BYD delivers first electric Tang SUV with blade battery to customer in Norway

Chinese electric car and battery maker BYD has delivered Norway’s first all-electric BYD Tang SUV to a customer in the country’s capital of Oslo, the first of 100 to arrive in Norway, which come equipped with the company’s Blade lithium iron phosphate electric vehicle (EV) battery.

BYD announced back in May of 2020 that it would enter the European market, starting by bringing its electric Tang SUV to the EV-friendly Scandinavian country of Norway – a promise which it reaffirmed in the middle of 2020by officially launching the Tang to Norway.

The Tang SUV boasts an all-electric range of 528-kilometres (WLTP City) and 400-kilometres (WLTP combined), acceleration of 0-100km/h in 4.6 seconds and a spacious 1,655L interior.

Designed by internationally renowned designer Wolfgang Egger, the Tang SUV comes equipped with a 12.8-inch rotatable touch screen, Dirac Live function with 12 loudspeakers, 31-colour ambient lighting, premium ventilated leather seats with heating and position memory, and wireless phone charging capability.

Maybe most importantly, however, the Tang SUV arrives in Norway with BYD’s revolutionary 86.4kWh Blade Battery, a lithium iron phosphate EV battery that charges from 30% to 80% in only 30 minutes using a DC power output of 110kW.

Unveiled in March of 2020, the BYD Blade Battery was designed “to resolve issues in battery safety while also redefining safety standards for the entire industry,” according to the company’s March 2020 announcement.

The “ultra-safe” Blade Battery arranges singular cells together in an array and then inserts them into a battery pack, creating a highly efficient utilisation of space as compared to other lithium iron phosphate block batteries.

The Blade Battery’s ultra-safe bona fides are proven in nail penetration tests, which BYD claim saw the Blade Battery emit neither smoke nor fire, and its surface temperature only reached 30°C to 60°C.

As a comparison, BYD explained last year that “a ternary lithium battery exceeded 500°C and violently burned, and while a conventional lithium iron phosphate block battery did not openly emit flames or smoke, its surface temperature reached dangerous temperatures of 200 to 400°C.”

Norway’s first BYD Tang was delivered last week to one Per Lian and is the first of 100 Tang units to arrive in Norway. Priced at NOK599,900 – which converts to around $A93,000 – BYD, through its local distributor, hopes to deliver 1,500 units of the pure-electric BYD Tang SUV to Norway by the end of 2021.

“What better place to begin our European dream than Norway – a market that has adopted electric vehicles like no other. BYD, like the Norwegian people, believes in a future with reduced CO₂ emissions and better air quality for everyone,” said Isbrand Ho, BYD Europe Managing Director.