2023-12-27 16:25:00
We have asked ourselves the question many times: how do the Chinese manage to offer accessible electric vehicles, now with great autonomy, without cutting corners on many criteria? We have some of the answers.
The BYD Song L has a great price© BYD
But the launch of the very recent BYD Song L makes us once once more wonder how it is that in a now very developed market like China, a modern electric vehicle, designed by an automobile giant, can be priced at less than €25,000 when the same car is or will be sold for double that with us. Obviously, the average salary in China, the monopoly on raw materials and government subsidies partly explain these differences. But that doesn’t justify everything either.
What is China’s recipe for crushing the electric car market?
A large electric Scénic at the price of a hybrid Duster
To give you an idea of the selling price of this BYD Song L, imagine a Renault Scénic with the large 87 kWh battery sold for the price of a new generation Dacia Duster hybrid, assuming that its prices will be slightly above 25,000 €. The first prize of the Song L is €24,000, but the model which has received the largest number of orders so far is made up of Excellence versions (€28,900) with a range of 662 km. But be careful: the Chinese CLTC approval cycle is much more lax than ours. In our country, this model would suffer a drop of around 20% in its autonomy when switching to the WLTP cycle. The autonomy is not extraordinary given the capacity of the batteries. But this might be explained by the size of the crossover and its weight, more than two tonnes on the tall versions.
Hopefully the chassis tuning will be better than that of the Atto 3© BYD
Still, at this price, the customer benefits from a cell-to-pack battery (integrated into the structure of the car) with two capacity levels: 71.8 and 87 kWh. Powers range from 204 to 517 hp in rear-wheel drive or four-wheel drive. The Song L is not a ballerina since the crossover claims 4.84 meters in length. Be aware, however, that the most expensive variant costs around €35,000 in China!
BYD soon in Europe
The presentation is rather flattering, in appearance…
With this product, BYD intends to hurt Tesla a little more in China with serious competition to the Model Y which does not have 800V batteries. Tesla continues to use 400V batteries which offer less energy efficiency and charging power. The other target of the BYD Song L will be the Zeekr 001, with similar characteristics.
The question now is whether such an SUV can be sold in Europe. We don’t have the answer yet since BYD has only just started marketing it in China. But BYD also confirmed the construction of its very first factory in Europe, in Hungary. This should eventually allow it to offer electric vehicles with bonuses… if it still exists at that time. But above all to have a network of spare parts and faster deliveries. Without a European factory, it seems very complicated to really establish itself on the Old Continent.
Compare the real ranges of the best electric cars according to our standardized measurement cycle. Battery capacity, consumption, autonomy, we tell you everything!
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