It’s no secret that China’s BYD has quickly made a name for itself as it expands into Europe. First came the small Dolphin hatchback and the Atto 3 compact SUV, with both aiming to undercut rivals in a way Korean brands like Kia and Hyundai managed with great success a decade or so earlier.
Now though—and just as the Koreans have, too—BYD wants to head upmarket. It intends to do so with the Seal, an electric four-door sedan priced from around €45,000 in Europe and £45,000 in the UK.
It’s a sleek-looking thing—not at all as blubbery as you might expect—with a recognizable face and a general aesthetic that suggests BYD is ready for a battle with European brands in terms of design and quality, as well as price.
The Seal range begins with a single-motor, rear-wheel-drive model producing a plentiful 312 horsepower. This is joined by the range-topping Seal Excellence AWD, which has two motors and a combined output of 530 horsepower. It’s properly quick, and BYD isn’t afraid to brag about it. The car’s 0-60 mph time is advertised with a “3.8” badge on the rear. At least it doesn’t say “Build Your Dreams” in chrome letters across the back anymore.
We’ve mentioned European rivals for the Seal, but really it’s the Tesla Model 3 to which this car poses the biggest threat. And speaking of feeling threatened, Tesla just dropped the price of its smallest car, bringing the Long Range All-Wheel Drive to a nice, round €1,000 below the equivalent BYD Seal, when previously it cost more. Nervous, Elon?
Taking on Tesla Model 3
BYD’s flagship EV saloon has its sights set firmly on besting the Tesla Model 3.
PHOTOGRAPH: BYD
As you may know by now, BYD started off as a producer of batteries for consumer electronics before moving into EVs. In 2010 I got to drive both the F3DM and e6 models. The F3DM was a plug-in hybrid which made headlines by beating the Chevrolet Volt to market, while the e6 found limited experimental use as a taxi in BYD’s base city, Shenzhen. My take at the time was that with both cars the underlying technology worked, even if all the pieces were not in place to create enticing products.
Fast forward to 2022 and the arrival of BYD’s eplatform 3.0. This was first used by the Dolphin, a small city hatchback that’s now available internationally (although BYD hasn’t yet arrived in the US, owing to insurmountable import tariffs). Next came the Atto 3, a small crossover known as the Yuan Plus in its home market, and which WIRED recently drove in the UK.
Although decent in their own right, these cars felt like BYD warming up to the main event. Poised to be its break-out car, the Seal arrived in China in late 2022 and is now available in Europe, as well as in Australia and Brazil, and across Southeast Asia.
A compact, family-size car, the BYD Seal is unapologetically aimed at taking on the Tesla Model 3. That said, it’s bigger than the American in every dimension, most notably in both length (4,800 millimeters versus 4,694 millimeters for the Model 3) and wheelbase (2,920 millimeters versus 2,875 millimeters). The result is a roomier car with interior space similar to that of a vehicle in a class above.
Sleek, and with a Model 3–beating drag coefficient of just 0.219 Cd, the Seal is the production version of the Ocean-X concept from 2021. That concept is where BYD revealed the eplatform 3.0 that underpins all of its current cars.
Better Blades
As we wrote about in our review of the BYD Atto 3, the company’s patented “blade battery” pack design aims to set it apart from other manufacturers. It’s a key component of the Seal’s platform and arranges lithium iron-phosphate (LFP) batteries in a bladelike design.
BYD claims its use of LFP as the cathode material makes for a safer battery than conventional lithium-ion alternatives. It also boasts of improved thermal stability and a higher energy density than its rivals. The Blade design also means that puncture damage to the battery pack in a collision is less likely to cause thermal runaway and the potential for fire, BYD says.
Also featured in the Seal is what BYD claims to be the world’s first 8-in-1 electric powertrain system, with an overall efficiency of 89 percent. This combines the drive motor, inverter, transmission, onboard charger, AC/DC, power distribution unit, vehicle control unit, and battery management system. The platform is also capable of 800-volt charging (like Kia and Hyundai), but while in other EVs this often means the possibility for ultrafast DC charging, the Seal is limited to a middling 150 kW.
There’s also a direct heating and cooling system for the battery, which increases thermal efficiency by up to a claimed 20 percent. BYD also says improved thermal efficiency can mean a 20 percent improvement to range in cold weather, too.
Interestingly, the Seal’s blade battery forms an integral part of the Seal’s eplatform 3.0 architecture and allows for a cell-to-body (CTB) construction, where the battery pack itself is incorporated within the vehicle structure, improving rigidity.
CTB means that the batteries are no longer a dead weight in the car, and now form part of the load-bearing structure, with the top of the battery pack effectively being the floor of the car. This means torsional rigidity can be 40,500 Nm/degree, which is about the level of a luxury car.
Refined Ride
Low-speed ride quality can be a touch lacking, but once up to speed the Seal is fun to drive.
PHOTOGRAPH: BYD
All this translates into good handling with a comfortable, somewhat refined ride at speed. Those fairly conventional but not unattractive looks are somewhat beguiling, since there’s 50/50 weight distribution and double wishbone suspension at the front to give a sporty setup.
WIRED’s test route took us through twisting hill roads in Shenzhen. Low-speed ride quality can be lacking, especially on poor road surfaces, but once up to speed the Seal puts on a good show.
There are two settings for the steering: Sport and Comfort. Whereas Comfort is quite artificial, Sport has a really good feel and weighting to it, giving the driver confidence to really throw the Seal into corners. Add to this a ride that is soft and comfortable, and the Seal feels like it could cover long distances with ease.
There are three drive modes—Eco, Normal, and Sport—which are selectable via a toggle switch on the center console. When in Eco, the Seal is noticeably more restrained, whereas the other two modes are far closer to each other, and both sharpen things up nicely.
Brake regeneration comes in two flavors labeled Standard and Larger, although neither delivers much stopping power and we had to rely on the physical brake far more than we expected on the mountain roads.
We also encountered a strange issue where the car would continue accelerating for a moment after fully lifting off the pedal. This happened only when we pressed hard then quickly lifted our foot fully, but the way the car continued to build speed (and at a fair rate, given the 530 horsepower of our test car) was frankly terrifying the first time it happened. We suspect a bit of pedal calibration is needed to fix this, but it’s nothing compared to Tesla’s pedal woes right now, of course.
BYD’s DiPilot is not as advanced as driver assistance systems from other EV companies like Nio and XPeng, but works reasonably well on highways as an intelligent cruise control with lane-keeping.
BYD claims that the eplatform 3.0 can produce cars with a range exceeding 620 miles, but the Seal in Long Range does 435 miles under China’s very generous CLTC standard (or a more realistic 354 miles using the European WLTP; this falls to 323 miles for the more powerful Excellence AWD).
As is so often the case with today’s EVs, the less expensive, less powerful car with the longer range is the one to go for.
Quality Interior
Aside from the rotating central screen, a quilted seat fabric and a panoramic roof combined with a tasteful color palette of soft blues and whites add a touch of luxury to the Seal’s cabin.
PHOTOGRAPH: BYD
Arguably the most palpable improvement in the 14 years since I drove my first BYD is in interior quality. The Seal has a thoroughly modern, well-thought-out cabin finished with mostly good-quality materials.
As on the Atto 3 there is a rotating center screen, this time measuring 15.6 inches. Most functions are controlled through this screen, and there is also a voice assistant. In addition, there is a 10.25-inch instrument display, while the Long Range also gains a head-up display.
The infotainment system can seem perplexing at first, with its user interface more closely resembling an Android tablet than a car designed to be controlled while looking at the road. Some icons are small, making them tricky to press while on the move. The climate control menu is not permanently displayed at the foot of the screen, as we think it should be on all cars that opt against the even more logical inclusion of physical switchgear.
There’s a drive display behind the steering wheel for showing speed, power, drive mode, and battery status. But again, we think the UI needs work. It looks too much like a computer interface, complete with colorful wallpaper, instead of something simpler and more legible.
That said, we are thankful for BYD’s use of traditional turn signal and wiper stalks, unlike Tesla, and the inclusion of physical controls for media volume and cruise control is also welcome.
Also, the interior is light thanks to not only the car’s huge panoramic roof, but also the tasteful color palette of soft blues and whites across the upholstery. The Seal’s touch points feel well made, and the quilting of the seat fabric adds a bit of luxury, as does the suedelike material of the doors.
In the back there is plenty of legroom, and only the tallest of passengers will complain about headroom. There are 320 liters of trunk space, including a secret compartment in the floor, and there is also a 53-liter frunk for charge cable storage.
Your general view of seals might depend on whether you’ve seen them on land or sea. If it helps at all, view things this way: BYD’s intended Tesla 3 killer is not your lumbering mammal on the beach, but the fast and agile fisher. Not only does it drive well, but it’s a well-thought-out car that should be easy to live with.
Regardless of whether Elon cuts the prices of his Teslas to compete or not, BYD is coming for the global EV crown, and is already outselling Musk. This saloon is here to seal the deal.
