BYD offers 1 year free DC fast charging to help boost EV sales

Chinese car giant BYD will be giving owners one year’s free charging with the purchase of most of its electric models, according to the latest incentives to help boost sales.

The offer is revealed in an email to its local subscribers, and in recognition of its 30 years in the industry, and is only applicable for a limited time, and for limited amounts of charging.

It includes purchases of new and demo versions of all models, except for the BYD Sealion 7, which was only launched last month. Eligible models include the Atto 3, Dolphin, Seal, Sealion 6 and the Shark 6 plug in hybrid ute.

These must be purchased between 13-15 March and be delivered by 31 May 2025 to qualify for free charging.

The 1-year free charging offer is with chargers found on the Chargefox network, but it is capped at 330 kWh, enough for around 4-6 battery cycles depending on the size of the battery.

At around $0.65/kWh for fast charging at decent DC chargers, it’d equate to around $215 of value to new buyers.

The fine print also notes that NRMA’s charging network sites, which may appear on Chargefox network,  are excluded from the offer.

In recent months, incentives from Tesla have also been given on certain in stock vehicles. Most recently it included 5,000 km of supercharging credit to help boost sales.

These applied to stocked Model 3 RWD and Model Y Long Range vehicles.

BYD has had a fairly good start to the year with its PHEV models such as the Sealion 6 and the Shark 6 ute, performing well by selling over 3,000 units in the first two months.

Its EV models, which performed quite well in recent years has seen a slowdown in sales in recent months.  Various readers of The Driven have reported that some the company’s EV models have a wait time of around 6-8 weeks from the date or order, hinting at more of a supply constraint on some models in its lineup.

These will likely be alleviated in the coming months as port delay backlog clears up.