Chinese electric-vehicle (EV) and battery maker BYD (OTCMKTS:BYDDF) is being crowned as the world’s largest EV maker this morning, supplanting Tesla. In early trading, BYD stock fell 2% to $39.20.

In the first half of 2022, BYD sold 641,000 EVs, representing a year-over-year surge of more than 300%. In June, BYD sold more than three times the number of EVs it unloaded during the same month in 2021.

Meanwhile, Tesla delivered nearly 565,000 EVs during the same period. And in the second quarter of this year, Elon Musk’s automaker unloaded 254,695 EVs, down meaningfully from the 310,048 EVs that it delivered in Q1.

Tesla noted that in Q2, it had had to contend with “ongoing supply chain challenges and factory shutdowns beyond [its] control.” On a positive note, however, the American automaker reported it had produced more EVs in June than in any previous month in its history.

The Background on BYD Stock

BYD, whose headquarters is in Shenzhen China, had roughly 288,000 employees in 2021, versus just about 224,000 in 2020. The company specializes in making plug-in hybrid vehicles and EV batteries. Plug-in hybrid vehicles have both EV batteries and gas engines. They can usually go short distances — anywhere between 30 to 60 miles — on electrical power and then have to switch to utilizing gasoline.

The world’s second-largest maker of EV batteries, BYDDF stock has a market capitalization of more than $130 billion, according to Yahoo! Finance.

Renowned American investor Warren Buffett has a 7.7% stake in BYD. The company’s over-the-counter shares have climbed 12% this year and 37% over the last 12 months. On the other hand, Tesla’s shares have tumbled 44% so far in 2022 and are up just 1% over the last 12 months.

On the date of publication, Larry Ramer did not have (either directly or indirectly) any positions in the securities mentioned in this article. The opinions expressed in this article are those of the writer, subject to the InvestorPlace.com Publishing Guidelines.