Chinese car maker BYD is investigating why its popular Atto 3 electric SUV is having problems charging at many of the newly opened Tesla Supercharging stations around the country.
Last month, Tesla opened up nearly half of its supercharger network to non-Tesla EVs. Since then many non-Tesla owners have taken their EVs to the 30 sites across Australia, mostly without any hiccups.
It now appears that BYD Atto 3 vehicles at several of the faster 250 kW Tesla V3 supercharger sites are unable to initiate a charge. This is sometimes known as a “handshake” issue which occurs when the car can’t communicate with the charger.
It is a major issue because the Atto 3 is the country’s third best selling EV after the Tesla Model Y and Model 3, so could affect a large number of people keen to plug in to the Tesla network.
The latest issue was brought to our attention by David, a reader of The Driven who was unable to charge his Atto 3: “There is a significant issue though, in that BYD Atto 3s will not initiate on the newer V3 (250kW) supercharger stalls.”
Charging at the Colac charger in Victoria didn’t go according to plan, and there were no other public fast chargers in the area.
“I only found out when trying unsuccessfully to charge at Colac in Victoria and then doing some internet research to find out why,” he says. “That area of Victoria has very little in the way of public fast chargers and could cause an issue if one just managed to get to Colac with minimal charge left.”
The next closest charger is a single Tritium unit located in Camperdown, about 45 km away from the Colac Tesla supercharger site.
Other BYD owners also checked into the Plugshare app after visiting the Colac supercharger site, noting that the Tesla app doesn’t detect the BYD Atto 3 vehicle while it’s plugged in: “Unfortunately not suitable for the BYD. Couldn’t detect :(“, one said. Others chimed in on the same day by saying “Atto 3. Tesla app couldn’t detect the car.”
Out of the 30 sites now open to non-Tesla vehicles, 13 are the V2 supercharger sites which the BYD Atto 3 have been reported to charge at without any issues. These include:
- Clare, SA – V2
- Berry, NSW – V2
- Knockrow, NSW – V2
- Bathurst, NSW – V2
- Dubbo, NSW – V2
- Hollydene, NSW – V2
- Narooma, NSW – V2
- Tamworth, NSW – V2
- Gympie, QLD – V2
- Rochedale, QLD – V2
- Toowoomba, QLD – V2
- Bendigo, VIC – V2
The remaining 17 sites are the V3 Supercharger sites which BYD owners may have trouble with until a fix is found. Those are:
- Tuggeranong, ACT – V3
- Tailem Bend, SA – V3
- Mount Gambier, SA – V3
- Blaxland, NSW – V3
- Campbelltown, NSW – V3
- Tenterfield, NSW – V3
- Wollongong, NSW – V3
- Box Hill, VIC – V3
- Cann River, VIC – V3
- Colac, VIC – V3
- Geelong, VIC – V3
- Moe, VIC V3
- Mornington, VIC – V3
- Shepparton, VIC – V3
- Warrnambool, VIC – V3
- Margaret River, WA – V3
- Williams, WA – V3
The Driven reached out to BYD’s distributor, EV Direct, who advised that they are aware of the issue and are working with their Sydney-based engineering team to investigate the problem.
Part of the investigation involves conducting tests at the Tesla V3 supercharger sites which are being undertaken this week. Tesla was also contacted but has yet to respond to our inquiry on this issue.
Are you having problems too? Please leave a comment or email us at [email protected]
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.