For almost twenty years, BYD has been producing cars, although before that it specialized in lithium batteries. Electric vehicles are now, for obvious reasons, a strategic direction for her development, and the Seal model on the new platform demonstrates the use of the current principle of integrating the traction battery into the power structure of the body. Orders for the car have already begun at a price of $32,000.

Image Source: Weibo, BYD Auto

As noted by Electrek , this is the first model for BYD that implies a similar layout of the traction battery. Tesla is just about to introduce such a body structure at a plant opened in Germany, although progress in this sense is moving faster on a new assembly line in Texas. In the case of BYD, it is claimed that due to the new layout it is possible to increase the efficiency of using volume by 66%, and the torsional rigidity of the body is doubled, which has a positive effect on the handling of the car. Safety in a frontal collision is increased by 50%, the manufacturer even claims that a traction battery of this design has a high chance of surviving most road incidents.

Image Source: Weibo, BYD Auto

Unlike Tesla, which uses cylindrical lithium batteries, BYD uses its own plate batteries. The capacity of the traction battery of the Seal electric vehicle varies from 61 to 83 kWh, and the cruising range in the CLTC conditional cycle is from 550 to 700 km for rear-wheel drive versions. Standing apart is the all-wheel drive version with a power reserve of more than 650 km, which will be offered for $43,576. There are four configurations in total, three of them are content with rear axle drive. Pre-orders for the novelty are already being accepted, at first it will be supplied only to the domestic market of China.