Last November, BYD officially unveiled one of its newest additions to its growing range of all-electric vehicles ā a sleek electric SUV that was based on the Seal sedan but with an SUV body. The car, known as the Sea Lion 7, Ā is slightly bigger than the Tesla Model Y.
Following the unveiling in January, the brand revealed the specs and boosted specs over the Seal sedan, hinting at a possible upgrade to the motors.Ā
This was confirmed earlier this month that the Sea Lion 07 was going to feature BYDās newest e-Platform 3.0 EVO, which supports motors that can reach speeds of 23,000 rpm.
Now, a right-hand-drive (RHD) version of the Sea Lion 7 has been previewed by Autolifethailand (ALT) highlighting the key features of the car.
The ALT team was able to confirm that BYD will be manufacturing it in RHD which is suited for markets like Thailand, Australia, New Zealand and others countries in the region.Ā
Along with that, BYD will likely be taking the car to UK as well where it recently launched the Atto 3, Seal and the Sea Lion 6 PHEV.
With the new platform on the Sea Lion 7, DC fast-charging speeds have also been increased to 240 kW which could be used to charge its 82.5 kWh blade battery pack. This would allow for an NEDC range of up to 600 km on a single charge.
There is also a single motor standard range variant with a 73.5 kWh battery pack that can deliver up to 540 km of NEDC range. This battery can be charged at up to 180 kW which is significantly higher than the Atto 3 which charges at up to 88 kW.
In the local Chinese market, the Sea Lionās price starts with at a price equivalent to $A40,480 for the entry-level single-motor variant and goes all the way up to $A51,150 for the top-spec dual-motor all-wheel-drive variant.
This new SUV will be 4,830 mm in length, which is 80 mm longer than the Model Y. But the rear boot space is considerably smaller than the Model Y, at 500 litres compared to 854 litres.
According to the testing team, the new Sea Lion 7 will be launched in Thailand by the end of 2024. At this stage, no details on local launch are available but more is likely to be announced closer to the end of the year, possibly in line with the Thailand market launch.
RizĀ 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.