Wang Chuanfu

There’s one company leading the EV market, and it’s not Tesla. BYD is, by far, the world’s largest seller of “new-energy vehicles,” a category that includes plug-in hybrids and battery electric vehicles, at over 4 million cars in 2024. Wang Chuanfu—a “combination of Thomas Edison and Jack Welch,” to quote Charlie Munger—cofounded BYD in 1995 as a battery maker for mobile phones and pivoted to cars in 2003. BYD’s ultra-affordable cars, already dominant in China, are taking over global markets in Europe, Southeast Asia, and Latin America. The company is also planning a wave of new factories in locations including Thailand, Hungary, Brazil, and Pakistan.