Tesla no more the best-selling EV brand, overtaken by this Chinese EV maker

Tesla is no more the best-selling EV brand in the world. In a latest report talking about the sales figures of EVs, it is said that Tesla has now been overtaken by Chinese automaker BYD. BYD was able to sell more vehicles than Tesla in the first half of 2022, which also marks a growth of 300 percent compared to the same period last year. The sales figures suggest that these two brands are not very close, with tesla falling behind by a mega margin.

In the report by The Financial Times, it is said that BYD managed to move 641,000 units from January to June in 2022. In the same period, Tesla could only manage to sell 564,000 units, which is much lower in comparison. And note that BYD mostly operates in its home market while Tesla has presence all over the world. Tesla, however, had reasons why it managed to sell fewer vehciles than BYD in the same period.

Tesla outsold by BYD in early 2022

Tesla says that its lower sales figures were largely due to the supply chain issues and sales disruption following the various COVID lockdowns in China. Tesla has a its Gigafactory in Shanghai, a region that observed weeks-long lockdown. BYD’s factories are located in regions that were less affected by the lockdown measures. However, things could change once the Tesla Cybertruck rollout of the factories. The Cybertruck EV is currently one of the most hyped EVs in the market and could be a gamechanger in the world of pickups.

But that’s not the only record broken by BYD. BYD had recently overtaken LG as the world’s second largest battery maker for electric vehicles, following another Chinese battery maker CATL. Most of Tesla’s vehicles rely on LG batteries as well. Even the Ola S1 Pro electric scooter from Ola Electric uses LG batteries as its power source.

In the coming days, things could be getting tough for tesla down the road. Several automakers are doubling down on their EV ambitions, such as Audi, BMW, Mercedes, Volkswagen and more. Even newly born brands like Ola Electric recently announced that a Ola electric car is in the works at the moment, and it could launch it as early as next year. A teaser image showed a swanky aerodynamic design that Ola could be using for its first electric car.