BYD (China) – Jiamin Wang – 2018

Goals

The MINI Energy System division of BYD, the world’s largest electric vehicle manufacturer, is comprised of energy storage rack, battery management system (BMS) and power conversion system (PCS), that can supply home load (single phase) together with PV energy and decrease the need of electricity from the grid. Currently, the product is mainly sold in Europe and Australia. BYD enlisted EDF Climate Corps fellow Jiamin Wang to conduct a business analysis of the product in Europe and Australia, and identify opportunities for future sales strategy as well as energy savings and emission reduction projects.

Solutions

After preliminary planning of the commercial analysis project of the BYD MINI Energy System, Wang found that the largest challenge for the project was obtaining electricity payments for the residents in Europe and Australia, as well as the income model of the storage products in the local area. To get around this, Wang used Germany and England as the representative markets. He then gathered data from BYD’s sales staff.

Wang also identified energy saving opportunities at BYD’s headquarters. He suggested installing a solar carport, to reduce energy use and emissions.

Potential Impact

Based on Wang’s business analysis of European and Australian markets, BYD MINI Energy System has a promising outlook economically speaking in these regions, however the payback period for customers could be long. In the Australian market this product has the shortest payback period, and the largest benefits to the end users. The analysis also shows that better government policies could effectively reduce the product’s payback period and help BYD gain more competitive advantages.

During the 25 application period, the payback period of the solar carport is 9.65 years, the net present value is 6.28 million RMB.