At BYD’s massive expansion site in Zhengzhou’s Airport Economy Zone, what was meant to symbolize China’s EV future instead became a scene of sudden disaster. A deep, hollow blast echoed through the site, and within seconds, an enormous steel structure folded in on itself. Three workers were trapped beneath the wreckage and died instantly. Afterward, the silence was almost as shocking as the collapse. Local media vanished from the story, trending lists showed nothing, and only a short, cold notice appeared on a provincial government website. This happened at the heart of a so-called “superfactory,” a flagship project designed to roll out one million vehicles a year.
This tragedy was not random. It was the result of speed worship turning into systemic recklessness. To meet political deadlines, safety became negotiable. Supervisors took fees and looked away, while contractors pushed work down layer by layer until nothing was left for quality or protection. The BYD Zhengzhou project was finished in just 17 months under the slogan “Henan Speed,” masking a deadly trade between capital, political ambition, and human lives.
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