KUALA LUMPUR (July 6): BYD, the Chinese auto group backed by Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway, has dethroned Elon Musk’s Tesla as the world’s biggest electric vehicle (EV) producer by sales.

Citing company filings, the Financial Times (FT) on Tuesday (July 5) said that Shenzhen-based BYD sold 641,000 vehicles in the first six months of the year, a more than 300% jump from the same period a year earlier.

It said that compared with 564,000 vehicles sold by Tesla, which has blamed a tough second quarter on supply chain and sales disruptions in China after its operations were hit by coronavirus lockdowns and travel restrictions.

The FT said BYD’s rise underscores China’s strengthening position in renewable energy, boasting scale and cost advantages across much of the supply chain for EVs, batteries and wind and solar energy.

The report added that BYD, which is part-owned by Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway, had also overtaken South Korea’s LG as the world’s second-biggest producer of EV batteries, behind China’s Contemporary Amperex Technology, known as CATL.

It said Tesla, along with a clutch of Chinese EV makers including Li Auto, Xpeng and Nio, were harder hit by the lockdowns than BYD, which benefited because most of its factories are not based in the regions and cities that suffered the most severe restrictions.