By Greg Gao

Chinese automobile conglomerate BYD said that it stopped producing pure internal combustion engine (ICE) vehicles from March 2022 and focuses on pure EV and plug-in hybrid vehicles(PHEV). This announcement on April 3 marks that the company became the first legacy carmaker to wean itself off ICE vehicles completely. 

BYD also added that it would continue to produce and supply ICE vehicle parts, and provide existing ICE vehicle customers with comprehensive after-sales services, including production and supply of spare parts throughout the lifespan of the discontinued products.

The car company manufactured 106,658 EVs in March, compared with 21,492 in the same period last year. It sold 104,878 new cars last month, compared with 24,218 in March last year. In the first quarter of this year, a total of 286,329 new vehicles were sold, a year-on-year increase of 422.97%, according to a March production and sales report released by BYD on April 3. 

BYD’s production and sale volume of passenger EVs hit 106,118 and 104,338 respectively, the first time that its monthly production and sales of EVs have both exceeded 100,000 units. Its commercial EVs sold 540 units.

Among the passenger cars, the production of pure electric vehicles was 54,684 units and the sales volume reached 53,664 units; the output of plug-in hybrid vehicles was 51,434 units and the sales volume hit 50,674 units.

The total installed capacity of BYD’s electric vehicle power batteries and energy storage batteries in March reached 5.353GWh, and the total capacity in the first quarter of 2022 is about 14.738GWh, according to the company.