April 5, 2022: China’s largest electric vehicle (EV) maker BYD said that it stopped making combustion engine vehicles last month and now produces full electric and heavily electrified plug-in hybrid cars only.

“In the future, BYD focuses on pure electric and plug-in hybrids in the automobile sector,” the company said in a statement filed to the Hong Kong Stock Exchange on Sunday.

BYD will not wholly stop making gasoline engines since small, highly efficient engines will continue to be used in plug-in hybrid cars. Its move is in response to Beijing’s pledge to boost green energy consumption in bringing carbon emissions to a peak by 2030.

BYD is among six carmakers, Volvo, Ford, General Motors, Mercedes-Benz, and Jaguar Land Rover, signed up to a global campaign to phase out combustion engine vehicles by the year 2040.

BYD is sold 104,878 new energy vehicles (NEV) units in March, surging from just 24,218 units in a similar month a year and marking its highest monthly sales ever.  The previous month’s sales comprised 53,664 pure EVs and 50,674 plug-in hybrid cars, and 540 commercial NEV cars.

The company said that it would continue to provide comprehensive services and supplies of spare parts throughout the life cycle to existing fuel vehicle customers.