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 beginning. It’s situated 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 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 just a little 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 automobiles.

To make my expectations of the automotive 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 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 generally I took her automotive. I at all times selected a BMW with a great, if not top-end, engine as a result of I wish to push the pedal to the steel. From the BMW line, I had the chance to personal the 3er (3 Collection), 7er (7 Collection), and X5 diesel and gasoline, however for the longest time — precisely 10 years — I drove a three-liter diesel all-wheel drive 5er (5 Collection). I bought this automotive virtually new — it was a seller’s demo automotive — with a great low cost. My spouse has been driving an Audi Q5 for the final 15 years, and I contemplate this mannequin to be an virtually excellent automotive.

So, returning to BYD, when selecting a automotive 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. In fact, 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 automotive is supplied inside than the way it seems from the skin.

After the beginning of the struggle in Ukraine, German automobiles turned 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 change into way more costly on the world market; secondly, import duties in Russia remained excessive; thirdly, prices have elevated additional attributable to the truth that BMW now needs to be imported by way of different international locations. And, most significantly, BMW’s reliability has change into an issue — this was the case earlier than, and much more so lately. Moreover, I wished to strive 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 kind of 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 fascinating. There’s now an actual Cambrian explosion of electrical automobiles, and there’s a price ticket for each style and funds.

I check drove the Zeekr 01 and preferred it, but it surely’s nonetheless a giant sedan, albeit with a excessive floor clearance if you happen to 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. Moreover, it’s too huge, 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 moderately a metropolis automotive.

So the selection fell on BYD. As I stated above, it’s now the most important plugin automobile producer on the planet. It isn’t stunning, 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 known as “Blade battery.” I’ve it in my BYD Tang, with a capability of 108 kWh.

The Chinese language have a unique strategy to automotive configurations and choices than the Europeans (e.g., BMW). In reality, 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), complete 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. If you press the accelerator on the Tang, you get some sort 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 automotive steers sharply and clearly, no worse than a BMW. Nevertheless it takes turns even higher because of the very low middle of gravity: in any case, the battery is situated underneath the ground, and it’s heavy.

The cabin could 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, but it surely turned out that for some motive they don’t make it within the all-wheel drive model. Now, I drive with 2+2 seats, and the rear 2 are consistently folded to permit extra space within the trunk. There’s numerous area within the cabin, and within the again row the ground is flat as a result of there isn’t any transmission underneath 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 automotive 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 may put virtually 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 concerning the dynamics, now concerning the battery and vary. As I stated, 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 fees 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 dwelling, at evening, 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. Nonetheless, that is sufficient for the automotive to be virtually totally charged from 11:00 pm to eight:00 am. Basically, this battery capability is greater than sufficient for day by 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 typically 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, 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 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 may merely go away 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 reveals the typical consumption in kilowatt-hours over the past 50 kilometers. My common 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 are not 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: Essentially the most economical solution to cost a automotive 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 automotive with a consumption of 1.5 liters per 100 kilometers. For those who 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 the whole lot I like concerning the Tang, now I’ll let you know what I don’t like or what’s lacking. The checklist will probably be brief. Firstly, there are not any door closers. Secondly, all 4 cameras are consistently splashed with dust in wet climate, and you need to clear them. I envy Mercedes house owners whose rear digicam solely pops out from underneath the logo 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 are, quite the opposite, typically wanted — for instance, the steering wheel heating — should be known as by way of the display.

In any other case, I’m more than happy with the automotive to this point. 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 can’t should be an everyday buyer of auto restore retailers, which is what I’m used to when proudly owning a BMW.