Construction at BYD’s new EV plant in Brazil was suddenly halted Monday after authorities found Chinese workers in “slavery-like”

Authorities say workers slept on beds without mattresses, ate dirty food, and had to share one bathroom among 31 people

A task force led by Brazilian prosecutors says it has rescued 163 Chinese nationals working in “slavery-like” conditions at a construction site in northeastern Brazil, where Chinese electric vehicle company BYD is building a factory.

The Chinese automaker is known for using cheap labor to reduce the price of its EVs, with Brazil becoming its largest overseas market.

"Slavery-like conditions", as defined by Brazilian law, include debt bondage and work that violates human dignity. The MPT added that the situation also constitutes "forced labour", as many workers had their wages withheld and faced excessive costs for terminating their contracts. BYD said affected workers had been moved to hotels.

After Jinjiang Group, a contractor for Chinese automaker BYD (BYDDY, Financial), strongly denied accusations that there had been mistreatment at the automaker's electric vehicle (EV) factory in Brazil,

Beijing: A contractor for Chinese EV giant BYD denied on Thursday there were slave like conditions in a Brazil factory, where local officials said

Construction at BYD’s new EV plant in Brazil was suddenly halted Monday after authorities found Chinese workers in “slavery-like”

While Andy Palmer is most well-known for his stint as CEO of Aston Martin, some affectionately call him the "godfather of EVs" thanks to his role in developing one of the first mass-market battery-electric cars: the Nissan Leaf.

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Jinjiang Group denied Brazilian claims of slave-like conditions for Chinese workers at a BYD factory site, blaming translation and cultural misunderstandings, while both BYD and China investigate the issue.