On 18 November 1994, Wang Chuanfu gathered a team of 20 people and founded BYD in Buji Town, Longgang District, Shenzhen.

[30] Wang noticed an opportunity presented by the shift in Japanese companies from NiCd to high-value nickel–metal hydride (NiMH) and lithium-ion (Li-ion) batteries while he was working as a vice supervisor at the Beijing Nonferrous Research Institute.

[31] Having achieved little success, in 1997 Wang moved his business, also consisting of a battery research institute to Longgang in Shenzhen, where BYD started receiving orders from multinational companies.

[32]BYD grew its business in its early days by implementing a redesigned manufacturing approach by incorporating more manual labour, in contrast of the capital-intensive and highly automated processes in Japan.

This manufacturing process, along with in-house production of key machinery, contributed to a substantial reduction in unit costs compared to Japanese competitors by around five or six times lower.

[33] BYD quickly became the world's leading NiCd battery manufacturer by July 2002, accounting for 65% of global production.

[35] On 31 July 2002, the company underwent an initial public offering (IPO) on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange.

[42] In September 2008, MidAmerican Energy Holdings, a subsidiary of Warren Buffett's Berkshire Hathaway Inc, invested about US$230 million for a 9.89%[43] share of BYD at HK$8/share.

[46] In 2016, BYD unveiled a working monorail prototype marketed as "Skyrail" (Chinese: 云轨; lit.

[62] In addition, BYD Electronic has production bases in Huizhou, Tianjin, and at Baolong Industrial Park, Longgang District, Shenzhen.

[63] As a "one-site mode supplier" especially for mobile phones, the company provides product design, manufacturing, testing, assembly and after sales services.

[69][70] In August 2023, BYD Electronics has agreed to buy several Chinese factories operated by Jabil, a U.S. manufacturer that supplies major components to Apple.

[76] FinDreams (Chinese: 弗迪; pinyin: Fúdí) is the brand name used by four automotive supplier companies owned by BYD.

[88] In early 2022, the company started construction of a joint venture plant with FAW Group called FAW-FinDreams to produce battery packs.

BorgWarner will also secure an intellectual property license to use FinDreams battery pack design and manufacturing process.

[92] In March 2024, FinDreams Battery became a cell supplier to Tesla's energy storage manufacturing in China which operates at the newly built Shanghai Megafactory.

[93] FinDreams Powertrain Co., Ltd. develops and produces engines and powertrain-related parts such as transmissions, axles, electric car platforms and plug-in hybrid systems.

[18][81] FinDreams Technology Co., Ltd. develops and produces automotive electronics and chassis-related parts that are used in passenger cars, commercial vehicles, and rail transit.

BYD is also part of a consortium that was awarded a pre-development contract to build a monorail from the San Fernando Valley to LAX via the Sepulveda Pass in Los Angeles.

Founder Securities data reveals that BYD's R&D investment reached CN¥7.99 billion in 2021 with a 12.9% rise in R&D personnel, totaling 40,382 employees in 2021.

[15] This vertical integration model strengthened its industrial chain and mitigates challenges such as the global chip shortage.

The establishment of FinDreams companies from December 2019 focused on power batteries, automotive lighting, electronics, powertrain, and moulding.

[104] Auto production bases include an automobile assembly line in Xi'an, a K9 electric bus manufacturing plant in Dalian,[105] a photovoltaic module (solar panel) Bloomberg New Energy Finance Tier 1 manufacturing plant in Beijing, an R&D center and nascent automobile assembly line in Shenzhen, and an R&D center in Shanghai.

In 2020, BYD opened its third manufacturing plant in the country in Manaus, specifically for lithium iron phosphate batteries, for use in electric buses.

[130] In 2016, BYD won the Zayed Future Energy Prize award for Large Corporations for their development of robust rechargeable batteries.

[132] On 27 April 2020, BYD hired attorney Charles Harder and filed a federal civil complaint in U.S. District Court, Southern District of New York,[133] against Vice Media alleging defamation for a story about BYD being associated with companies alleged to be using forced Uyghur labor in its supply chain which was published on 11 April 2020.

[134] In November 2020, BYD filed a libel lawsuit against Vice Media and the non-profit Alliance for American Manufacturing (AAM) and some of its employees.

[136][135] In 2022, the United States Department of Commerce found that BYD had circumvented tariffs on solar panels by routing its operations through Southeast Asian countries.

also opened proceedings in the district where BYD is headquartered, at the Shenzhen Intermediate People's Court,[citation needed] which referred the case to the Supreme People's Court, which in turn commissioned an appraisal by the Beijing JZSC Intellectual Property Forensic Center into files in BYD's possession which were alleged to belong to Foxconn.

[142][additional citation(s) needed] Afterwards, Foxconn withdrew the civil proceedings against BYD in mainland China, and sought criminal prosecution instead.