For India, it doesn’t matter though as Tesla, daunted by the high import duties on cars here, is nowhere near setting shop here. If the next best thing comes calling, it can only mean a good thing. What gives it further heft is celebrated US investor Warren Buffet, once the richest man on earth, whose Berkshire Hathaway holds a near 20% stake in the company. Unlike others, he is no trophy investor. There is one downside though, a big one at that — BYD is Chinese by origin.

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Ever since the relations between the two Asian heavyweights soured in the wake of the Galwan clash of 2020 in eastern Ladakh, India has adopted an ultra-hawkish approach to investments from across the Great Wall. It has meant additional layer of screening which has already undone a proposed $1 billion investment by another big Chinese firm Great Wall Motors which sought to buy now defunct Talegaon factory of US automaker General Motors in Maharashtra .

That deal fell through as recently as July 2022 when the term sheet for the original plan expired. There is little to suggest Sino-Indian relations have thawed since then. Yet, BYD has a stronger case.

For one, it has been in India for much longer. It came into the country back in 2007 with an electronics manufacturing plant in Chennai and forayed into electric buses six years later. In August 2013, when the BYD K9 landed at the Chennai port, it was then the first pure electric bus in the country. That head start has helped it sustain the lead through Olectra —a joint venture with local partner Megha Engineering and Infrastructures Ltd, which is setting up country’s biggest electric bus factory in Hyderabad.

Further, the blade battery technology that underpins BYD’s electric vehicles is of great importance. BYD’s expertise in prismatic form factor and lithium iron phosphate chemistry — considered a benchmark on safety for EV batteries globally — makes it relevant for a market like India which has recently been rocked by multiple cases of battery fires in EVs. They are also more optimally packed in the battery, offering better space utilization and energy density.

The batteries are already in great demand globally but closer home, two of India’s largest automakers Toyota and Maruti Suzuki are reportedly hankering after it for their future EVs. This makes BYD’s fortunes more secure and gives it the leverage to fight the bureaucracy that has thwarted Chinese investments into the country. It also has the widest portfolio of EVs in the world, from hatchbacks to sedans, vans and SUVs. Almost all of them are potential candidates for a market like India. But first it needs to convince the government to allow it to set up a sizeable manufacturing unit in the country.

For now, its 10,000-unit per annum assembly capacity would not cut much ice in the domestic market — Tata aims to sell 50,000 EVs in this year alone. In its wake, BYD’s claims of garnering 40% share of EV sales in the domestic market by 2030 rings hollow. By conservative estimates, it would need to sell at least 60,000 units per annum by then. A factory is a pre-requisite and while there are many options — Honda’s Greater Noida factory, Ford’s Chennai unit and GM’s Talegaon plant are all up for grabs — a lot of calls need to be made. A few of them to South Block in Raisina Hills in Delhi.

Its latest model Atto 3 is no disruptor either. It is specced well with a 60.48 Kwh battery, 521 kilometer range, which takes less than an hour to charge upto 80% from a fast charger. But with no localisation to back it, it is likely to be priced at ₹30 lakh that puts it in the relatively niche Hyundai Kona/MG ZS EV segment and not within sights of Tata Nexon EV, India’s largest selling electric car. With no real manufacturing capacity of its own, that is to be expected but for the sake of the Indian EV ecosystem, the blade battery that underpins it needs a proper play.

One would hope BYD would show ambition and the government, with the radar firmly in place, would allow it to soar.

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