Reviewing the BYD Tang EV in Russia — Unique

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Whats up! I’m from Russia, my identify is Ilya, I’ve lived within the metropolis of Perm since delivery. It’s positioned at latitude 58, virtually the identical as Alaska’s capital, Juneau. Solely, the inhabitants of Juneau is a few 31,000 individuals, and Perm is greater than 1 million individuals.

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 somewhat 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 automobile clearer to you, why I selected this specific 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 typically I took her automobile. I all the time selected a BMW with a great, if not top-end, engine as a result of I prefer to push the pedal to the steel. 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 virtually new — it was a vendor’s demo automobile — with a great low cost. My spouse has been driving an Audi Q5 for the final 15 years, and I think about this mannequin to be an virtually good automobile.

So, returning to BYD, when selecting a automobile to switch the BMW 5er 3.0 d, I needed an SUV, not a sedan, as a result of excessive floor clearance was vital to me. In fact, I needed 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 vital to me how the automobile is provided inside than the way it seems to be from the surface.

After the beginning of the conflict in Ukraine, German automobiles turned rather more costly in Russia. They had 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 change into rather 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 different nations. And, most significantly, BMW’s reliability has change into an issue — this was the case earlier than, and much more so lately. Apart from, I needed to attempt an electrical automobile. And never a hybrid, however a purely electrical one.

This put me on the first fork within the highway: both Tesla or Chinese language. Tesla was a “no-go,” for a lot of causes: their solely mannequin which might kind of 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 rather more fascinating. There’s 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, nevertheless it’s nonetheless an enormous sedan, albeit with a excessive floor clearance when 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 large, and, most significantly, all Lixiang are hybrids, and I needed 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, in my view, that is additionally not an SUV, however moderately a metropolis automobile.

So the selection fell on BYD. As I mentioned above, it’s now the biggest 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 all the pieces they will about batteries, and for his or her automobiles, after all, they make them themselves. Their signature product is the so known as “Blade battery.” I’ve it in my BYD Tang, with a capability of 108 kWh.

The Chinese language have a special strategy 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), whole 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 consider it. It’s considerably quicker 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 automobiles change into small within the rearview mirror.

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

The cabin may be very spacious. The seat components is 2+2+2, which I didn’t actually like at first. I stored eager to discover a configuration with 2+3 seats, nevertheless it 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 continually folded to permit extra space within the trunk. There’s plenty of area within the cabin, and within the again row the ground is flat as a result of there isn’t any transmission below the ground. All seats are heated, ventilated, and have therapeutic massage functionality. The steering wheel can be heated, which is sweet in our local weather. The inside supplies are wonderful and nice to the contact. The visibility from the motive force’s seat is great, plus there are cameras in all 4 instructions.

 

The automobile has a superb hi-fi audio, a big display for navigation, and built-in functions. It’s nice that this pill runs common Android, so you may put virtually 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’t set up any third-party utility on her model new Audi Q5.

I instructed you concerning the dynamics, now concerning the battery and vary. As I mentioned, the battery in my mannequin is 108 kWh. I stay 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 totally in about an hour. We solely have a number of of those chargers in our metropolis, and I had to make use of them a few occasions. However principally I cost it at house, at evening, 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. Once 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 virtually totally charged from 11:00 pm to eight:00 am. Normally, this battery capability is greater than sufficient for each 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.

Folks usually ask what it’s like to make use of an electrical automobile in winter. As you perceive, our winters in Perm are harsh: for per week or two, typically the temperature is under -30°C, like this winter. An EV is far more snug on this local weather than a diesel or petrol automobile. Half an hour earlier than leaving, by 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 may merely depart 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 essential unit of measurement within the “electrical world.” The pc reveals the common consumption in kilowatt-hours during the last 50 kilometers. My typical 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 nations, I’ll say this: Essentially the most economical option to cost a automobile is the way in which I do it — in a rustic home, at evening (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. 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 all the pieces I like concerning the Tang, now I’ll let you know what I don’t like or what’s lacking. The record will probably be brief. Firstly, there aren’t any door closers. Secondly, all 4 cameras are continually splashed with dust in wet climate, and you must clear them. I envy Mercedes house owners whose rear digital camera solely pops out from below the symbol when required. And lastly, I’d reassign a number of bodily buttons to different features. It seems that the majority of them are not often used, however features which can be, quite the opposite, usually wanted — for instance, the steering wheel heating — should be known as by the display.

In any other case, I’m more than happy with the automobile thus far. My selection turned out to be right. I hope that BYD will stay as much as its repute for producing dependable, sturdy automobiles and that I cannot should be an everyday buyer of auto restore outlets, which is what I’m used to when proudly owning a BMW.