Satellite Images Show How BYD Is Expanding Its Largest Megafactory

BYD has a simple strategy when it comes to taking on Tesla: build, build, build.

The Chinese EV giant is constructing factories and stores around the world as it takes on Elon Musk’s automaker, and satellite images obtained by Business Insider show how it has significantly expanded one of its largest production facilities in China.

BYD broke ground on the mammoth Zhengzhou factory in late 2021, with production beginning in April 2023.

Since then, Zhengzhou has quickly become one of the EV titan’s most important production sites, with local media reporting that the factory churned out 545,000 units last year at a rate of about one vehicle every minute.

July 2023: BYD’s Zhengzhou factory, shortly after production began at the site.

Vantor

The factory has continued to grow at a rapid pace. The state-owned media organization China Daily reported in May that BYD planned to add 20,000 employees in the first quarter of the year, with the company employing around 60,000 workers in Zhengzhou as of February.

Satellite imagery provided by Vantor and Planet Images suggests the Zhengzhou factory has more than doubled in size since July 2023, now dwarfing Tesla’s largest factory in Austin.

September 2023: Construction has begun on a new phase of the megafactory.

Planet Labs PBC

Between August and October, the Tesla rival received conditional environmental approval for several new construction projects, according to government documents viewed by Business Insider.

These included a battery production line expansion built by BYD’s subsidiary Zhengzhou Fudi Battery Co, a mold production line, and a new battery protection plate production line that a planning document said would cost around $16 million and produce battery protection plates for 4.7 million vehicles a year.

January 2025: Construction is well underway. Work has begun on the track circuit (top left).

Vantor

Analysis of the satellite imagery by Vantor suggests the entire footprint of the site is now around 22.5 square kilometres, far larger than the estimated 3.53 square kilometres footprint of Tesla’s largest gigafactory in Austin.

BYD and Tesla did not respond to a request for comment on the specific dimensions of the two factories.

BYD eventually plans to expand Zhengzhou’s annual production capacity to 1.8 million vehicles, per local media reports — more than Tesla produced across all its factories last year.

September 2025: The factory has more than doubled in size since 2023 and continues to grow.

Planet Labs PBC

The Zhengzhou site also features a track racing and testing circuit, which BYD describes as the first of its kind for electric vehicles in China.

The circuit, which opened in August 2025 and is situated in the top-left-hand corner of the satellite image of the factory site, includes a 29-meter-tall sand incline and a 70-meter-long wade pool for testing BYD’s more unique EVs.

BYD says Zhengzhou’s sand incline contains 6,200 tons of sand and is the largest dune climbing facility for car testing in the world.

BYD

The wade pool is designed for BYD’s Yangwang U8, a $150,000 hybrid SUV that can float for short periods, and includes an underwater observation window.

The wade pool is designed to test the Yangwang U8’s floating feature.

BYD

The test circuit also features a 44-meter-diameter “low-friction circle,” which BYD says is made of 30,000 basalt bricks and allows users to practice drifting.

The 15,300-square-meter circuit is open to the public, with BYD planning to open similar tracks in the cities of Hefei and Shaoxing.

BYD says the low-friction drifting circle at Zhengzhou is the first of its kind.

BYD

Growing pains

The expansion at Zhengzhou comes as BYD grapples with slowing sales after years of explosive growth.

The Shenzhen-based company beat out Tesla and Western brands like VW to become China’s top-selling car brand thanks to a lineup of affordable EVs and hybrids, such as the $8,000 Seagull.

However, BYD’s sales fell for the first time in 18 months in September and again in October, and the company reported that its profits in the third quarter had declined by 33% in its latest earnings.

A renewed price war in China’s brutally competitive electric vehicle market has put BYD’s sales under pressure, while its earnings have suffered from a government crackdown on discounting and delayed supplier payments.

Despite this, BYD is still on track to overtake Tesla as the world’s largest seller of battery-powered vehicles this year, and the EV juggernaut is betting that taking on Tesla in international markets will help it steer through stormy waters back home.

BYD has seen its sales surge 300% in Europe so far this year, even as Tesla’s have collapsed, and the Chinese brand has announced ambitious plans to open 1,000 new stores across the continent by the end of next year.

The company’s building spree is not limited to China. BYD is also building factories in Hungary and Turkey as it seeks to localize production and avoid tariffs.

The EV giant has established factories in Brazil, Thailand, and Indonesia, and has built a fleet of giant car-carrying cargo ships to export its vehicles across the globe.

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