Chinese Electric Cars Are On The Rise And Knocking At The UK's Door..

Electric cars are becoming increasingly popular in China, with sales of the vehicles rising by 70% in 2018. This trend is set to continue, with the Chinese market for electric vehicles expected to be worth $41 billion by 2025.

The rise of Chinese electric cars is having a knock-on effect in other countries, including the UK. UK sales of electric cars have increased by 37% in the last year, with Chinese-owned brands such as BYD and Geely leading the charge.

The UK is seen as a key market for Chinese electric car manufacturers, as it is one of the largest markets in Europe. The UK government is also supportive of the Switch to Electric campaign, which is helping to increase the number of electric cars on British roads.

With Chinese electric cars on the rise, it is only a matter of time before they start to make a significant impact in the UK market.

While many people consider Tesla to be the greatest invention since fish gained legs, I'm not the only hack who has been predicting that the Chinese would soon invade the West, using their knowledge of battery technology, their command over the sources of raw materials, their economies of scale, and their low labour costs to outsmart and outprice the well-established European automakers.

I attended the unveiling of Chinese technology giant BYD's formal debut to the European auto market during the same week that I drove a £26,000 battery-electric family hatchback from MG that was made in China. This year marks the start of its foray into the UK market.

As we were bombarded with data regarding the automobile division of the 27-year-old, publicly-listed, Guangdong-based Chinese manufacturing behemoth, a colleague remarked, "That was scarily credible."

I'm not sure whether you've heard of a two-year waiting list for the BMW i4 or the Volkswagen ID.3, but BYD intends to have cars available for purchase and delivery this year.

How is BYD able to do this?

The fact that BYD, which only began building cars in 2003, bypasses the factoring-obsessed modern car industry and manufactures nearly every component of its battery electric car drivetrains itself accounts in part for this speed. Everything, including the batteries, motors, control electronics, inverters, step-down gears, and semi-conductors.

The entire power unit in the soon-to-be-released Atto 3 family SUV is about the same size as the Wankel rotary engine in the Mazda RX-7 after being finessed into one enormous assembly, which saves considerable amounts of space, money, and weight (the 8-in-1 method, it calls it). Or to put it another way, a tiny barrel of beer.

BYD is also not a backyard operation. It makes trucks, buses, forklifts, solar panels, batteries, electric bicycles, vehicles, and energy storage devices. It produces components for Silicon Valley powerhouses like Apple and Dennis, and it collaborates with Dennis to create electric buses in Scotland.

Although its corporate slogans—"We want to lessen the earth's temperature by one degree" and "We want to alleviate congestion in urban areas"—are as absurd as any other, their threat to European automakers and aim are clear. No one is discussing numbers, but it will expand to a considerably wider product range within a year from its initial three-car release this year (albeit the UK will only receive one of the trio).BYD communicates in weeks and days, whereas other corporations speak in years and months.

Battery chemistry for LFPs: BYD's secret ingredient

It also has a secret ingredient in its vehicles, which lends credence to at least some of its claims. Battery cells are mounted in long, thin planks with steel casings in BYD's patented Blade structure, which uses the lithium-iron phosphate (LFP) chemistry. This enables the use of the battery cells as structural members.

The basic chemistry of LFP batteries was discovered in 1996 at the University of Texas, where phosphate material was used in the cathode and nanochemistry was used to overcome the cells' naturally low electrical conductivity. This created a durable cell with a high tolerance for being fully charged all the time.

It also has a secret ingredient in its vehicles, which lends credence to at least some of its claims. Battery cells are mounted in long, thin planks with steel casings in BYD's patented Blade structure, which uses the lithium-iron phosphate (LFP) chemistry. This enables the use of the battery cells as structural members. The basic chemistry of LFP batteries was discovered in 1996 at the University of Texas, where phosphate material was used in the cathode and nanochemistry was used to overcome the cells' naturally low electrical conductivity. This created a durable cell with a high tolerance for being fully charged all the time.

Positive aspects of LFP technology

Wang Chuanfu, the creator of BYD, has staked the business on this technology. LFP batteries have many benefits over lithium ion batteries, aside from the drawback of volume density. These benefits include low cost, a significant reduction in the need for cobalt and nickel, which avoids the rush to mine these materials and the associated human and environmental costs, as well as the fact that China controls many of the sources of supply.

They are also safer due to the long and thin Blade structure, which reduces the number of individual short circuits in any given piercing event, as well as the Blade's large surface area, which acts as a heat sink to dissipate the thermal runaway caused by any short circuits that may occur. LFP cells also decompose at higher temperatures and release less heat than equivalent nickel cobalt manganese (NCM) cells or equivalent.

Long-term cost is decreased by the durability and long cycle life of LFP batteries. With Tesla, Ford, and Volkswagen expressing interest in and investing in companies with expertise in LFP technology, the rest of the automotive industry (if not our government) appears to be waking up. This technology is seen as a way to significantly lower the cost of a new generation of smaller battery electric cars.

The trade-off is probably a reduced overall range of roughly 250 miles, but the majority of small-car buyers will find this to be adequate. By the way, BYD claims to be able to double stack its cells, so in the not too distant future, we might see a new breed of tall, short city automobiles.

The new BYD debutants

After a few months of test sales in EV-friendly Norway, BYD plans to launch three vehicles in Norway, Sweden, Belgium, Denmark, the Netherlands, the UK, and Israel. The UK will only receive one vehicle, the Atto 3, a family-sized C-segment Sport Utility Vehicle/Crossover that is built on the company's new 3.0 generation e-platform.

Although they are based on older structures and battery technologies, the Tang, a larger five-plus-two passenger SUV, and the Han, an E-segment saloon (good luck with that in Europe versus Mercedes-Benz, BMW, and Audi), both appear to have found a receptive audience in the Norway tests. The Atto 3 is what we'll get this year instead because they can't be made in right-hand drive. A new generation of vehicles based on that 3.0 platform (including a rumoured small car) will follow in 2023 and 2024.

What will the price be?

The cost is the only issue now. BYD is clever in this instance. Brian Yang, assistant general manager, chooses Volkswagen's ID.3 family hatchback as a benchmark competitor when you throw him a few competitors. He explains, "We're luxury, but we also want to be accessible."

I predict that this car will cost just over £32,000, undercutting the ID.3 ($35,505) but not its more affordable competitors from MG, Peugeot, and Vauxhall.

How to sell this single vehicle's assault on the UK EV market is the largest marketing conundrum. Yang discredits the direct sales strategy used by startup businesses like Genesis. He asserts that his company's approach is to collaborate with dealers, integrated organisations with numerous sales locations, professional staff, and local experts rather than engaging in direct sales.

If you belong to one of the dealer groups they are speaking to, then this is encouraging.

The introduction of novel battery chemistry into a market that only cares about pricing and availability presents another challenge.

In order to brag about how environmentally conscious we are, we don't appear to discuss the "high-temperature occurrences" linked to lithium-ion nickel-rich batteries or the extent to which we devastate the world in search of raw materials.

Perhaps we should; according to rumours, weight and lifetime emissions will be included under the next EU legislation. Perhaps BYD's best moment will come when we are all prepared to discuss these issues.

As it stands, the only thing we can say with certainty about the new Atto 3 is that it is "promising."