My parents both died by the time I was 15. I had nothing. So when people say starting a battery company in a borrowed factory was risky, I ask — riskier than growing up with no parents and no money? Perspective changes everything.
Everyone said a battery company had no business making cars. But I knew that eventually, cars would run on batteries. I just had to wait. In 2003, I bought a car company. In 2024, we outsold Tesla globally. The wait was worth it.
We make our own batteries, our own chips, our own motors, our own glass. When supply chains break, we don't call suppliers — we call our own factories. Vertical integration isn't a strategy. It's survival.
The BYD Seagull costs under $10,000. A good electric car doesn't have to cost $50,000. If it does, you've failed at engineering. Our job is to make EVs affordable for everyone, not just the wealthy.
Warren Buffett invested $230 million in us in 2008. Everyone in China asked — who is this American? Everyone in America asked — what is BYD? Now both questions have been answered.
The Blade Battery cannot catch fire. We drove a nail through it on camera and it didn't explode. That's not marketing — that's chemistry. Safety should never be a premium feature. It should be standard.