Portrait of Chinese electric car billionaire just surpassed Elon Musk

The electric car company of billionaire Vuong Truyen Phuc has just surpassed Tesla to become the world’s largest electric car manufacturer by sales. Mr. Vuong currently holds a net worth of 25 billion USD.

According to the South China Morning Post, 20 years ago, billionaire Vuong Truyen Phuc planned to buy a struggling state-owned car company, then replace the internal combustion engine with a battery to start his own electric vehicle project. me.

Now, his electric car company BYD has overtaken billionaire Elon Musk’s Tesla to become the world’s largest battery-powered car maker (by sales). According to Forbes, in July, shares of BYD soared 90% despite the Covid-19 blockade, helping Mr. Wang to earn an additional $7 billion.

According to the Financial Times, Mr. Wang is worth $25 billion and is China’s 22nd richest billionaire.

From chemist to billionaire

The car company BYD – short for “build your dreams” – is invested by billionaire investor Warren Buffett. From the world’s largest producer of rechargeable mobile phone batteries, Mr. Wang’s company has gradually dominated the electric vehicle market.

The BYD brand is not well known outside of China. But in the first half of 2022, the company sold more than 641,000 cars. Last year, CNBC reported that its sales were 130,000 units. According to Fortune, BYD’s advantage is that it can produce cheaper cars with more durable batteries than American and Japanese manufacturers.

In 2008, billionaire Buffett bought a 10% stake in BYD for $232 million. As of July this year, his investment has increased in value 33 times in 13 years.

Born into a poor rural family in Anhui province, after the death of his parents, Mr. Wang was raised by his older siblings. Growing up, he studied chemistry at Zhongnan University and obtained a master’s degree from Beijing Nonferrous Metals Research Institute.

Mr. Wang later became a researcher working for the Chinese Government before founding BYD in the 1990s.

According to the Financial Times, in the beginning, Mr. Wang faced many difficulties due to lack of capital and had to borrow money from relatives to set up his own nickel battery company.

” He’s a combination of Thomas Edison and Jack Welch, able to handle technical problems and get things done ,” said Charles Munger – Vice Chairman of Berkshire Hathaway, right-hand man Mr. Buffett – comments.

” I’ve never seen anyone with that ability, ” he added.

Competing with Tesla

According to Forbes, Wang’s fortune increased to $27 billion in July and then dropped to $25 billion. In 2009, after billionaire investor Buffett poured capital into BYD, Mr. Wang became China’s richest man by pocketing $5.1 billion.

Last year, Mr. Wang’s fortune hit $23.5 billion after BYD’s stock price doubled. At that time, he was the 14th richest billionaire in China.

BYD is competing with Tesla to become the world’s largest electric car company. ” Have you seen their car. I don’t think they make a good product ,” Tesla CEO Elon Musk said of BYD’s electric cars in an interview with Bloomberg in 2011.

However, Tesla was surpassed by BYD after 11 years. The Chinese automaker faces fewer challenges during the pandemic, and even enjoys higher profits thanks to its ability to diversify its supply chain and production facilities. Meanwhile, Mr. Musk had to close the factory in Shanghai for 2 weeks during the blockade period.

In addition, BYD can manufacture its own chips and batteries. Therefore, the company does not face the same supply and logistics stress as other automakers.

BYD overtook Tesla after selling 641,350 vehicles in the first six months of the year, compared with about 564,740 for the US electric car company.

BYD also partnered with Mercedes-Benz to produce electric trucks with prices starting at $50,000. However, the company’s main focus is still on buses, cars, electric bicycles and rechargeable batteries.

When asked why he wanted to build an electric car company, Mr. Vuong explained that gasoline has caused many environmental problems. ” The future of electric vehicles in China is very bright ,” he said.

After 20 years, Mr. Wang has come a long way. Sharing about the reason for entering the electric vehicle industry, he said everything stems from curiosity.

” When we see something good, we wonder what created that good thing, and begin to find its deep roots ,” the billionaire added.