The most eye-stealing highlight is the Flash Charging technology, which works in conjunction with the latest Blade Battery 2.0.
– Charging from 10% to 70% takes only 5 minutes.
– To charge to 97%, it only takes 9 minutes.
– Even in temperatures as low as -30°C, it can still be fast-charged in 12 minutes.
All great and I’d love it BUT
Will it track the shit out of me?
And before anyone goes “But Murrica!”, I don’t give a shit. I don’t care who wants to spy on me, the USA, China, Russia, fuck all those dictator governments, I want NOBODY spying on me.
I want MY car, if I really need one, to be MY car, and nobody else’s.
Will it track the shit out of me?
They have Android Auto and Apple’s car thing, so yeah.
I think that if the cars themselves had hidden malicious spy shit, other manufacturers would be paying some very concerned journalists to keep pointing it out.
They don’t point it out because they all do it. Mozilla did a study, reviewed 25 major car brands, said it couldn’t recommend any of them for data privacy.
I assume OP meant undisclosed spying. Everything else would be up to local legislation, and that’s probably not great anywhere tbh
I can’t find their actual terms and conditions, but BYD’s privacy-washing page says they’re compliant to the GDPR and the EU Guidelines on Personal Data Protection in Connected Vehicles, whatever good that does
Why give the price in USD when the people who need them most in the US will not be able to buy them?
To specifically spur ground-up pressure on the US government to try to allow BYD and other manufacturers direct access to the US market, since there are effectively no EV manufacturers in the US except Tesla.
My Bolt EUV was made here. (I’m pretty sure, anyway.) That said, it was more expensive than $22,000 and is almost certainly not as good.
Probably all made locally. I was surprised the LG batteries were made in Michigan.
I have a soft spot for the Bolt. It has a great name and it helped (PH)EVs gain traction. But, yeah, you can get better cars.
It’s a 68kWh pack. The 5 min metric is 60% of that. So 41kWh. To do that in 5 min would require 490kW chargers. This is pretty much only available from the latest Tesla super chargers. So while it’s great that the car can support that, articles about it should include the fact that there is very limited support in charging networks for it.
All 3 metrics are important to evaluate together:
- Peak power draw, in watts, describes one type of limitation in charging, that exists somewhere in the chain between the grid itself, the charger, the charge controller, and the batteries. Showing off a very high charging capability on this metric is impressive (for a charger/car combination), and usually shows the bottleneck is somewhere else. Sometimes it’s even in the electrical substation where a rack of several chargers can each deliver high power but can’t charge every station at full power simultaneously
- Total energy delivered over a particular amount of time (aka average power). High peak power needs to be sustained to be useful.
- Percentage charge delivered over a particular amount of time. The nature of modern batteries means that the maximum charging speed has to slow down closer to each cell’s full charge. So charging from 40% to 60% can be much faster than charging from 80% to 100%, even if the total energy transferred and stored is the same.
All 3 matter. #1 is an engineering flex and helps avoid bottlenecks into #2, which you correctly describe as being an important metric, and affects just how far you can expect to drive off of that charge. And #3 translates into actual user experience, which is also really important. None of the three metrics can be assumed by simple multiplication of the others, because none of it goes at constant rates in all contexts.
Love how they translate the price to USD when sadly there’s no way in hell well ever see this car in the US.
Also no mention of crash test ratings. Which is likely the real reason we won’t see it here, and even if we did it would never be for that price because that price is subsidized by the Chinese government.
Edit: Why do so many people think pointing out that some Chinese EVs have been through crash test ratings refute that this article doesn’t mention them?
Also, please note that all the ones that have good ratings aren’t being sold for $22k.
Also, please note that all the ones that have good ratings aren’t being sold for $22k.
22k USD is around 31k AUD
The BYD Atto 1 sells for 24k AUD + on roads, so less than that figure.
It got a 5 star ANCAP rating.
Just saying.
I did a quick search and cannot find any of those for that price. Source please.
Base model is 26.5k AUD drive away, Premium is 30.5k AUD drive away, so both slip in under the 31k AUD / 22k USD price point.
https://bydautomotive.com.au/atto-1
Hmm, good question, and a quick google later:
Chinese EVs may not have to pass USDOT crash tests, but they do have to pass Euro NCAP crash tests, and Chinese NCAP crash tests, which are similar.
And a lot of them did quite well in that regards.
And and they also have to pass however Canada does crash tests as well.
BYD vehicles all rate 5 stars in the Australian ANCAP ratings as well.
The “Chinese vehicles aren’t safe” thing is just fear mongering these days or, more generously, a misapplication of their micro vehicle standards for low speed urban use to ordinary passenger vehicles.
Those smaller vehicles are definitely safer than pickup trucks, which are loopholed for safety standards.
This article is counting Tesla and Polestar as Chinese EVs…
Polestars basically are. They are owned by Geely and some are built in China
Still seems disingenuous in the context of the article linked. Like those “assembled in USA” stickers. Technically correct but also misleading and mostly missing the point.
A lot of iPhones are made in China too. Do you consider them Chinese?
Isn’t Geely a Chinese company though?
Yep, the article is purposely conflating “Chinese” with “Made in China”.
Ontario built cars and trucks are subsidized by the Canadian and Ontario governments, why aren’t they $22K?
What? What does this have to do with anything?
To be fair China has their equivalent of the NHTSA with more or less comparable tests. US crash tests are particularly bad and still assume a sedan when everyone drives SUVs/light trucks now. Even mini vans in China are smaller than the majority of American SUVs.
The government subsidy is the bigger reason for why the West generally blocks or heavily tariffs the import of Chinese cars. It’s just not fair competition (though there’s also an argument of it being a good thing for us to let them subsidize our imports of lithium)
I’m wondering if I can ship one over?
Take a vacation to Mexico, buy one there, and drive it back. Perfectly legal and you will still come out ahead and get a vacation thrown in
Take a vacation to Mexico, buy one there, and drive it back. Perfectly legal
if the car has passed US testing, and you pay the tariffs. You cannot just import a new car.
It’s not a new car if you’re driving it over the border. Then it’s a used car. Volvo does something similar by offsetting someone visiting Sweden and driving the car round a bit before flying back and having their car delivered.
The bigger issue is, you need to have the right to buy a car in Mexico (legally a resident, usually), and have the ability to wire transfer in full (you’re not getting a loan). Then you pay a 2.5% duty when you bring it in.
Edit: Canada is probably the better place to try this gray importing scheme as their cars actually meet required US standards.
There’s an idea! Thanks
Then it will cost >$50k and you have a car no one can fix.
You forgot what ever extra tax the orange dumb shit adds
I believe you can import them, but it is a 100% tariff. So your $22k car becomes $44k plus delivery charges and local registration fees/taxes. So very quickly becomes not worth it. Which is why the tariff exists.
There is also the matter of which charging standard is needed. The US of course not using the same standard as the rest of the world.
What, you even have imperial chargers?
Is it not worth it? Are there EVs in the US that are sub $44k?
Chevy Bolt, $28K, Nissan leaf$32K, Hyundai kona, $34K, Subaru Uncharted, $36K, Toyota BZ $36K, Ioniq 5, $38K,
…Chevy Equinox, Toyota CH-R, Tesla model 3, Ford Mustang Mach-E, Kia EV6, all below $40K.
I love my Leaf. Best car I’ve ever owned.
People also forget that there’s this pesky thing called safety standards and getting certified can make the car cost more when it’s officially released. Don’t forget that in China there’s 599 other electric car manufacturer so it’s race to the bottom in terms of pricing.
Hmm, come to think of it this means that cars should be much cheaper than it is and this makes me sad.
I was going to buy one of the new rivians for about 45k, not sure if they released prices yet. My husband has one of the more expensive Rivians and they’re really cool. That being said, byd is cool too and even with import fees it looks doable. Gotta think about it.
JFC…a Rivian costs 140k in Canada
Yeah it was an investment for sure.
Yeah… My usual experience is to connect to 150kW changer and get half of that. Better battery will not magically fix shitty infrastructure.
I’m probably going to end up getting the dolphin soon but it is hard for me to justify selling or taking off my 2017 petrol rav4. I know a few people that purchased BYDs and they’re happy with them performance and cost wise. The government capped gas here for another 24 months so although higher than US prices, it won’t get worse and I don’t drive much. I have solar though and I’d love to use the excess that I currently “waste” to charge my car
I have a dolphin essential
The cheapest option
It’s a brilliant little car! I have solar panels, so I charge it during the day basically for free most of the time
That’s awesome!
I’d love to have one that’s a small form truck or mini-van with a flat front for maximum visibility and minimum footprint.
To be perfect: Absolutely no touch screens allowed, no internet, no satellite, honestly I’m good without Bluetooth. Make it feel like a 90s vehicle, but electric.
I missed it in the article, does it say how well it holds its charge compared to non-fast-charged ones? That tends to be the limiting factor in many things, as it’s much harder on the battery. I doubt they’d be pushing it if it wasn’t an improvement though
You want a Slate.
The truck everyone says they want, but no one will buy.
It’s not out yet, how can they? I don’t even like trucks and I am considering buying one when they become available.
Connectivity is a legal requirement iirc.
Big Brother must be allowed to watch.
I’m OK with only Android Auto and Carplay.
I’d really love to see how one of these does here in Northern Canada. There are almost no electric vehicles here because of the performance of batteries in the long, cold winter.
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No, big difference. In Northern Norway, average temp in January is -4C, in Northern Canada it’s -40C.
Chargers don’t even work at -40C.
There are good reasons why most of Canada lives near the US border and in regions below US states.
That sounds awful to deal with. Sometimes I wonder why people live in such conditions but I guess that’s just humanity for you.
Also cool fact -40C is -40F
One question: how long is the typical vehicle trip in northern Canadian settlements? I know a lot of northern cities lack road connections to other places, so the range being impacted may not have a huge impact if trips are measured in single or double digits of km increase of triple digits.
Well to get from the western interior coast(Bella Coola) from the closest main city in the interior(Williams Lake) is about 500 km. Even then there is five charging stations on the way and there are some solar farms going in on the Chilcotin plateau so the small communities in the area have power without needing to run major lines to power them.
To get from the north coast (Prince Rupert) to the north interior(Smithers) there looks to be around 7 stations along the way and stations all the way along north towards the Yukon. Now you might not be able to get too far away from the main highway but there is little reason to go too far away from the main highway multiple times. If you have a destination off the highway just make sure you charge at the closest station and have enough change to get back or the ability to charge where you are parking like a b&b.
Most northern communities have a concentration of people and then it’s a long way to go to get to the next community. So, there’s a bunch of short drives and the occasional long drive.
Great technology, but built by
slaveforced labour.https://www.cbc.ca/news/politics/byd-hungary-china-labour-watch-9.7154249
Now do iPhones built in factories with suicide nets.
Yes, absolutely also that. One does not excuse the other.
I’d like to read some sources on current day China using slave labor to build these cars, otherwise you sound like another racist.
Brazil sues China carmaker BYD over ‘slave-like’ conditions
https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c3v5n7w55kpoBut I was looking for Hungary.
EV giant BYD accused of forced labour violations at European factory
https://www.cbc.ca/news/politics/byd-hungary-china-labour-watch-9.7154249
I appreciate your links to help me be more informed! Thank you!
China does use slave labor in cotton and aluminum production. BYD uses that aluminum, as well as other western brands.
https://www.hrw.org/news/2024/02/01/china-carmakers-implicated-uyghur-forced-labor
BMW, Jaguar Land Rover, and Volkswagen, Ford, General Motors, and Tesla use steel and aluminum from China that is made with forced labor. This is a problem for The US car industry because Canada has laws against using it.
😂😂
Oh look, another simp that doesn’t understand every capitalist country uses propaganda and slave labour, not just the ones you personally don’t like.
If you read my post history, you would see that I am not what you are accusing me of.
The internet is full of uneducated, low-class, dogshit takes such as yours, and I hope to never be as ignorant as an idiot like you.
Updated with a source.
Not slaves. Perhaps serfs?
Looks great, I’ll take it.
Does it use proprietary charging infrastructure?
Probably not but good luck finding a 600 kW charger to support that speed
88 mph and a clocktower during a thunderstorm?
Yeah, good luck knowing precisely when lightning will strike the tower.
I think I got an idea about how to make it work, but I knocked my head on the bathroom and forgot how.
but I knocked my head on the bathroom and forgot how.
It was from all the pee from the first seizure you had. See a doctor!!!
Jumpin’ jigawatts!
…and one that isn’t busted.
I’ll wait until Toyota copies this technology.
They know we don’t have the infrastructure to support it. That’s why they’re sticking to hybrid/plug in hybrid.
I recently bought a new Toyota and signed up for all their post purchase marketing (to complain!).
A lot of the questions revolve around excess electrical energy and how you’d want that to interact with your vehicle. With an emphasis on creative ways to use the battery for extravehicular activities.
I don’t see much of a future where any regulated market sticks around and Republicans have been irritated by various bills to regulate ISPs.
Whole house generators are big business where I am.
It sort of makes sense on a communism vs american ideological map.
Electric hovervilles (trump towns, I guess) sound cool though.
They know we don’t have the infrastructure to support it.
Do you mean the power grid can’t support it? Or rather we dont’ have enough chargers?
Because if a car can get charged to full in less than 10 minutes, it wouldn’t cost much to install such chargers at your corner gas station.
And charges way more!?!?
I’d rather spend more for a brand I know will not only last many years, but also won’t explode or fold up like a card table if I get in an accident.
For 22k €I can maybe only get some tiny subcompact hatchback…
And it won’t be that price once it reaches the European dealerships you can be sure of that.
Why do even all these evs always have to look like you have to compensate for a tiny ego with them , I don’t get it …
What does it mean to “compensate for a tiny ego?” Do non-EV-drivers have huge egos?
BYD have many models. The Dolphin is a small hatch, the Seal a mid size sedan.
