Next year BYD will start to produce its electric cars also outside Asia - in Brazil and Hungary - and legacy carmakers aren’t ready for that. Except one.
While tariffs on Chinese-made electric cars imposed by the European Union and the US will give traditional carmakers some time to prepare, they will not stop Chinese carmakers from gaining a substantial market share in the coming years.
Carlos Tavares, the CEO of Stellantis, recently said that the company is now ready and welcomes the competition from the Chinese carmakers in the affordable electric car segment.
What makes him confident saying that and what’s the plan?
We need to go back to the Stellantis EV Day 2021 to know what’s the electrification strategy.
On this website I’ve been writing for a very long time that currently the most important part of a strategy to build good and affordable electric cars relies on adopting cobalt-free chemistries - such as LFP/LMFP, NMx and sodium-ion -, module-less battery packs and multiple suppliers.
Starting this year, Stellantis will sell cheaper electric cars powered by cobalt-free and module-less battery packs.
The Citroen e-C3, FIAT Grande Panda and Opel Frontera Electric are the first examples of this strategy, as electric cars powered by LFP (LiFePO4) and CTP (cell-to-pack) batteries made by the Chinese company SVOLT. However, Stellantis will also use other battery suppliers, such as CATL, BYD, Samsung SDI and LG Energy Solution to avoid being constrained by battery production.
Furthermore, in 2026 Stellantis will expand the usage of the CTP technology also to NCM batteries and finally get rid of modules in all its electric car lineup.
Lastly, Stellantis’ CEO also said something I fully agree with. He said that governments, instead of giving money to buy electric cars, should focus on improving the charging infrastructure.
The logic behind this statement is that, with more and faster public electric car chargers, carmakers will be able to sell electric cars with smaller and lighter batteries, which will make them more affordable and efficient.
In my opinion, it’s crazy to have electric cars carrying huge half-ton batteries all the time. We need more public chargers, but also electric cars that can be charged at higher C-rates. Don’t you agree?
With upcoming module-less and cobalt-free batteries not only approaching an energy density of 200 Wh/kg, but also supporting 3-6 C-rates charging, it means that a full charge can be made in 10-20 minutes, or half (from 20 to 70 %) in just 5-10 minutes.
Anyway, it’s mind boggling that carmakers like Dacia and Renault - that focus on delivering good value for money -, are still not using the best technologies to produce good and affordable electric cars.
Next year, not only BYD will start using super affordable sodium-ion batteries, but also build its electric cars locally in multiple continents, a lot of legacy carmakers will have a hard time to compete.
I believe that a BYD Seagull made in Europe with a sodium-ion battery could be the first electric car to seriously challenge the super affordable Dacia Sandero - that is currently Europe’s best seller. With current best battery technologies, there’s no reason why electric cars can’t compete with the most affordable ICE (Internal Combustion Engine) cars also on price. Module-less LFP battery packs are already at 50-55 euros per kWh and next year will be around 40-45 euros with sodium-ion…
