BYD Atto 3 was the third most-delivered Australian EV in September. It had nearly 200 units delivered in the first whole month of deliveries.
A 5-star ANCAP rating now backs this affordable ground-up EV but for New Zealand to begin with and Australia soon to follow. This comes after receiving the highest possible 5-star Euro NCAP rating earlier this week.
ANCAP chief Carla Hoorweg reiterated the significance of the safety rating for those looking to make the switch to an EV.
“This five-star ANCAP safety rating for the BYD ATTO 3 will no doubt come as welcome news to New Zealand buyers looking for a safe and green choice within its price-point”
The Australian rating is nearly here too with ANCAP working closely with BYD in Australia to ensure they get there:
“ANCAP is working with BYD to finalise the applicability of a rating for Australian-specified models.”
The Driven test drove the BYD Atto 3 in August and found its active safety system to be quite good while on highways and city streets. This is now backed by a score of 91 for adult protection and 80 for Safety Assist systems.
With a 5-star rating from two safety assessment agencies, it’s only a matter of time that Australian-delivered vehicles will get the same approval from ANCAP.
This is also the right step towards helping fleets electrify who currently are running combustion hybrids or straight ICE vehicles which are contributing to transport emissions in Australia. Cars such as the Toyota Camry and the Hyundai i30 are quite common in these fleets and the longer they remain on the road, the more emissions they contribute.
Fleets have a big role to play in decarbonising transport in Australia and affordable EVs like the BYD Atto 3 and MG ZS EV are the right step towards that.
Riz is the founder of carloop based in Melbourne, specialising in Australian EV data, insight reports and trends. He is a mechanical engineer who spent the first 7 years of his career building transport infrastructure before starting carloop. He has a passion for cars, particularly EVs and wants to help reduce transport emissions in Australia. He currently drives a red Tesla Model 3.