CT scans of BYD car parts

I've got a friend whos a master tech/trainer with our state automotive body, and is HV certified etc for dealing with these cars. He's currently got a BYD Shark strewn across his workshop for an autopsy.

I have to say I'm super impressed with how heavy duty everything is. The control arms, subframes, etc all look good and don't fit the 'chinese car bad' narrative you always hear. The powertrain components all look to be extremely high quality.

I've poked around a few EV's with him now, and I do feel like the Chinese market cars are evolving to a really good standard faster than their Korean counterparts did back in the 80s/90s.

This was stated about the key: "Folded into the base is a mechanical backup key, a flat metal blade in a hinged housing."

I own a BYD: this is not true. The key is not hinged; rather, the entire mechanical key pulls out when a small clip is unlatched near the top of the assembly (you can see it in the CT). I assume the circular hinge-looking mechanism in the CT is just a by product of the plastic/metal weld process.

Nonetheless: very cool tech demo!

> The last company to vertically integrate a car from raw material to finished product at this scale was Ford. Today BYD’s system runs all the way from the lithium mine to the port.

Both BYD and Tesla claim to produce around 75% of their components. Ford is at around 25%.

Tesla is indeed smaller in scale (cars/year):

  BYD 4.6M
  Ford 4.4M
  Tesla 1.6M

Oh, I love the 2 sides of HN... Here everybody's ready to buy a BYD and even move to China, due to the sheer quality of the product (for the money) and the integrity of the people, totally forgetting about the 'social credit system' and the data that these cars might be sending or being exposed to having the car remotely disabled. Not to mention the repairability... Just a few days ago there was a popular post taking a modem out of the RAV4. Bet you can't do even that on a BYD without rendering the car non-functional.

BYD is indeed producing cars by the millions now. Any quality issues would be very apparent at this scale.

Also worth noting that they are very advanced in applying robotics and automation in their factories. Anyone assuming that this is all underpaid Chinese workers doing things manually would be mistaken. And that also means they are very good at maintaining the same level of quality through their production process. So, this is not surprising.

Also in general, the Chinese car market is insanely competitive right now. There's just very little room for manufacturers that deliver low quality products with lots of warranty issues.

"You wouldn't CT scan a car!"

Actually, yes, we would: https://www.kmoser.com/ctscan/

For those interested in EV drive-train tear-downs, Munroe Live has some wonderfully detailed videos: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4LfDuyqmsts , https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LeZzEg3GIcg&list=PLkiDlGyJnp...

Folded into the base is a mechanical backup key, a flat metal blade in a hinged housing. It reads warmer than everything else in the scan. It exists for the moment the battery dies or the RF link fails. Every BYD keyless entry system includes this fallback.

It's simple things like this which incumbent manufacturers need to avoid losing sight of.

Nice.

Those are small parts, though. The interesting part is the E-axle. BYD builds a unit with an integrated motor, differential, axle, and wheel hubs. That, plus an electronics box and battery, is the power train. This simplifies vehicles considerably.

There are E-axle teardown videos. There's no big secret about how to do this. Copying this is hard for Detroit, because they have a huge investment in "engine plants". With this design, BYD doesn't need standalone engine plants.

Tesla ought to be doing this, but they're into performance, not cost. They want to put two or four motors in a car. BYD does make supercars, to show off, but their volume products are reasonably good cars with E-axles and lithium iron phosphate batteries, which work fine. (It's not clear that Tesla is even into car design at all any more, but that's another issue.)

Detroit ought to be doing this, but they insist on making electric cars that are modified gasoline cars. Ford has an electric Mustang, an electric F-150, and an electric Transit. Chrysler doesn't even make cars any more, just one minivan. GM has a good Bolt now, which they are killing to appease Trump.

> This prismatic cell is NOT a Blade, but it does share the same chemistry.

Kind of surprised that the part that is perhaps the most "BYD" of the entire car, isn't actually the same cell that the BYD Blade batteries use, which was what I was most excited about seeing :(

I wonder why window switch panel uses 14 pins socket. Wouldn't it be simpler to use 3-4 pins with serial protocol?

BYD biggest innovation may be organizational more than technological

I'm having a Seal delivered next week, really looking forward to it. My friend went from a M3 to a Seal. She does a lot of miles. She says they trade blows, there's things that felt better in the Tesla and things she prefers in the BYD.

Back in the days the Chinese used to copy from the German automotive industry. Now it's about time the Germans start to learn from Chinese engineering.

Genuinely impressed with the article. We need more such articles that re-invigorate our engineering curiosity. Kudos!

My take: China is now producing cars of such good quality that companies are putting CT-scans of their cars online ..

Been driving Tesla the last 9 years .. entirely possible that my next car will be a BYD.

This was a super cool article. Very well done. Thank you!

All you need to know is that BYD cars are good enough that the US had to effectively ban them.

> Fourteen pins in two parallel rows carry every signal this panel produces to the rest of the vehicle. Automotive connectors are among the most common failure points in modern cars: corrosion, fretting, and thermal cycling work on these joints over years of use. One connector failure on a module this integrated takes out mirrors, windows, locks, and child safety all at once.

Pack that shit full of silicone dielectric grease, check it every year or two, and it should be good for decades.

I want to buy a Chinese car and I am annoyed that my protectionist government won’t let me. Lowering transportation cost would be the most impactful thing to my budget.

All that serves to do is ensure the American car industry falls far behind by being coddled into a lack of competition.

Toyota showed the world the Toyota Production System. What Tesla, Kia/Hyundai, and Chinese EVs have shown American automakers is how much vertical integration can be an asset, especially with the lower part counts of electric vehicles.

The model where every part is contracted out to parts manufacturers is proving to be antiquated.

Time to start learning Mandarin

Communist revolution put China behind, but they are realllly catching up fast.

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Previous lumafield blog posts have been full of amazing graphics and knowledge.

But this one seems to be "state the obvious" and "recant political talking points with no new evidence".

This looks like a stealth advertisement for their CT scanning business. There is nothing educational of value for the general public here.

The only reason you would do this is for competitive analysis and I assure you the other car companies have already analyzed these parts.