The Vechain Foundation announced today that they have entered into a partnership with BYD, one of the largest car manufacturers in China and the world’s top selling plug-in electric car manufacturer. The partnership is part of BYD’s model for a carbon banking solution.

VeChain’s Usecase Push

It is a little ironic perhaps that this story is breaking on a day when almost every project in crypto is dragged down once again by a fall in Bitcoin’s price. Vechain taking part in a carbon banking solution for the car industry stands in stark contrast to Bitcoin, the mining of which consumes some 73.12 TWh annually at this point, much of which is produced by burning fossil fuels.

To put that number in perspective, if Bitcoin mining was a country, it would currently be the 39th largest consumer of electricity, sandwiched between Venezuela and Austria.

The model developed by BYD and Vechain, with independent oversight by global certifications issuer and standards developer DNV GL, is fairly straightforward. Cars produced by BYD will track drivers’ driving performance and carbon reduction. Car owners will be awarded carbon credits, and their data will be stored on the VechainThor blockchain.

That data will then be used by BYD and their business partners in bulk for statistical analysis, allowing them to build a much more detailed database of where and why carbon is put in the atmosphere – and how our collective carbon footprint can be reduced. The data, collected during vehicle repair and maintenance, will also be of interest to insurance and financial services providers, who will be able to more accurately assess customers’ risk profiles.

Electric Cars and Blockchain Tech

Sunny Lu, CEO and co-founder of Vechain is confident that the collaboration with BYD will give Vechain an opportunity to pioneer some significant, positive change in the world by helping to reduce carbon emissions.

Although initially only BYD’s own cars will be tracked this way, it is not unlikely other manufacturers will develop similar models of their own once they see the success of BYD.

It is of course also an opportunity for Vechain, so far known mostly for their supply chain management solutions, to remind the crypto space and other industries that they have far greater and broader ambitions for the project’s place in the future of business and technology.