BYD is seeing a flood of new EV buyers • Hacker News Board

Re: BYD is seeing a flood of new EV buyers

#111

Post by seanmcdirmid » Fri, Mar 20, 2026, 7:39 PM UTC

legitronics wrote: post #85

paxys wrote: post #31

Genius strategy by the USA to disincentivize EVs, disincentivize solar and wind, increase dependency on oil & gas, and...start a war that makes oil and gas more expensive for everyone. Markets are now forecasting oil prices will stay above $100 a barrel for multiple years . Best of luck to the economy.

Well the USA is a net exporter of all oil products since 2019, this will probably make some people very rich and has the potential to be good for parts of the us energy sector. The west coast is the only part that relies on middle eastern oil. And a spike in prices will just get them in line and connected to the rest of the shale powered system. I don’t like any of this, but I think the doom and gloom lies elsewhere.

> The west coast is the only part that relies on middle eastern oil. And a spike in prices will just get them in line and connected to the rest of the shale powered system.

The west coast is adopting EVs at a faster pace than the rest of the country. You could just as well see accelerated adoption of EVs in personal and freight transportation, Chinese manufacturers opening up US EV production, and so on.

The answer isn't necessarily drawing shale from Alberta that we can't really process anyways (without mixing it with light crude from Texas anyways).

Re: BYD is seeing a flood of new EV buyers

#112

Post by slaw » Fri, Mar 20, 2026, 7:40 PM UTC

louwrentius wrote: post #47

jrjeksjd8d wrote: post #3

I finally put my money where my mouth is and bought a PHEV. In the past month I've done all my errands around town exclusively on battery power (30-40 miles per charge) from a home L1 charger. I know EV purists will complain about the complexity of maintaining the gas engine, but this hits the perfect sweet spot for me - it doesn't weigh a million tons, it cost under 40k new, and the one weekend a month when I need t…

I still feel that PHEVs combine the worst parts of both worlds. The battery of a PHEV is relatively small and will be strained much more (as compared to an EV), especially if you drive a lot in EV modus. PHEV batteries tend to wear out faster for this reason. This drives up cost of ownership. Then you still have the maintenance / cost of the ICE drivetrain. It does not make sense to me. I feel that a lot of people bu…

You start with wrong assumption. Compare PHEV with 70kWh battery + ICE vs the same model as BEV with 100kWh battery.

Re: BYD is seeing a flood of new EV buyers

#113

Post by jancsika » Fri, Mar 20, 2026, 7:40 PM UTC

PedroBatista wrote: post #10

I'm sorry to be that guy, but can we reintroduce a good dose of skepticism in our mental diets? BYD was already selling a ton of cars when the oil prices were "low", of course there's some very creative accounting business moves you would expect from a Chinese company like BYD ( companies from other places have their own peculiarities too ). Gas prices have been "sky high" for a week and people who are under financia…

> I'm sorry to be that guy, but can we reintroduce a good dose of skepticism in our mental diets?

Of headlines? Always. Of the content of the article? Not without you providing counterevidence.

Speaking of the content:

* BYD has seen an uptick in demand for EVs

* "At one [BYD] dealership in Manila, the capital of the Philippines, demand is so high that it booked a month’s worth of orders in just the past two weeks"

* another dealership nearby had to hire more salespeople

* small uptick from Edmunds for people researching EVs in relevant period[1]

1: https://www.edmunds.com/car-news/electrified-vehicle-researc...

Re: BYD is seeing a flood of new EV buyers

#114

Post by seanmcdirmid » Fri, Mar 20, 2026, 7:40 PM UTC

ambicapter wrote: post #109

cogman10 wrote: post #99

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> this will probably make some people very rich yes > has the potential to be good for parts of the us energy sector. No way this is good for anyone other than oil producers. The only potential positive it'll have on the US energy and shipping sectors is this is going to put even more pressure on adopting renewables as fossil fuel cost spikes.

Well then that's good for the US renewable energy sector, no?

Or the Chinese renewable energy sector.

Re: BYD is seeing a flood of new EV buyers

#115

Post by TremendousJudge » Fri, Mar 20, 2026, 7:40 PM UTC

What I find most amazing about all this is that this is literally the market that Tesla was aiming for. Affordable EVs for regular people was their whole thing, they were years ahead of BYD, already had an established brand, they just had to keep doing what they were doing, adding cheaper models to their lineup, and they would be much stronger competitors.

Re: BYD is seeing a flood of new EV buyers

#116

Post by nico » Fri, Mar 20, 2026, 7:40 PM UTC

macintux wrote: post #67

nico wrote: post #9

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think plug-in hybrids are the perfect combo. You get amazing flexibility and if you mostly drive locally, then 80-90% you are probably purely driving electric When we bought are last car, I would've bought one of those if there had been a Toyota or Honda minivan. We ended up going for a regular hybrid instead. Hopefully this category gets adopted by more car makers

Extra weight, extra drivetrain complexity, and many owners don't actually charge their hybrids so they're getting worse mileage. Tradeoffs everywhere, so "perfect" is very much not the word I'd apply.

Well, if you want to be pedantic, sure, nothing is perfect. You can always find fault with anything. Like you say, there are always tradeoffs

It all depends on what you want the car for and how you use it. It will also depend on the very specific car and manufacturer. In my case, even though I love the concept of PHEV, I'd still wouldn't buy a Chrysler, so, to your point, I prefer to get a different brand that is not a PHEV, than get that specific make

Re: BYD is seeing a flood of new EV buyers

#117

Post by mikestew » Fri, Mar 20, 2026, 7:41 PM UTC

macintux wrote: post #79

mikestew wrote: post #74

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's not like EV owners were feeling regret when gas hit the (mythical ) $2/gallon. Gas could be free, and I'd still have no regrets. Because an EV is simply the better vehicle. And I think after over a decade of mass-produced EVs that maybe it's time to get away from "saves on gas" or "good for the environment", and maybe start marketing as "full every time you pull out of the garage", or something. Kind of like Maz…

I'd be more interested in EVs if they didn't come with significant privacy and complexity trade-offs. I don't want a door handle that can't open in an emergency. I don't want my vehicle constantly phoning home to the mothership (sadly I have to deal with that today, I really need to go disable that functionality). I certainly don't want a touchscreen through which all controls are routed. I have a 20-year-old Jeep wi…

I'd be more interested in EVs if they didn't come with significant privacy and complexity trade-offs.

You're going to be really disappointed when you go to look at new ICE vehicles. This "EVs are a privacy nightmare!" trope needs to die, all cars do that now.

I don't want a door handle that can't open in an emergency.

Only one car manufacturer to my knowledge has that problem, just don't buy one of those. Again, nothing to do with electric cars.

I certainly don't want a touchscreen through which all controls are routed.

So far, other than the poorly-designed door handles of one manufacturer, nothing you've listed is unique to EVs. All you've done is describe "most new cars".

Re: BYD is seeing a flood of new EV buyers

#118

Post by mbgerring » Fri, Mar 20, 2026, 7:41 PM UTC

caminante wrote: post #49

nico wrote: post #33

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Gas prices have been "sky high" for a week and people who are under financial stress just decided to ditch their cars and buy a brand new BYD? Are we children now? listening bedtime stories? Have you actually seen the news and the situation? Gas prices will continue to rise and will stay high for at least 3-5 years, given the damaged infrastructure and how long it will take to rebuild. And that's if nothing else ha…

> Have you actually seen the news and the situation? Have you seen what's happened to wholesale power market prices? Have you seen that BYD's care sales in 2026 are down y/y? Trusting anecdotal hype from BYD salesmen and a renewables blog isn't sensible.

Wholesale power market prices are responding to shocks in the natural gas market from two wars that disrupted those supply chains. Solar and batteries have been and will continue to he the cheapest source of power, and globally, deployment is accelerating.

Not so much in the US, where our braindead political culture is intent on ignoring the obvious economic advantage of renewables, but definitely everywhere else in the world.

Re: BYD is seeing a flood of new EV buyers

#119

Post by raw_anon_1111 » Fri, Mar 20, 2026, 7:41 PM UTC

smallerfish wrote: post #90

michaelteter wrote: post #58

If one removed the country names and just looked at where investment (focus, planning, and money) was, we would see two greatly different pictures. One country is disincentivizing or even blocking renewable energy production, rolling back climate protection measures, trying to revitalize the coal industry, slashing investment in scientific research of all kinds, demonizing higher education, and spending vast and rapi…

> in two decades While I agree with your overall point, I'm reminded of "the market can stay irrational longer than you can stay solvent" here. The US is a huge economy with a massive military infrastructure. I don't think it's fading to fallen empire status that quickly.

Europe is wisely waking up and starting to loosen its military dependence on the US. Hopefully they are/will do the same when it comes to medical research since the US has been taken over by anti-vaxxers.

I’m saying this as a non European. I’m an American who is making plans to split my time between the US and Costa Rica (here now) and maybe Panama and would love to see them become close to Europe politically.

Re: BYD is seeing a flood of new EV buyers

#120

Post by epistasis » Fri, Mar 20, 2026, 7:41 PM UTC

dangus wrote: post #57

epistasis wrote: post #18

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Rental cars as EVs are pretty much the worst possible case. We are at the transition where we don't have chargers everywhere, but we will soon because chargers are way cheaper than a gas station. Also rentals tend to be driven for longer trips, and for uncertain distances! And on top of it all rental companies tend to not give people any choice, education, or help with the EV. I wouldn't bother with a PHEV for a vehi…

I love renting EVs now, when they’re available. They’re always the cheapest option and they’re often nicer than the cheapest gas ICE options. I’d rather be in a Genesis G80 Electrified than a Camry. I just got a $100 charger for my relatives garage, which almost immediately paid for itself. (Though I’ll admit, I’m lucky that they installed a 220v outlet decades ago for appliances in their garage).

That's good to hear! We had some visitors, and we went on a trip to the mountains, and the nearest Level 2+ charger was some 70 miles away. It was a bit stressful for them, as they had never used an EV before, and the Electrify America chargers at the time tended to be either broken or in use. It was a major pain and stress point.

This will all get easier as the chargers become more prevalent.