Reviewing the BYD Tang EV in Russia — Exclusive

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Howdy! I’m from Russia, my identify 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 12 months, I bought an electrical automobile 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 little bit 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 loads about its autos.

To make my expectations of the automobile 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 automobile 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 automobile fascinated me. From then till this BYD, our household had solely BMWs and Audis — I drove a BMW, my spouse drove an Audi, and generally I took her automobile. 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 automobile nearly new — it was a supplier’s demo automobile — 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 automobile.

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

After the beginning of the conflict in Ukraine, German automobiles grew to become way more costly in Russia. They have been already, to place it mildly, costly, as a result of Russia has excessive import duties on automobiles. Specifically, with BMW, the scenario is even worse: firstly, they’ve turn into way 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 must be imported by means of different international locations. And, most significantly, BMW’s reliability has turn into an issue — this was the case earlier than, and much more so just lately. Apart from, I wished to strive an electrical automobile. 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, but it surely’s simply depressing on the within, and it prices a complete lot of cash — for what?

The Chinese language EVs are way more attention-grabbing. There may be now an actual Cambrian explosion of electrical automobiles, and there’s a price ticket for each style and price range.

I check drove the Zeekr 01 and appreciated it, but it surely’s nonetheless a giant sedan, albeit with a excessive floor clearance in the event you elevate 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. Apart from, it’s too huge, and, most significantly, all Lixiang are hybrids, and I wished a pure electrical automobile.

Then there was the Voyah Free EV. I appreciated the inside design and high quality of supplies. She’s very quick. The air suspension is great. And but, for my part, that is additionally not an SUV, however moderately a metropolis automobile.

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, because the firm started as a producer of batteries for cell telephones. So, these guys know the whole lot they’ll about batteries, and for his or her automobiles, 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 unique method to automobile configurations and choices than the Europeans (e.g., BMW). In actual fact, there are solely 3–4 automobile choices: all-wheel drive or rear-wheel drive, and a hybrid or a pure electrical automobile. I selected the utmost: all-wheel drive (two motors, one on every axle), complete energy of 517 horsepower. The producer claims that this automobile 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. While you press the accelerator on the Tang, you get some type of slight high-pitched extraterrestrial “weeeezzz” sound, and all of the neighboring automobiles turn into small within the rearview mirror.

The Tang has a reasonably stiff suspension (air suspension is, sadly, not accessible in any configuration). The automobile steers sharply and clearly, no worse than a BMW. But it surely takes turns even higher as a result of very low heart of gravity: in spite of everything, the battery is situated below the ground, and it’s heavy.

The cabin may be very spacious. The seat formulation is 2+2+2, which I didn’t actually like at first. I saved desirous to discover a configuration with 2+3 seats, but it surely turned out that for some cause they don’t make it within the all-wheel drive model. Now, I drive with 2+2 seats, and the rear 2 are continuously folded to permit more room within the trunk. There may be a number of house within the cabin, and within the again row the ground is flat as a result of there is no such thing as a transmission below the ground. All seats are heated, ventilated, and have therapeutic massage functionality. The steering wheel can also be heated, which is sweet 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 automobile has a wonderful 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 utility 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 not set up any third-party utility on her model new Audi Q5.

I informed you concerning the dynamics, now concerning the battery and vary. As I stated, the battery in my mannequin is 108 kWh. I dwell about 40 kilometers from 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 expenses 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 principally I cost it at dwelling, at night time, utilizing the AC charging port. I purchased a family charging station for about $400 and plug the automobile into it after about each third journey. There was a slight disappointment right here. After I had simply ordered a automobile 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 automobile to be nearly absolutely charged from 11:00 pm to eight:00 am. On the whole, this battery capability is greater than sufficient for every day journeys, however I haven’t gone on a protracted journey in a Tang but, and I’m unlikely to take action — moderately, we’ll go in my spouse’s Audi Q5 which runs on petrol.

Individuals typically ask what it’s like to make use of an electrical automobile in winter. As you perceive, our winters in Perm are harsh: for every week or two, generally the temperature is under -30°C, like this winter. An EV is far more comfy on this local weather than a diesel or petrol automobile. Half an hour earlier than leaving, by means 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 automobile with my son and simply go about my enterprise. It’s handy that within the metropolis, if it’s chilly, you possibly can merely go away the automobile on. It retains itself heat, with local weather management turned on, and consumes solely about 1 kW.

Talking of kilowatts, that is the fundamental unit of measurement within the “electrical world.” The pc reveals the typical consumption in kilowatt-hours over the past 50 kilometers. My traditional 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 numerous international locations, I’ll say this: Probably the most economical approach to cost a automobile is the best way 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 automobile with a consumption of 1.5 liters per 100 kilometers. Should 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 informed you the whole lot I like concerning the Tang, now I’ll let you know what I don’t like or what’s lacking. The listing will likely be brief. Firstly, there aren’t any door closers. Secondly, all 4 cameras are continuously splashed with grime in wet climate, and it’s important to clear them. I envy Mercedes homeowners whose rear digicam solely pops out from below the symbol when required. And lastly, I’d reassign a number of bodily buttons to different capabilities. It seems that the majority of them are not often used, however capabilities which might be, quite the opposite, typically wanted — for instance, the steering wheel heating — need to be referred to as by means of the display.

In any other case, I’m very happy with the automobile to date. My alternative turned out to be right. I hope that BYD will dwell as much as its popularity for producing dependable, sturdy automobiles and that I can’t need to be an everyday buyer of auto restore retailers, which is what I’m used to when proudly owning a BMW.