• Efficiency is impressive
• Battery range is among the best
• Quick charging, but Hyundai and Tesla are quicker

How much is it going to cost to run?

As with all EVs, how much the Seal costs you to run depends on where you charge it, and what electricity tariff you run at home. Public rapid charging for electric cars can be expensive, especially if you don’t have an up-front subscription. So if you’re going to maximise the advantages of an EV, you’re going to need a home charger.

Both variants use a large-capacity 82kWh battery, and a lower-powered 61kWh Comfort model will join the range – full details of that are to be confirmed.

Range and charging

BYD claims a maximum range of 354 miles for the Design and 323 for the Excellence. Those are WLTP figures, and based on our own experience, that should equate to 240-260 UK motorway miles. Extending that number will involve slower A-road and urban driving.

That sits nicely in the middle of its rivals – a Tesla Model 3 will go further in Long Range configuration, a Hyundai Ioniq 6 maxes out at a claimed 338 miles. Considering how compact the Seal’s battery pack is, that’s a very impressive achievement.

Maximum charge rate is 150kW from an ultra-rapid charger, and if you’re topping up at home it will draw up to 11kW from a three-phase supply. This won’t trouble the super-fast Ioniq 6’s charge rate, but it is more than fast enough for the UK charging network.

Servicing and warranty

The BYD Seal comes with a six-year 93,000-mile warranty, which is good, but lags behind MG and Kia’s seven-year deals. And that’s not taking into account of the 10-year Relax offering from Toyota. The car’s LFP ‘Blade’ battery gets its own warranty – eight years and 124,000 miles.

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