Tesla v BYD shares: Here’s why BYD has overtaken Tesla, and its not (all) Elon Musk

The Tesla v BYD shares battle is looking pretty one-sided right now. It is easy to assert it is because of Elon Musk’s ‘other endeavours‘ (X and DOGE) and that Tesla owners are returning them. But what many have not considered (at least not until this week) is the competition. You see, there are other companies making electric vehicles, both traditional manufacturers and upstart companies. BYD, a company based and listed in China and a company backed by Warren Buffett, is one of the more major EV players. It has upped its presence outside China, opening dealrooms in Australia and even becoming the major sponsor of NRL club the Sydney Roosters.

BYD took a major step forward this week.

Why BYD is winning the Tesla v BYD shares battle

Earlier this week, BYD unveiled the latest version of its batteries, and to say they’re impressive would be an understatement. In just 5 minutes, they can charge fast enough for 400km of range. That’s 80km a minute and over 1km a second. Impressive in their own right, but critical because this means they can charge as fast as you can refill a petrol-tank car. Forget about leaving the plug in for hours, you can ‘fill up’ an EV just like diesel cars.

BYD founder Wang Chanfu declared in a livestreamed event from his company’s headquarters,’ In order to completely solve our users’ charging anxiety, we have been pursuing a goal to make the charging time of electric vehicles as short as the refuelling time of petrol vehicle. This is the first time in the industry that the unit of megawatt has been achieved on charging power’.

These batteries will first be implemented in the Han L sedan and the Tang L SUV. Before anyone asks, we don’t know when (or indeed if) they’ll be offered here. The unveiling came after speculation that Chinese rivals were beginning to catch up – XPeng and Zeekr could charge 280 and 342 miles of range in 10 minutes. Tesla’s fastest-charging cars take 15 minutes to add enough power to drive 172 miles.

BYD is winning the battle

BYD is officially the world’s largest EV producer and its shares have gained 81% in the last year and 656% in the last 5. Now, Tesla is up 38% in the last year, although after a 124% rally in Q4 of 2024, it halved between mid-December 2024 and mid-March 2025.

From a customers’ perspective, advantages Tesla still has include the charging network (something BYD does not have outside of China) and that there’ll be no lingering tariffs (at least for cars made in America bound for America). On top of this, Tesla has begun rolling out autonomous-driving software in America and has plans to roll it out in other markets, including in China where its been difficult to get approval due to stringent regulators (not allowing the transfer of video data from its vehicles to servers outside the country thus making it difficult to train and refine the AI algorithms).

Is Tesla losing it?

But BYD has taken a major advantage over Tesla in offering lower cost vehicles. Its Dolphin Essential starts at A$29,990 and the Atto 3 at $39,990 (excluding on-road costs including registration, stamp duty and other government charges). These are the lowest cost EVs in Australia and the former is the first EV in Australia to sell below $30,000 before on-road costs.

Then of course, there’s the elephant in the room about the damage Elon Musk is doing to Tesla. Some investors perceive he is not giving it enough attention. This close collaboration with Donald Trump and far-right political parties in Europe (particularly the Alternative for Germany Party) have led to slowing sales growth, existing owners surrendering their leases and protests outside Tesla showrooms. Tesla’s market share in Europe has fallen from 1.8% to 1% in a year, at the same time the broader EV market grew by 37%.

All these issues have been simmering for some weeks now, but this week’s development out of BYD is arguably the most important, meaning the most for the broader EV market.

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