8月23日，比亚迪与重庆璧山区签订投资合作协议，计划投资100亿元，建设年产能为20GWh的动力电池项目，主要包括动力电池电芯、模组以及相关配套产业等核心产品制造。比亚迪董事长王传福曾表示，比亚迪的电池产能已出现不足。2017年底，比亚迪动力电池产能达16GWh。按照规划，2018年-2020年将陆续达到29GWh、34GWh、39GWh。作为中国新能源汽车的领头羊，比亚迪已连续四年占据销量第一的位置。2017年比亚迪新能源汽车销量达11.4万辆。2018上半年，新能源汽车累计销量达到7.12万辆，同比增长106%，依旧保持销量第一位置。然而，受新能源汽车补贴退坡影响，比亚迪2017年和2018年一季度净利润频频下滑。比亚迪2017年净利润同比下降19.5%，2018年一季度净利润同比下降83.1%。6月20日，比亚迪董事长王传福在2017年年度股东大会上表示，2018年比亚迪营收规模将保持在40%-50%的增长，三、四季度将是业绩拐点。比亚迪曾打造新能源汽车闭环生态，动力电池自产自销。面临盈利困境的比亚迪，正在采取更加开放的策略应对市场竞争。2017年4月，比亚迪曾宣布拆分动力电池业务，并对外供应动力电池。比亚迪锂电事业部副总经理沈晞曾介绍，比亚迪动力电池业务剥离工作预计在2018年底或2019年初完成。
BYD to set up power battery base in Chongqing with annual capacity of 20GWh
Chinese automaker BYD and local government of Chongqing Bishan District signed an investment cooperation agreement on August 23, planning to invest RMB 10 billion in building a power battery program with an annual capacity of 20GWh, which is designed to manufacture such core products as power battery cell, module and develop other supporting industries.
Wang Chuanfu, chairman of BYD, revealed that the company has been facing the shortage in battery production capacity. BYD's annual battery capacity reached 16GWh by the end of 2017. As its planning goes, the automaker will see its battery capacity increase to 29GWh, 34GWh and 39GWh in 2018, 2019 and 2020 respectively.
As a bellwether in China's new energy vehicle (NEV) domain, BYD has took the championship by NEV annual sales for 4 years in a row. In 2017, the automaker delivered 114,000 NEVs in total. Besides, BYD's Jan-June NEV sales in 2018 amounted to 71,200 units, skyrocketing 106% year on year.
Despite the strong NEV sales performance, BYD witnessed its net profit constantly drop in recent period affected by the phase-out of NEV subsidy. Last year, the company's annual net profit declined 19.5% over the previous year. Then, BYD reported a steep year-on-year net profit drop of 83.1% in the first quarter of 2018. The automaker is expected to attain a year-on-year jump of 40% to 50% in annual revenues with its revenue performance evidently climbing in the third and fourth quarter, according to the statement given by Wang Chuanfu at BYD's 2017 general meeting of stockholders.
BYD has long been known for its closed-loop NEV ecology and the business mode of producing and marketing power batteries by itself. However, the company is now adopting more open strategies to survive the plight of profit slump. In April, 2017, BYD announced the spin-off of its power battery business, which is expected to be completed at the end of 2018 or in early 2019, according to Shen Xi, vice general manager of BYD's lithium battery business unit.