Chinese EV (Electronic Vehicle) brand BYD recently announced that the company breaks ground on a new local battery plant in Wenzhou, Zhejiang province, the Sohu News reported on February 27. To date, the company has invested 6.5 billion RMB (US$941 million) in the first phase of the plant. Upon completion in 2024, the new battery plant is estimated to initially churn out 20 GWh (Gigawatt hours) of batteries annually, to power up to 200,000 EVs. In addition to this new plant, the company recently also unveiled its plan to build a new battery plant for US$1.2 billion in Zhengzhou, Henan province. This will make BYD the world's third largest EV battery supplier, only next to CATL and LG Energy Solution. Meanwhile, the Philippines, Vietnam, and Indonesia are competing with each other to be BYD's second overseas EV assembly plant. The company's first assembly plant, to be set up in Thailand, is slated for operations in 2024 and churn out an annual capacity of 150,000 vehicles, to be shipped mainly to Southeast Asia and Europe.
The global market volume of xEV, consisting of HEV (Hybrid Electric Vehicle), BEV (Battery Electric Vehicle), and PHEV (Plug-in Hybrid Electric Vehicle), is estimated to reach 1.4 million units in 2023. The energy crisis, global inflation, and new energy policy (e.g. subsidy termination) are three major factors to affect the global eEV market in recent years, according to MIC (Market Intelligence & Consulting Institute). Established in 1987, MIC is a division of III (Institute for Information Industry), a major government think tank, and one of the leading IT research institutes in Taiwan.