BYD pegs Tesla an ally in the fight against the gas engine as it's ready to share EV technology

BYD, which became the world's largest electric vehicle maker last quarter at the expense of Tesla, said that it is ready to share technology if that will help to advance the industry as a whole.

According to its Executive Vice President, Stela Li, BYD and Tesla share a common enemy - the internal combustion engine - that they need to fight together as EVs are simply a "better car, a smarter car," as well as a "higher quality" car compared to petrol vehicles, they added.

It is not clear yet what form will an eventual BYD-Tesla cooperation take, but Li said that Chinese EV makers are willing to share manufacturing and autonomous driving technologies with foreign companies so that they can "make the industry change" faster together.

BYD is putting its money where its mouth is, too, as it recently introduced its own take on Tesla's FSD option called God's Eye. Unlike Tesla, however, which charges $8,000 for it, BYD is democratizing autonomous driving by bringing the option to all of its vehicles, even the cheapest model, for free.

It is not the only Chinese company that welcomes foreign competitors as a way to advance faster towards the common goal of replacing ICE vehicles, too. XPeng's CEO commented favorably on the launch of Tesla's FSD in China, saying that this will speed up the adoption of autonomous driving systems as a whole.

BYD, however, has numerous technologies that Tesla cars don't have, and it remains to be seen if it is willing to share those. For starters, it is making its own Blade batteries and nearly all of its vehicles run on a modern 800V powertrain to offer fast charging, unlike Tesla that launched even the new Model Y with the aging 400V architecture.

It also recently demonstrated steering technologies that are superior to those that Tesla installed in the Cybertruck, and introduced an integrated DJI drone system option for its vehicles, all the while it sports a much more diverse portfolio of electric vehicles than Tesla.

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