Xiaomi has confirmed receiving over 200,000 real orders for its Tesla killer, the YU7, in just three minutes. We are referring to actual orders, with a soon-to-be non-refundable deposit.

Today, Xiaomi launched its second vehicle, the YU7, coming just four years after establishing its EV division and less than a year after introducing its first car, the SU7.

For years, we laughed at the media calling every new EV a ‘Tesla killer’, but over the last few weeks, we have reported how the YU7 might be the first real one.

At the launch event, CEO Lei Jun was not shy about making comparisons to Tesla.

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While the CEO praised the automaker for its leading efficiency and ADAS system, Lei Jun released a series of slides that favorably compared the YU7 to the Model Y.

It started with a comparison of the entire dimensions of both vehicles (image translated via Google):

Xiaomi’s CEO then claimed that the new YU7 had a significantly quite cabin with much less road noises than Tesla’s best-selling SUV (image translated via Google):

In my first drive of the YU7, I did note that the cabin was ultra quiet and demonstrated it briefly in my Youtube video about the new electric SUV:

The double-panned acoustic glass all around helps with that, but the vehicle’s suspension is also optimized for noise, as well as active noise cancellation throughout the car.

Xiaomi also claimed that the vehicle, especially its electro-shading sunroof, was able to keep the cabin much cooler in extreme heat than Tesla’s Model Y (image translated via Google):

Lei Jun even shared a tweet that he posted about challenging Tesla Model Y’s best-selling crown and then truly went on the attack with pricing.

Ahead of today’s event Xiaomi had already shared a lot of information about the YU7, but pricing was the last significant piece of the puzzle.

The CEO decided to release with a direct comparison of each variant to Tesla’s own Model Y variant, and it was pretty brutal.

The base YU7 starts at just 253,500 RMB (equivalent to $35,300 USD) – 10,000 RMB less than Tesla, and it offers more than 200 extra km in range (image translated via Google):

As for the YU7 Pro, it starts at 279,900 RMB (equivalent to $39,000 USD), more than 30,000 RMB less than Tesla’s Model Y Long Range and it also compares quite favorably on the main features, including range (image translated via Google):

Finally, the YU7 Max was announced at 329,900 RMB (equivalent to $46,000 USD), 25,000 RMB less than Model Y Performance, and the specs are not even close:

With these incredibly favorable comparisons to Tesla’s best-selling SUV, it’s not surprising that Xiaomi has received record demand for the YU7.

It reported having received over 200,000 orders for the new electric vehicle within 3 minutes of opening orders at 10PM local time on Thursday.

It’s also important to note that these orders represent a genuine show of interest. This is not a Cybertruck situation where Tesla claimed to have over 1 million reservations, but ended up only selling about 50,000 units.

People ordering the vehicle need to place a 5,000 RMB (~700$) deposit, which only remains refundable for a few days before the order becomes locked in.

Xiaomi has already started production of the YU7 and made units available for delivery (with configurations limited to those pre-arranged by their designers) for almost immediate delivery.

Electrek’s Take

It’s hard to overestimate just how much this shook up the industry. At an average sale price of $40,000, that’s about $8 billion in sales that Xiaomi booked in 3 minutes.

I would expect the tally to increase past 400,000 in the coming days, and it will likely lock up a significant portion of potential buyers in the segment, particularly Model Y, for an extended period.

Tesla was already experiencing problems in China and had to offer record incentives to maintain its sales, but it will now face even greater challenges in the second half of the year.

I expect that Tesla will quickly launch its lower priced stripped down Model Y to try to help demand following this beating.

BYD says there’s no slowdown, despite the rumors. After several sources claimed that BYD was cutting EV production in China due to slowing sales, the company is pushing back, saying output is stable and sales are still growing.

Why is BYD cutting EV production in China?

With nearly 382,476 new energy vehicles (NEVs) sold globally in May, BYD is coming off its best sales month of 2025.

Like most carmakers in China, BYD reports monthly NEV sales, which include fully electric vehicles (EVs) and plug-in hybrids (PHEVs).

BYD’s sales are up 39% through the first five months of the year, with over 1.76 million NEVs sold worldwide. Not including its commercial vehicles, BYD’s passenger vehicle sales are up 37% through May, with over 1.73 million units sold.

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Its battery-electric vehicles (EVs) are leading the growth, with sales up 40% through the first five months of 2025 compared to the same period last year.

After a few sources claimed the growth was not enough and the company was already cutting EV production over slowing sales, BYD is shutting down the rumors.

Two people close to the matter told Reuters on Wednesday that BYD had slowed output at several factories in China. They added that the company was also reportedly delaying plans to add lines to expand output.

The sources claimed that BYD has cut night shifts and reduced capacity at some plants by at least a third as it faces rising inventory. One of them reported that at least four BYD plants are now operating at a slower pace.

On Thursday, a seperate source, close to BYD, told CnEVPost that the rumors are not true. According to the person familiar with the matter, BYD’s production remains stable and sales are still growing steadily. The source added that dealer inventory is at reasonable level.

If true, the claims could have been pretty significant, given BYD’s aggressive price cuts last month. On May 23, BYD slashed prices by up to 34% on 22 of its vehicles.

BYD still expects to sell around 5.5 million vehicles this year, a nearly 30% increase from 2024. Last year, BYD sold over 4.72 million NEVs, up 41% from 2023. However, its annual growth rate has slowed over the past few years.

According to data from CnEVPost, BYD’s annual sales growth rate has declined from 218% in 2021 to 208% in 2022 and 62% in 2023.

The Reuters report cited a survey from the China Automotive Dealer Association last month found that BYD dealers held one of the highest inventory levels, with an average of 3.21 months. In comparison, the industry-wide average was 1.38 months.

Despite this, BYD is still gaining market share in China. The source told CnEVPost that BYD’s share of the auto market has risen from 15% to 17% in just the past few months

Electrek’s Take

With an intensifying EV price war and a wave of low-cost domestic cars flooding the market, Chinese automakers, including BYD, are now looking overseas to drive growth.

BYD is coming off its sixth consecutive month with record overseas sales in May, having sold over 89,000 NEVs outside of China.

After it topped Tesla in monthly vehicle registrations in Europe and the UK this year, BYD launched its most affordable EV earlier this month. The Dolphin Surf is the European version of its top-selling Seagull EV, which can be bought for under $8,000 in China right now.

BYD’s Dolphin Surf arrives as one of the most affordable vehicles in the UK, starting at just £18,650 (about $25,000).

During the launch event, BYD’s special advisor for Europe, Alfredo Altavilla, called (via Autocar) the Dolphin Surf “the missing piece in the A/B-segment.”

According to Altavilla, BYD is launching vehicles in Europe at a faster rate than any other carmaker. “I have zero problem in saying I don’t think there has ever been such a product offensive done in Europe as the one BYD is doing,” he said during the event.

BYD’s sales are expected to double in Europe this year to around 186,000 units. By 2029, S&P Global Mobility forecasts BYD’s sales could reach around 400,000 in Europe. Between its new plants in Hungary and Turkey, BYD is expected to have a combined annual production capacity of over 500,000 units.

And Europe is just one global market. BYD is already a leading EV brand in overseas markets like Brazil, Thailand, Australia, and several other key markets.

Even if the sources’ claims that BYD is cutting production in China were true, the world’s leading EV maker is still expected to see significant growth overseas over the next few years.

Airloom Energy just broke ground on a rectangular wind turbine pilot site near Rock River, Wyoming, and it has the potential to change how wind power gets built in the US.

Backed by Bill Gates’ Breakthrough Energy Ventures, Airloom is developing a new kind of wind turbine that promises to be cheaper, faster to install, and more efficient than today’s towering three-blade giants. The Wyoming site will host the company’s first utility-scale turbine as part of a plan to prove the tech works in the real world.

This comes at a time when the grid could use some more innovation. The North American Electric Reliability Corporation (NERC) says half the US could face energy shortfalls by 2035. And with AI and data centers driving up demand, Gartner warns that 40% of facilities worldwide will be constrained by access to sufficient power by 2027.

“Current energy technologies can’t meet the growing complexity and demand of the next decade,” said Neal Rickner, Airloom’s CEO. “We need more flexible systems that can be built fast and at scale. That’s the only way we’ll get to real energy security and independence.”

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Airloom’s turbines are compact and modular. Instead of sweeping a circular area like traditional turbines, the turbines in the pilot sweep a rectangular area – a design that lets them capture more wind in less space. That makes them a better fit for areas with limited land or strict height limits, like airports or military bases.

They’re also built with small, mass-produced parts made in the US, so they’re cheaper to ship and easier to install. While traditional wind projects can take up to five years to build, Airloom says its turbines can be up and running in under a year.

The Wyoming pilot site is meant to prove the turbines’ performance, validate the cost savings, and build out maintenance and deployment strategies ahead of commercial projects starting in 2027. Airloom is also exploring other use cases like defense, disaster relief, and offshore wind.

The company raised $7.5 million in seed funding last October, with support from Breakthrough Energy Ventures, Lowercarbon Capital, Crosscut Ventures, and others. It also received $5 million in matching funds from the State of Wyoming and a $1.25 million contract from the Department of Defense.

Paul Judge, former head of product management at GE Onshore Wind and now an advisor to Airloom, called the pilot a big moment: “This pilot is more than a test site; it’s the beginning of a fundamentally new approach to resilient renewable energy generation: wind energy that’s faster to deploy, land-efficient, and built for the energy challenges ahead.”

Read more: New DOE report finds 90% of wind turbine materials are recyclable

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