BYD Seal long-term test
Can a brand that's relatively new to the UK show established names a thing or two in the highly competitive executive car class? We're finding out...
The car BYD Seal 390kW Excellence AWD Run by Steve Huntingford, editor
Why it's here To see if BYD's flagship electric car is a worthy alternative to the Tesla Model 3 and prestige German saloons
Needs to Combine comfort and refinement with cutting-edge tech and a good real-world range
Mileage 6034 List price £48,695 Target Price £44,690 Price as tested £49,571 Test range 250 miles Official range 323 miles
4 December 2024 – Finding solutions
At its maximum charging rate of 150kW, getting the battery of my BYD Seal from 10-80% takes 38 minutes. But at the speeds most UK ‘rapid’ chargers are capable of delivering electricity, I’ve found that being parked up for around an hour is more typical. And you know what: as long as I was expecting to have to stop, I’m fine with that.
After all, I can always read a book or catch up with work on my laptop while I wait. Plus, the Seal is a pleasant place to spend the time, thanks to comfortable seats, a spacious interior and the fact that you can still run the climate control while it’s charging.
At least, that’s the way I feel now. However, when I first took delivery of the car, the experience was far less pleasant, because every 10 minutes or so, the alarm would go off. What’s more, resetting it required me to plip the door locks, which ended the charge and forced me to go through the whole connection rigmarole again.
As you can imagine, doing that half a dozen times per top-up was seriously irritating. And, initially, the only solution I could find was to sit with the door ajar – far from ideal, both in terms of security and staying warm. But then a message flashed up on the infotainment touchscreen asking me if I’d like to disable the ‘child presence sensor’.
I’m pleased to report that this has solved the problem. And while it does mean that I won't get a reminder if I forget my daughter is in the back of the car, I'm pretty sure I can be trusted to not do that.
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