BYD, Tesla Drivers Clock Billions Of Miles Over Chinese New Year Travel: But Who Won The Race?

The Chinese New Year holiday saw BYD Co Ltd BYDDY BYDDF and Tesla Inc TSLA owners in China collectively drive over 4.46 billion kilometers (2.8 billion miles).

What Happened: From Feb. 10-17, BYD owners drove a total of about 3.76 billion kilometers (2.33 billion miles), with over 66% of the distance covered using battery power, reported CnEVPost. One BYD owner even drove 7,763 kilometers, the report said.

During the same period, Tesla owners in China drove more than 700 million kilometers (434 million miles), which is equivalent to circling the Earth about 18,346 times or making seven round trips to Mars. This helped reduce approximately 160,000 tons of CO2 emissions, equivalent to planting 9.39 million trees, the report said, citing Tesla on WeChat.

Why It Matters: China is both the home and the biggest market for Shenzhen-based BYD. For Tesla, China is its second biggest market after its home ground in the United States. The two players are engaged in neck-to-neck competitions around the world.

While BYD makes hybrids in addition to battery electric vehicles (BEVs), Tesla makes and sells only BEVs. However, in the last quarter of 2023, BYD took over Tesla in BEV sales too by selling 526,000 BEVs, surpassing Tesla's global delivery count of 485,000.

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Disclaimer: This content was partially produced with the help of Benzinga Neuro and was reviewed and published by Benzinga editors.