BYD just launched the largest car carrier to charge up its global EV ambitions(electrek.co)
37 pointsby zfg2 hours ago9 comments
  • Incipient2 hours ago
    Vertically integrating. Not as subtle as I'd have expected, but still sensible.
    • creer6 minutes ago
      That's pushing vertical integration to extremes. Is there any precedent to car carriers dedicated to one manufacturer? Wikipedia mentions a "Toyota Maru No. 10" which was NOT owned by Toyota - although I don't know if it was dedicated to them.
  • metadat2 hours ago
    Why does the Heifei look like 1/3 of a cruise liner? What happened to the badonk tail end?

    https://electrek.co/wp-content/uploads/sites/3/2025/01/BYD-W...

    To be fair, it's pretty large. If you zoom in, you can see some people in a door near the middle of the image, and they're nearly microscopic.

    • toomuchtodo2 hours ago
      https://youtu.be/ovZyGAhde4s

      Edit: link updated with alternate documentary video without AI content, please reply with a better video if you find one on roros.

      • SahAssar2 hours ago
        That feels very AI-generated and not in a good way.
    • Element_2 hours ago
      The back 1/4 of the ship is angled at for a ramp that flips down for unloading. It makes the ship look narrower from the angle the photo was taken.
    • numpad02 hours ago
      RORO car carriers aren't novel concept at all...
  • philwelchan hour ago
    This ship might not be for peacefully exporting electric cars. China is making unmistakable preparations to invade Taiwan in the near future and RORO carrier vessels have clear military applications in such a scenario.

    Consider this analysis of the invasion barges they’re preparing: https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=Klkpk_hO4FQ

    • abrookewood35 minutes ago
      That is a very good observation and a really interesting video.
      • philwelch29 minutes ago
        Yeah, I watched the video the other day and when I saw the phrase “world’s largest car carrier” I instantly thought of the photo of all of the Chinese tanks loaded onto a RORO. And this ship is even bigger? Hmmmmm…
  • bilsbie2 hours ago
    GOOD Point by my wife. Could they double purpose these ships as ferries? Seems like the same basic concept.
    • wongarsu4 minutes ago
      It's not well advertised, but you can book voyages on many cargo ships. They just give you one of the crew cabins and pack some more food. Expect to be the only passenger.

      There are some issues though. It's slow (slower than an ocean liner since ships are more efficient at low speeds). And it's a cargo vessel, so the cargo sets the schedule. If there's an issue with the cargo that delays the ship by three weeks, you journey is delayed by three weeks. There also just isn't much happening. You have a room, a mess hall, a crew of maybe half a dozen to a dozen people to talk to, a ship to walk around on, and not much else.

      It's more of a "the journey is the destination" thing. Accordingly there are a couple youtube channels documenting such journeys

    • bywan hour ago
      Probably not enough space for people. Often people aren't allowed to stay in their cars.
  • 2 hours ago
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  • dukeofdooman hour ago
    After the Ticktock ban and surge of Rednote installs, more people are seeing these cars here. And they look amazing for the price. The ban is backfiring spectacularly. And this is just one way.
  • just_steve_h2 hours ago
    Ten thousand EV batteries packed into a ship’s hull.

    What could go wrong?

    • wongarsua minute ago
      In terms of fire risk, ten thousand gasoline cars are worse. And they have to be fueled because the cars are driven in and out of the carrier.

      EV fires are harder to put out, but in every other way this isn't different from any other car carrier

    • thehappypm8 minutes ago
      Realistically, what is the concern for EV batteries? They already make up a pretty substantial amount of market chair in the US, and yet I don’t hear stories about EV’s being more dangerous or more prone to fires or anything. The only time you ever really see an EV burning is one that was in an accident, and guess what, gas cars also blow up when they’re in an accident sometimes
    • fastballan hour ago
      I actually assumed that was part of the impetus for creating their own ship – standard cargo ships probably aren't well-suited to the job and simultaneously are a bit concerned about transporting such cargo.
    • dtgriscoman hour ago
      https://www.reddit.com/r/interestingasfuck/comments/11t4hw3/...
      • loegan hour ago
        Salt water spray is not great for vehicles in general, even ignoring batteries. Wonder what the heck they were thinking.
    • bilsbie2 hours ago
      It would be cool to pull charge off the batteries to power the ship.
      • richardwan hour ago
        It seems to already use some batteries, but not sure for what:

        “the new ship includes BYD box-type battery packs and shaft-belt generators for the first time”

      • fastballan hour ago
        The ship runs on LNG, which is probably cleaner than charging the cars in China and using that for energy, given China's grid mix.
      • jeffbeean hour ago
        I estimate that all those batteries would get that ship at most 20% of the way across the Pacific.
    • patateroan hour ago
      You could say the same thing about a refined fuel tanker.
  • ggman hour ago
    I'm just here to say electrek's continuous scroll both delights and annoys me by equal measures (because of my right click new tab habit)

    This is a giant RoRo. Compared to the one I used to cross the St Lawrence River a few years back, you could pack hundreds of them inside this in a meta meta car carrier.