Wang Chuanfu

🇨🇳 Wang Chuanfu

🔋 From battery tinkerer to EV champion: Wang Chuanfu founded BYD in 1995 with a loan from his cousin, first became the world’s largest maker of cellphone batteries, moved into autos in 2003, and later led BYD to the top of the plug-in market. In 2008, Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway came on board with a $230 million investment. Today, from Shenzhen, Wang runs a vertically integrated manufacturing machine that builds almost everything in-house—from cell-chemistry labs to final assembly.

👉 Lesson learned: Build the bottleneck yourself. Owning core technologies in-house cuts costs, speeds delivery, and protects market share. Combine that with a wide model range at different price points, short development cycles, and regional supply chains to create a scalable lead competitors will struggle to close.