Reviewing the BYD Tang EV in Russia — Unique

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Hey! I’m from Russia, my title is Ilya, I’ve lived within the metropolis of Perm since delivery. It’s situated at latitude 58, nearly the identical as Alaska’s capital, Juneau. Solely, the inhabitants of Juneau is a few 31,000 folks, and Perm is greater than 1 million folks.

On the finish of final yr, I bought an electrical automotive from the Chinese language model BYD, a 2023 BYD Tang EV, and I wish to let you know about my expertise utilizing it. Now on my odometer it’s a bit of greater than 6,000 kilometers. ​BYD dethroned Tesla because the world’s largest plugin automobile maker in 2022, however many individuals in Europe and the US nonetheless don’t know so much about its autos.

To make my expectations of the automotive clearer to you, why I selected this explicit mannequin, and what I’m evaluating it with, I’ll briefly inform my story as a motorist. I’m a fan of two German manufacturers, BMW and Audi. The primary automotive I owned was a Russian Lada, a household saloon, however then the chance arose to buy an Audi A6 with a 2.5 liter engine. This automotive fascinated me. From then till this BYD, our household had solely BMWs and Audis — I drove a BMW, my spouse drove an Audi, and typically I took her automotive. I all the time selected a BMW with a great, if not top-end, engine as a result of I wish to push the pedal to the metallic. From the BMW line, I had the chance to personal the 3er (3 Sequence), 7er (7 Sequence), and X5 diesel and gasoline, however for the longest time — precisely 10 years — I drove a three-liter diesel all-wheel drive 5er (5 Sequence). I bought this automotive nearly new — it was a vendor’s demo automotive — with a great low cost. My spouse has been driving an Audi Q5 for the final 15 years, and I take into account this mannequin to be an nearly excellent automotive.

So, returning to BYD, when selecting a automotive to switch the BMW 5er 3.0 d, I wished an SUV, not a sedan, as a result of excessive floor clearance was essential to me. After all, I wished one thing with all-wheel drive, as a result of we’ve got winter and snow for six months in Perm. Additionally, I’m used to consolation — it’s extra essential to me how the automotive is supplied inside than the way it seems to be from the surface.

After the beginning of the struggle in Ukraine, German vehicles grew to become far more costly in Russia. They had been already, to place it mildly, costly, as a result of Russia has excessive import duties on vehicles. Particularly, with BMW, the state of affairs is even worse: firstly, they’ve grow to be far more costly on the world market; secondly, import duties in Russia remained excessive; thirdly, prices have elevated additional as a consequence of the truth that BMW now needs to be imported by way of different international locations. And, most significantly, BMW’s reliability has grow to be an issue — this was the case earlier than, and much more so not too long ago. Moreover, I wished to attempt an electrical automotive. And never a hybrid, however a purely electrical one.

This put me on the first fork within the street: both Tesla or Chinese language. Tesla was a “no-go,” for a lot of causes: their solely mannequin which might roughly match the definition of an SUV is the Mannequin X, nevertheless it’s simply depressing on the within, and it prices an entire lot of cash — for what?

The Chinese language EVs are far more fascinating. There may be now an actual Cambrian explosion of electrical vehicles, and there’s a price ticket for each style and finances.

I check drove the Zeekr 01 and preferred it, nevertheless it’s nonetheless a giant sedan, albeit with a excessive floor clearance in case you increase the air suspension to most. However nonetheless, this isn’t an SUV.

Subsequent, I examined the Lixiang L9. Though the standard of the supplies is great, it didn’t impress me with the inside design. Moreover, it’s too massive, and, most significantly, all Lixiang are hybrids, and I wished a pure electrical automotive.

Then there was the Voyah Free EV. I preferred the inside design and high quality of supplies. She’s very quick. The air suspension is great. And but, in my view, that is additionally not an SUV, however reasonably a metropolis automotive.

So the selection fell on BYD. As I stated above, it’s now the most important plugin automobile producer on the earth. It isn’t shocking, for the reason that firm started as a producer of batteries for cell telephones. So, these guys know every part they will about batteries, and for his or her vehicles, after all, they make them themselves. Their signature product is the so referred to as “Blade battery.” I’ve it in my BYD Tang, with a capability of 108 kWh.

The Chinese language have a distinct strategy to automotive configurations and choices than the Europeans (e.g., BMW). In actual fact, there are solely 3–4 automotive choices: all-wheel drive or rear-wheel drive, and a hybrid or a pure electrical automotive. I selected the utmost: all-wheel drive (two motors, one on every axle), whole energy of 517 horsepower. The producer claims that this automotive accelerates to 100 km/h in 4.4 seconds. I haven’t tried it, however I imagine it. It’s considerably sooner than my BMW with a three-liter diesel engine. Whenever you press the accelerator on the Tang, you get some type of slight high-pitched extraterrestrial “weeeezzz” sound, and all of the neighboring vehicles grow to be small within the rearview mirror.

The Tang has a reasonably stiff suspension (air suspension is, sadly, not out there in any configuration). The automotive steers sharply and clearly, no worse than a BMW. Nevertheless it takes turns even higher as a result of very low middle of gravity: in spite of everything, the battery is situated beneath the ground, and it’s heavy.

The cabin could be very spacious. The seat method is 2+2+2, which I didn’t actually like at first. I stored desirous to discover a configuration with 2+3 seats, nevertheless it turned out that for some purpose they don’t make it within the all-wheel drive model. Now, I drive with 2+2 seats, and the rear 2 are always folded to permit extra space within the trunk. There may be a whole lot of area within the cabin, and within the again row the ground is flat as a result of there isn’t a transmission beneath the ground. All seats are heated, ventilated, and have therapeutic massage functionality. The steering wheel can also be heated, which is good in our local weather. The inside supplies are wonderful and nice to the contact. The visibility from the driving force’s seat is great, plus there are cameras in all 4 instructions.

The automotive has a superb hi-fi audio, a big display for navigation, and built-in purposes. It’s nice that this pill runs common Android, so you possibly can put nearly any software you want on it and it’ll work. It’s a very open system, which is totally atypical for auto producers. For instance, my spouse can’t set up any third-party software on her model new Audi Q5.

I instructed you in regards to the dynamics, now in regards to the battery and vary. As I stated, the battery in my mannequin is 108 kWh. I stay about 40 kilometers from the town, and this quantity is sufficient for me for about 4 days of journey there and again. The Tang has a DC quick charging port and fees absolutely in about an hour. We solely have a couple of of those chargers in our metropolis, and I had to make use of them a few occasions. However largely I cost it at residence, at night time, utilizing the AC charging port. I purchased a family charging station for about $400 and plug the automotive into it after about each third journey. There was a slight disappointment right here. After I had simply ordered a automotive and was selecting a charging station, I selected one with an influence of twenty-two kW, 3-phase. It turned out that the Tang can solely cost in a single part with a most energy of seven kW, however in actuality it’s 5.6–6 kW. Nevertheless, that is sufficient for the automotive to be nearly absolutely charged from 11:00 pm to eight:00 am. Basically, this battery capability is greater than sufficient for every day journeys, however I haven’t gone on an extended journey in a Tang but, and I’m unlikely to take action — reasonably, we’ll go in my spouse’s Audi Q5 which runs on petrol.

Folks usually ask what it’s like to make use of an electrical automotive in winter. As you perceive, our winters in Perm are harsh: for every week or two, typically the temperature is beneath -30°C, like this winter. An EV is far more comfy on this local weather than a diesel or petrol automotive. Half an hour earlier than leaving, by way of the window, with out leaving the home, I activate the heating mode through the important thing fob, after which I get into the already heat automotive with my son and simply go about my enterprise. It’s handy that within the metropolis, if it’s chilly, you possibly can merely depart the automotive on. It retains itself heat, with local weather management turned on, and consumes solely about 1 kW.

Talking of kilowatts, that is the essential unit of measurement within the “electrical world.” The pc exhibits the common consumption in kilowatt-hours over the past 50 kilometers. My normal figures are from 25 to 29 kW. Within the metropolis, at low speeds, the Tang consumes a lot lower than on the freeway, the place I don’t deny myself something and drive in areas the place there aren’t any cameras, at a velocity of 140–150 km/h.

To know the price of journey with out changing rubles into {dollars} and with out evaluating the price of gasoline and electrical energy in several international locations, I’ll say this: Probably the most economical strategy to cost a automotive is the way in which I do it — in a rustic home, at night time (from 11:00 p.m. to 7:00 a.m.). It seems that with such a cost, driving 100 kilometers prices me the identical cash as if I had a gasoline automotive with a consumption of 1.5 liters per 100 kilometers. In case you cost at quick metropolis chargers, all of the financial savings disappear and also you get the equal of 9 liters of gasoline per 100 kilometers.

I’ve instructed you every part I like in regards to the Tang, now I’ll let you know what I don’t like or what’s lacking. The checklist will likely be brief. Firstly, there aren’t any door closers. Secondly, all 4 cameras are always splashed with dust in wet climate, and you must clear them. I envy Mercedes homeowners whose rear digicam solely pops out from beneath the symbol when required. And lastly, I might reassign a number of bodily buttons to different features. It seems that the majority of them are not often used, however features which are, quite the opposite, usually wanted — for instance, the steering wheel heating — must be referred to as by way of the display.

In any other case, I’m very happy with the automotive up to now. My alternative turned out to be right. I hope that BYD will stay as much as its fame for producing dependable, sturdy vehicles and that I can’t must be a daily buyer of auto restore outlets, which is what I’m used to when proudly owning a BMW.