Toyota Motor Corporation and BYD Company establish a joint venture. The parties are joining forces around the development of battery electric vehicles (BEV). Within the joint venture, BYD and Toyota will engage in the design and development of BEVs and components for these vehicles.
The joint venture will be based in China and should be established by 2020. Both companies will hold a 50% stake in the joint venture. The workforce of the joint venture - whose name is as yet unknown - will be filled with engineers from both companies who are already currently involved in R&D activities around electric vehicles.
BYD
BYD Company is a company founded in 1995 and based in Shenzhen, China. The company focuses on manufacturing cars, batteries and components for mobile phones, among others. BYD has been operating in Europe since 1998; the company is headquartered in Rotterdam. The company's products in Europe include electric buses, forklift trucks and monorail train called SkyRail.
The company has also been active with passenger cars in Europe for some time. In 2008, for instance, AutoBinck was appointed BYD's importer in the Netherlands, Hungary, Slovenia, Slovakia and the Czech Republic. In 2011, the municipality of Rotterdam signed an agreement with BYD to supply three electric taxis, choosing the BYD e6. Since April 2013, Schiermonnikoog has had six electric scheduled buses from the Chinese manufacturer.
Electric commercial vehicle
BYD introduced three electric commercial vehicles for the European market early this year. These are the 7.5-tonne truck T6 and the 40-tonne terminal tractor Q1M, intended for use at airports, ports and distribution centres. The company also launched the T3, bringing its first electric van to the European market. The company plans to launch a full range of 100% electric light and heavy commercial vehicles in Europe in the coming years.
Isbrand Ho, Managing Director of BYD Europe, reported being the market leader with electric city buses when these models were introduced in Europe and having now produced its 50,000th electric bus. Ho expects BYD to deliver its 3,000th electric forklift to European customers in 2019.
Toyota
Toyota has also been active in electric vehicles for some time. The company is known for its hybrid Prius model, which combines a traditional fuel engine with an electric motor. In 1997, Toyota claimed it launched the first hybrid car produced on a large scale.
Toyota announced in April an all-electric version of the CH-R aimed at the Chinese market. The company aims to offer more than 10 electric vehicles by 2020. Launching the electric C-HR in China is a deliberate choice; China is the largest market for Chinese vehicles globally. The company also announced the all-electric Toyota Proace and Proace City, which will be available in 2020 and 2021, respectively.
Joint venture
So now BYD is joining forces with Toyota Motor Corporation. "We want to combine BYD's development strength and strong position in the BEV market with Toyota's quality and safety technology to respond to market demand and customer needs as early as possible with the best BEV products," explained Lian Yu-bo, senior vice president at BYD. Shigeki Terashi, executive vice president at Toyota, added: "Given our shared goal of promoting wide use of electric vehicles, we are delighted that BYD and Toyota are becoming 'teammates', putting aside their rivalry and working together. We hope that both BYD and Toyota can further develop and expand thanks to this new company with BYD."
The joint venture is specifically aimed at Chinese customers. "With the newly established joint R&D company, Toyota and BYD will work together to promote the development of BEVs that are attractive to Chinese customers," Toyota writes in a press release. By encouraging the broad embrace of BEVs, the parties aim to contribute to improving the environment.
Author: Wouter Hoeffnagel
Source: Toyota & BYD
