Looking for a "New Blue Ocean"? BYD's Lithium Iron Phosphate Batteries for Electric Two-Wheelers and Three-Wheelers Are Expected to Be Released

BYD, which has long been eyeing the small-capacity power battery market, has finally accelerated its pace.

According to industry news, BYD will host a global launch event for electric two-wheeler and three-wheeler batteries at its Shenzhen headquarters on May 17, and has proposed the slogan "Lead-acid out, LFP in." On May 13, an informed source confirmed the date of the event to a reporter from Cailian Press, but did not disclose further details.

Rumors about BYD's entry into the e-bike market have been circulating in the industry for a long time. As early as October 2020, FinDreams Battery, a battery brand under BYD, held the first off-line ceremony for Didi Qingju batteries in Shenzhen. At that time, He Long, Vice President of BYD Group and Chairman of FinDreams Battery, said, "The product line of FinDreams Battery's two-wheeler batteries will grow at a rate of dozens of times in the future."

However, compared to power and ESS batteries for NEVs, BYD's expansion in the small-capacity power battery sector targeting the e-bike market has been relatively cautious. It was not until February 25, 2024, that FinDreams Battery announced on its official WeChat account, "After discussion, it has been decided that FinDreams Battery will apply the R&D achievements of passenger vehicles to the two-wheeler sector, increase R&D investment in two-wheelers, collaborate with all parties to develop safe batteries that can be used in high-rise buildings."

The major fire incident involving e-bikes at that time, which was caused by the thermal runaway of lithium-ion batteries in e-bikes, prompted BYD to make this decision.

"After the incident, a special rectification campaign for electric vehicles was launched nationwide, and relevant departments also communicated with BYD, hoping that BYD would shoulder corporate responsibility at a critical moment and participate in the safety upgrade of electric vehicle batteries," an industry insider revealed some of the reasons to the reporter.

In addition to the support from relevant departments, the small-capacity lithium power battery market for e-bikes is also relatively a "blue ocean." Compared with lead-acid batteries, lithium batteries have advantages such as long life, light weight, environmental protection, and high energy density, which have sparked a wave of "replacing lead-acid with lithium" in the e-bike sector.

However, according to the reporter's understanding, currently constrained by safety and cost considerations, mid-to-low-end brands such as Yadea and AIMA have temporarily suspended their transition to lithium batteries and instead returned to lead-acid batteries, which offer higher safety, lower cost, but slightly insufficient driving range. It is understood that currently, only high-end brands such as Niu and Ninebot are still using lithium iron phosphate (LFP) batteries, but their selling prices are generally high.

"Currently, the two major obstacles to the promotion of lithium batteries are cost and safety. BYD has advantages in both cost control and technological safety."Industry analysts believe that as more and more high-tech enterprises enter the e-bike industry, it will help the entire industry reduce costs and increase efficiency.

In January 2024, LIMA EV launched the LIMA H5 third-generation long-range e-bike, equipped with a 46V, 120Ah BYD LFP blade battery, which is already on sale.

After announcing its entry into the e-bike battery sector, BYD continued to "take orders". In October 2024, BYD and Jiangsu Zongshen Vehicle Industry announced the establishment of a lithium battery pack management advisory committee. Jiangsu Zongshen stated that the two parties will focus on innovative management, promote the integrated management planning and layout of lithium-ion products for vehicle-battery integration, and plan to form a feasible business model for lithium-ion products in 2025. In December of the same year, BYD signed a strategic cooperation agreement with Tailg Technology, with both parties announcing in-depth cooperation in the new energy two- and three-wheeler battery sector and jointly building a cloud-based big data platform for the "vehicle-battery-cloud safety system".

Regarding whether BYD will directly participate in the production of e-bikes, the aforementioned industry analysts believe, "It's not impossible. Cars are large products involving tens of thousands of parts, but e-bikes have relatively fewer parts and their manufacturing processes are not overly complex." In their view, BYD's layout in the C-end e-bike market would face high store-opening costs. "If it can make breakthroughs in the B-end market, such as food delivery and express delivery, it would be a better choice."