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BYD just launched the largest car carrier to charge up its global EV ambitions
- deleted 2y ago[deleted]
- metadat 2y agoWhy does the Heifei look like 1/3 of a cruise liner? What happened to the badonk tail end? https://electrek.co/wp-content/uploads/sites/3/2025/01/BYD-Worlds-largest-car-carrier-1.jpeg https://electrek.co/wp-content/uploads/sites/3/2025/01/BYD-W... To be fair, it's pretty large. If you zoom in, you can see some people in a door near the middle of the image, and they're nearly microscopic.
- toomuchtodo 2y agohttps://youtu.be/ovZyGAhde4s https://youtu.be/ovZyGAhde4s Edit: link updated with alternate documentary video without AI content, please reply with a better video if you find one on roros.
- SahAssar 2y agoThat feels very AI-generated and not in a good way.
- Element_ 2y agoThe back 1/4 of the ship is angled at for a ramp that flips down for unloading. It makes the ship look narrower from the angle the photo was taken.
- numpad0 2y agoRORO car carriers aren't novel concept at all...
- Incipient 2y agoVertically integrating. Not as subtle as I'd have expected, but still sensible.
- creer 2y agoThat's pushing vertical integration to extremes. Is there any precedent to car carriers dedicated to one manufacturer? Wikipedia mentions a "Toyota Maru No. 10" which was NOT owned by Toyota - although I don't know if it was dedicated to them.
- markrages 2y ago> Is there any precedent to car carriers dedicated to one manufacturer? General Motors helped design the Vert-A-Pac. https://chevyvega.fandom.com/wiki/Vert-A-Pac https://chevyvega.fandom.com/wiki/Vert-A-Pac
- creer 2y agoCool engineering, thank you.
- sho_hn 2y agohttps://www.maritimegateway.com/volkswagen-group-orders-lng-powered-ro-ro-ships/ https://www.maritimegateway.com/volkswagen-group-orders-lng-... These are also not owned by VW Logistics, but on long-term lease to them. Note this is the similar for several BYD RoRo carriers, e.g. the BYD Explorer No.1 and BYD Changzhou are owned by Zodiac Maritime and chartered by/leased to BYD. As to why a UK-based shipping company owned by a Israeli billionaire based in Monaco buys RoRo carriers from a Chinese shipyard, and then leases them back to a Chinese car maker, I don't know. But I'm also quite curious about the regulatory and financing-related incentives and money flows involved. I'm aware this kind of setup is called a "Non-operating owner" and is fairly common.
- creer 2y agoOkay fair enough thank you. The article points at just Volkswagen running 9 car carriers just for the north atlantic. And BYD have been at it for a while, so time for a wholly owned one I guess. > As to why a UK-based shipping company owned by a Israeli billionaire based in Monaco buys RoRo carriers from a Chinese shipyard, and then leases them back to a Chinese car maker, I don't know. That's good. No idea if that's the reason, but that would be an easy way to invest in BYD while mostly not being subject to Chinese direct investing legal requirements and problems.
- just_steve_h 2y agoTen thousand EV batteries packed into a ship’s hull. What could go wrong?
- bilsbie 2y agoIt would be cool to pull charge off the batteries to power the ship.
- jeffbee 2y agoI estimate that all those batteries would get that ship at most 20% of the way across the Pacific.
- fastball 2y agoThe ship runs on LNG, which is probably cleaner than charging the cars in China and using that for energy, given China's grid mix.
- richardw 2y agoIt seems to already use some batteries, but not sure for what: “the new ship includes BYD box-type battery packs and shaft-belt generators for the first time”
- dtgriscom 2y agohttps://www.reddit.com/r/interestingasfuck/comments/11t4hw3/cars_getting_transported_on_an_open_deck_catch_on/ https://www.reddit.com/r/interestingasfuck/comments/11t4hw3/...
- loeg 2y agoSalt water spray is not great for vehicles in general, even ignoring batteries. Wonder what the heck they were thinking.
- fastball 2y agoI actually assumed that was part of the impetus for creating their own ship – standard cargo ships probably aren't well-suited to the job and simultaneously are a bit concerned about transporting such cargo.
- bilsbie 2y agoGOOD Point by my wife. Could they double purpose these ships as ferries? Seems like the same basic concept.
- byw 2y agoProbably not enough space for people. Often people aren't allowed to stay in their cars.
- wongarsu 2y agoIt's not well advertised, but you can book voyages on many cargo ships. They just give you one of the crew cabins and pack some more food. Expect to be the only passenger. There are some issues though. It's slow (slower than an ocean liner since ships are more efficient at low speeds). And it's a cargo vessel, so the cargo sets the schedule. If there's an issue with the cargo that delays the ship by three weeks, you journey is delayed by three weeks. There also just isn't much happening. You have a room, a mess hall, a crew of maybe half a dozen to a dozen people to talk to, a ship to walk around on, and not much else. It's more of a "the journey is the destination" thing. Accordingly there are a couple youtube channels documenting such journeys
- dotancohen 2y agoAs an astronomy buff, I would do that just to observe the stars from the ocean. Do you know if they can turn off the bright lights at night? Even for just an hour, coordinated with the crew or captain? I might consider such a journey. I've never seen the southern hemisphere sky.
- csomar 2y agoGot any links/contacts where you can book this?
- jampa 2y agoI think there are no climate controls to cool/heat the air to acceptable human levels inside the parking area. I remember seeing on the local news that the inside of the ship looked like a tightly packed parking lot, which seemed to be done by machinery to maximize occupancy. Here is the only photo I could find: https://movimentoeconomico.com.br/wp-content/uploads/2024/05/WhatsApp-Image-2024-05-28-at-17.50.22.jpeg https://movimentoeconomico.com.br/wp-content/uploads/2024/05...
- ggm 2y agoI'm just here to say electrek's continuous scroll both delights and annoys me by equal measures (because of my right click new tab habit) This is a giant RoRo. Compared to the one I used to cross the St Lawrence River a few years back, you could pack hundreds of them inside this in a meta meta car carrier.
- dukeofdoom 2y agoAfter the Ticktock ban and surge of Rednote installs, more people are seeing these cars here. And they look amazing for the price. The ban is backfiring spectacularly. And this is just one way.
- lolbert7 2y ago[flagged]
- philwelch 2y agoThis ship might not be for peacefully exporting electric cars. China is making unmistakable preparations to invade Taiwan in the near future and RORO carrier vessels have clear military applications in such a scenario. Consider this analysis of the invasion barges they’re preparing: https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=Klkpk_hO4FQ https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=Klkpk_hO4FQ
- numpad0 2y agoCar shipping RORO vessels aren't LSTs... They can't beach and land tanks. Amphibian tanks can roll on and off amphibious assault ships, but this isn't it.
- philwelch 2y agoYou probably wouldn’t use a ship like this in an initial landing, but once you’d secured a beachhead you could easily use it to deliver reinforcements and supplies. A major part of the value of a RORO ship is that you need little to no port infrastructure to unload it. Once you’ve secured a beachhead and built some minimal infrastructure on it you could land tanks and other armored vehicles, or you could also land trucks filled with fuel, ammunition, supplies, infantry, and so forth. This is, in practice, most of the work that LST’s did as well. And it’s very common to requisition merchant RORO ships for amphibious operations. The British did so during the Falklands War (https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/SS_Atlantic_Conveyor https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/SS_Atlantic_Conveyor).
- abrookewood 2y agoThat is a very good observation and a really interesting video.
- philwelch 2y agoYeah, I watched the video the other day and when I saw the phrase “world’s largest car carrier” I instantly thought of the photo of all of the Chinese tanks loaded onto a RORO. And this ship is even bigger? Hmmmmm…
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- sho_hn 2y agoAdditional context, BYD's factory size: https://x.com/taylorogan/status/1859146242519167249 https://x.com/taylorogan/status/1859146242519167249 Discussion: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=42228138 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=42228138
- ipnon 2y ago[flagged]
- _tik_ 2y agowhat is the motive? I did not see any pattern from the op's history post
- zfg 2y ago[flagged]
- lemon_zest 2y ago[flagged]
- ipnon 2y agoTextbook
- sho_hn 2y agoSeems like a witch hunt to me. OP's history is relatively diverse, and the comments are not lacking in content or argument. Having opinions is not a vile "ulterior motive".
- senti_sentient 2y agoLiving in Australia, I chose a BYD over a Tesla. After previously owning a Nissan Leaf, I can clearly see why BYD is leading the EV market.
- paulryanrogers 2y agoWhy?
- senti_sentient 2y agoPrice to build quality/package ratio. For AUD 36ks you can get a BYD Dolphin Premium with blade LFP battery, which will give you around 450 to 500ks of range.Why would you buy a Tesla?
- XorNot 2y agoYep. 20 years ago a Prius cost more then that new. Currently my next car will absolutely be a BYD.
- andrewinardeer 2y agoTesla's charging infrastrucute is a competitive advantage. Tesla's software is light years ahead of any other car manufacturer. Tesla's safety rating is better than BYD. Just to name three.
- zfg 2y ago> Tesla's charging infrastrucute is a competitive advantage. Tesla's charging network being closed is detrimental to EVs. Closed, incompatible infrastructure is dumb infrastructure. Closed, incompatible infrastructure is backward and primitive. As a self respecting car buyer you should actively select against brands that try to lock you in and brands that try to shut you out. What you want is smart infrastructure. You want to demand that all brands of EV can charge on all brands of charger with no dumb charging accounts. The good news is Tesla chargers work with non-Tesla EVs. They've been open to all EVs in Europe for years. They're open to all EVs in Australia. Tesla has even started to open them to all EVs in North America. It works because Tesla has adopted the CCS charging standard in North America (just like Tesla was already using in Europe and Australia). NACS is CCS charging with the J3400 plug. J3400 is the third plug type CCS supports. Here's a Chevy Bolt charging on a Tesla charger in California. It works because it's CCS: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Yu0HDdB9b2k&t=340s https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Yu0HDdB9b2k&t=340s Here's an MG charging on a Tesla charger in Australia: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tkOdoNO7fSQ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tkOdoNO7fSQ Here's a BMW charging on a Tesla charger in England: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2Y33AArvMUQ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2Y33AArvMUQ Here's a Kia charging on a Tesla charger in England. No dumb Tesla account, no idiot Tesla app. Contactless payment just as Nature intended: https://www.youtube.com/shorts/yflZN0dLT8s https://www.youtube.com/shorts/yflZN0dLT8s
- HEaFaj 2y agoSo Internet apps are banned but data collection devices like electric vehicles are permitted. BYD of course has a privacy policy, but who knows what is actually collected. The same applies to other EV manufacturers. I suppose one can only buy 30 year old second hand vehicles.
- feverzsj 2y agoTheir workers work 12 hrs a day and only get 2 days off per month. It's the worst kind of modern slavery. I don't think they can produce even qualified cars under such pressure.
- defrost 2y agoWhich factory? Shenzhen, Changsha, Huizhou, Shanxi, Shanghai (in China), the one in Thailand, in Hungary or Uzbekistan? (etc.) I ask as Reuters reported the Shenzhen and other plants as having standard eight hour shifts less than two years past: https://www.reuters.com/business/autos-transportation/byd-reduces-shifts-two-ev-assembly-plants-china-sources-2023-03-21/ https://www.reuters.com/business/autos-transportation/byd-re... Do you have a source for claim?
- feverzsj 2y agoCan't you just google a little bit more? [0] https://www.scmp.com/economy/global-economy/article/3293923/china-ev-giant-byd-hits-skids-brazil-slavery-claims-run-over-labour-force https://www.scmp.com/economy/global-economy/article/3293923/... [1] https://carnewschina.com/2024/05/20/strike-at-byd-factory-in-wuxi-workers-seek-fair-treatment/ https://carnewschina.com/2024/05/20/strike-at-byd-factory-in... [2] https://clb.org.hk/en/content/auto-workers-bear-brunt-competition-and-ev-transition-chinese-market-international-just https://clb.org.hk/en/content/auto-workers-bear-brunt-compet...
- defrost 2y ago> Can't you just google a little bit more? https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html [1] is extremely vague wrt hard details, in summary it's a dispute between Brazilian standard conditions and Chinese standard with hints of "slave like conditions" but nothing concrete. [2] is about Chinese workers striking to demand longer hours: According to reports, the main reason for the employees’ discontent was the implementation of a four-shift system and a five-day, eight-hour work schedule. This would result in the loss of overtime pay, leading to a significant reduction in their income. The pay scale can be debated but it doesn't support your claim above that the company forces long hours upon the workers. [3] references workers striking for better pay, safer conditions, et al but doesn't mention slave like conditons etc. that you claimed
- vachina 2y ago[flagged]
- hyruo 2y agoThe number of RORO ships is directly proportional to the volume of automobile exports. As of 2022, China had only 100 such ships, accounting for just 14% of the global fleet. However, considering that Chinese shipbuilding enterprises currently have orders for an additional 200 RORO ships, it is possible that in the future, China's share of the global roll-on/roll-off fleet could reach one-third.
- rasz 2y agoCan it unload "cars" on the beach?