BYD's blade batteries are gradually in line with international standards and will supply batteries to Ford Motor Company

According to documents on the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology's website, BYD will supply electric vehicle batteries to American automaker Ford, which means BYD may reach a battery supply agreement with a major global automaker for the first time.

As early as May 14, BYD announced the "good news" of cooperating with an international brand. BYD Deputy General Manager Li Yunfei revealed on Weibo at the time that "Blade batteries are going global and have officially settled in a certain international brand."

According to the document from the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, the Chinese joint venture of Ford Motor and Changan Automobile is seeking government approval to produce a plug-in hybrid vehicle equipped with BYD batteries. The declared model is the Changan Ford Ruiji PHEV model under the joint venture between Changan Automobile and Ford Motor.

The declaration information shows that the model is equipped with a ternary lithium battery provided by Xi'an Zhongdi Lithium Battery Co., Ltd., which is BYD's independent battery wholly-owned subsidiary.

Ford Motor said last year that it plans to launch more than 30 new or significantly modified models in China by 2021, more than a third of which will be electric vehicles. In terms of batteries, BYD has developed lithium iron phosphate batteries and high-energy-density ternary lithium batteries for electric commercial vehicles and passenger cars.

On March 29, BYD's "Blade Battery" was launched. For a long time, lithium iron phosphate batteries have been inferior to ternary lithium batteries in terms of installation volume due to their slightly lower energy density and poor low-temperature performance. The "Blade Battery" has changed the previous performance difference by upgrading the battery cell to achieve module-free and direct integration into a battery pack.

BYD Chairman Wang Chuanfu said that the blade battery is planned to be installed in BYD Han pure electric model. If BYD's battery sector cooperates with external parties, it will mean that after the semiconductor business, the battery sector may also gradually move towards independent marketization.