BYD has discontinued the production of combustion engines to focus entirely on Plugin Hybrid Electric Vehicles (PHEVs) and Battery Electric Vehicles (BEVs).
It made the announcement along with revealing its new record for selling 100,000 New Energy Vehicles (NEVs) in a month. Of those 100,000 cars, 53,664 were BEVs, while 50,674 were PHEVs. “By doing this, BYD has become the first automotive manufacturer in the world to stop the production of fuel combusting vehicles”, BYD tweeted.
Last year, BYD observed NEV sales of around 24,218 units, after which it reportedly began phasing out Internal Combustion Engine (ICE) vehicles. A massive rise in the demand for its NEVs has prompted China’s largest EV maker to completely retire the old technology.
BYD is the first car company to end internal combustion engine production out of all major carmakers who claimed to do so by 2040. Other such automakers include Ford, General Motors, Jaguar Land Rover, Mercedes-Benz, and Volvo.
It bears mentioning that Volvo is now owned by Geely — a Chinese automotive group that is also aggressively pursuing mass electrification of cars.
Other Chinese carmakers such as SIAC Motors, Great Wall Motors, NIO, Changan Automobile, etc. are also making progress in the EV arena. The efforts from these automakers and the Chinese government have placed the country at the forefront of the EV revolution.
