Earlier this month, BYD launched a new off-road model under its Fang Cheng Bao brand, calling it the Tai 3. This car is also the company’s first fully electric model aimed at the family adventure SUV market.
Now, the brand has already started deliveries of this unique model across multiple parts of China, with some customers even opting for the roof-mounted drone package, which can be optioned with the car.
On Weibo, BYD shared a post highlighting this milestone with the translated post saying: “Tai 3 was delivered as soon as it was launched and is selling well nationwide”.
The company also shared in the same post that the off-roading sub-brand’s General Manager delivered the first batch of the Tai 3 to customers.
The new model has prices starting at the equivalent of $A30,500 and comes equipped with BYD’s lithium iron phosphate (LFP) blade batteries with 72.9 and 78.7 kWh capacities.
The higher capacity pack is found in the special edition variant with the roof-mounted drone carrier system, and both models come with 501 km of CLTC range, which is likely to be closer to 420 km on the WLTP cycle that is more commonly used in Australia.
On the charging speeds front, this model can achieve an impressive 237 kW at the right charger, allowing the car to charge from 30-80% in just 18 minutes.
When it comes to the Tai 3’s powertrain, the dual-motor variant can deliver up to 310 kW of power, which can help get the car to 100 km/h from a standstill in just 4.9 seconds.
Styling-wise, the Tai 3 has a slightly curved off-roader type of look. Its unibody design underpinnings are closer to a typical family SUV instead of the body-on-frame design used by most serious off-roaders.
There is also a fairly spacious frunk with power opening and closing, not seen in many EVs on the market.
This makes it quite appealing for many who would use it for daily drives and navigating occasional off-road terrains.
The Tai 3 also has a unique feature that brings a DJI drone platform that can be roof-mounted for ease of use. With this package, the car acts like a home base for the drone camera, which can be used to help navigate off-road terrain or be used for capturing aerial photos or videos.
The new Tai 3 has a much lower starting price than that expected from an off-road like electric vehicle, making it very appealing to customers looking for a family SUV that offers rugged looks and off-road capabilities.
The deliveries of the latest electric model is quite an achievement by the brand, which has established a strong name in affordable passenger new energy vehicles (NEV) in recent years. These have ranged from city hatchbacks to family SUVS.
BYD established its Fang Cheng Bao brand in June 2023, focusing on off-roading vehicles. The first two models are mid and large off-roading SUVs driven by a plug-in-hybrid electric vehicle (PHEV) drivetrain.
The Tai 3 is the first fully electric model and brings features to the market not yet seen in many other full EV models, and with deliveries starting in China, it’s only a matter of time before we see the model in international markets, given the company’s aggressive global expansion ambitions.
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.