. In 2003, with ZERO car experience, he bought a failing state-owned automaker Everyone laughed until Warren Buffett invested $232M for a 10% stake. But the story starts with the Chinese govt...

20 years ago China was on track to become the largest importer of oil. The auto industry was growing, meaning their dependency on oil would increase even more. Also, foreign players dominated the Chinese automotive market. The govt had to act, and they had to act FAST...

China realized they would never catch up to Japan or Germany in combustion engines. That race was already lost. So they made a key decision: Skip gasoline cars entirely and dominate EVs instead. The Chinese govt poured $29 billion into EV development between 2009-2022.

You see, the battery typically accounts for 30-40% of the total cost of an EV. So China started acquiring mines globally and building refineries for every battery mineral. Today China controls: • 100% of graphite refining • 75% of cobalt refining • 60% of lithium refining

Even if other countries mine the materials, they still need China to refine them. China also enacted policies giving BYD an immediate scale. The city of Shenzhen alone converted 16,000 buses to BYD electric models. Instant volume, instant revenue.

Then BYD launched its "Blade Battery" - an LFP battery that: • Uses no expensive nickel or cobalt • Charges to 80% in 30 minutes • Has unprecedented safety (can be punctured without catching fire) • Costs 30-40% less to manufacture

In 2020, BYD's blade battery passed the infamous "nail penetration test" that made other EV batteries explode. When they pierced the BYD Blade Battery with a nail—nothing happened. No fire. No explosion. The industry was in shock. And even Tesla couldn't ignore it.

By 2022, Tesla began buying these batteries from BYD for its Berlin-made Model Y. But it's not just Tesla—BYD batteries now power vehicles from Toyota, Kia, and Ford. Even Apple partnered with BYD for their secret car project.

BYD makes everything in-house: • Mine their own lithium • Refine their own minerals • Make their own chips and semiconductors • Build their own batteries • Produce their own motors This allows BYD to build EVs at costs that terrify Western automakers.

In 2023, BYD launched the Seagull—a modern, 200-mile range EV for just $11,500. That's 1/4 the price of Tesla's cheapest car! How is this possible? BYD's profit per vehicle is just $1,200 compared to Tesla's $9,000. They're playing the VOLUME game while Tesla chases margins.

BYD's production capacity exceeds 4 million vehicles annually. In 2024, BYD overtook Volkswagen to become the best-selling car brand in China. BYD's R&D operation is impressive too: • 100,000+ R&D staff • 39,000+ patents • $5.7B annual R&D budget (exceeding Tesla's $3.9B)

Wang Chuanfu didn't run BYD alone. He built a team of elite operators who handled day-to-day execution while he focused on the 20-year vision. This is what level 5 of delegation looks like.

Every successful founder scales their company via delegation. But most founders keep drowning in tasks they should delegate. That's why Athena finds you assistants who take care of things so you can focus on your company👇 https://www.athena.com/?utm_so...

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