Chinese battery and electric vehicle manufacturer BYD presents a model of its Han EV series at the 2020 Beijing Motor Show.
Evelyn Cheng | CNBC
BEIJING – Chinese carmaker BYD has sold more than twice as many battery-powered electric cars as the Nio start-up delivered in March.
BYD, which is backed by US billionaire Warren Buffett, revealed on Tuesday that sales of its battery-powered cars totaled 16,301 units last month.
This is more than double the Nio deliveries in March of 7,257 cars. Rival startup Xpeng delivered even fewer vehicles to 5,102 units last month. Both companies still exceed analysts’ expectations with these figures.
In the new category of energy vehicles, which includes hybrid cars as well as pure electric cars, BYD sold more than 23,000 units in March – bringing the total in the first quarter to 53,380 cars.
BYD also sold nearly as many oil-based vehicles in the first quarter to 49,394 units.
Electric car sales are picking up as China’s car market recovers from the coronavirus pandemic, which hit the country hardest in the first quarter of 2020.
New car registrations in the first quarter of this year rose to a record 9.66 million, China’s Ministry of Public Security said on Tuesday. The data show that new energy vehicles accounted for 466,000, or just over 6% of newly registered cars.
The percentage of new cars nationwide that are pure electric was 81.5% in the first quarter, roughly the same as the 2020 report, according to public safety data.
When it comes to the global market, Chinese electric car manufacturers still have a big gap to close.
Tesla’s electric car market leader said last week that it delivered 184,800 cars worldwide in the first quarter. While the US electric car maker did not disclose the figures for China, the company said in a statement: “We are encouraged by the strong acceptance of the Y model in China and are making rapid progress towards full production capacity.”
Automobile company Elon Musk began deliveries of a Y model made in China in January. The car was the third best-selling new energy vehicle in China in February, according to the China Automobile Association.
Tesla has installed annual production capacity for 200,000 Model Y units at its Shanghai plant, according to an investor presentation in late January.