BYD delivered 557,090 fully electric vehicles in the second quarter of 2026, according to figures compiled by Bloomberg, putting the Chinese automaker back on top of the global battery-electric race.
Tesla is expected to report around 396,500 deliveries for the same quarter — a gap of more than 160,000 units in BYD’s favor.
BYD reclaims the BEV lead it lost in Q1
The result reverses the standings from just one quarter earlier. Tesla narrowly reclaimed the global BEV lead from BYD in Q1 2026, but that had little to do with Tesla surging.
BYD’s domestic sales fell earlier this year after China scrapped its EV purchase-tax exemption, temporarily narrowing the Chinese giant’s lead. Tesla, meanwhile, delivered just 358,023 vehicles in Q1 and built more than 50,000 cars it couldn’t sell, adding them to inventory in a single quarter.
