WHILE electric car sales in the UK have slowed to rush hour speed, there doesn’t seen to be any stopping BYD in their quest to get to the front of the queue.

Their latest all-electric offering, the SEALION 7, is an SUV version of the saloon Seal and is their fourth model to hit the UK in the last couple of years.

No strangers to electric cars – they shifted 4.7 million of them last year – what they’re offering h SEALION 7 is a high performance mid size SUV with an equally impressive fit and finish. No gimmicks like the Atto 3 with its guitar string door pockets but just a beautifully finished and spacious cabin, the like of which you could pay an awful lot more for and maybe not have access to this kind of performance. 

Prices kick off at £46,990 for the entry level rear wheel drive Comfort, the Design AWD is £51,990 and the range topping Excellence AWD is £58,990.

There’s a choice of battery capacities – 82.5kWh, or 91.3kWh, which has a claimed 312 mile range and can change as fast as 230kW.

It’s based on BYD’s e-Platform 3.0 and utilises BYD’s lithium-iron-phosphate Blade batteries. LFP has higher levels of safety and durability compared with conventional lithium-ion batteries, and are also 100 per cent free of cobalt, a material that has raised ethical and environmental concerns in the mining industry.

The technology is very space efficient, with cells installed directly into the pack. This allows more cells to be squeezed into the same area than with a conventional battery construction, resulting in a slim pack that helps BYD’s engineers and designers to optimise the SEALION 7’s cabin space.

With a 4.5 second 0-62mph time, and a top speed of 133 mph the performance is highly impressive and achieved without any hint of extraneous noise.

The electric motor produces 308bhp and 280 lb/ft of torque. It’s the single motor in the rear-wheel-drive Comfort version and in the Design AWD and Excellence AWD editions, it’s joined by a further 214bhp unit on the front axle, delivering all-wheel drive and a combined output of 509 lb/ft of torque and 523bhp.

It’s easy to get comfortable. The steering wheel has four-way adjustment and the driver’s seat  – leather for the top spec Excellence, vegan leather in the others – is electrically adjustable in eight directions, as well as featuring ventilation and heating as standard.

The interior is dominated by the enormous 15.6 inch rotating touchscreen. It runs a new generation of software, and there’s a permanent bar at the bottom with shortcuts and basic climate controls.

Directional stability – when you when you accelerate a bit more through a corner – feels pretty solid in this AWD version, even though there’s a softness to the suspension.
So, how to drive an electric car? You put it in drive, press the right pedal to go faster and the left one to go slower. The right one’s more fun….

BYD SEALION 7 Excellence

Price: £58,990
Engine: 91.3kWh electric
Power: 523bhp
Torque: 509 lb/ft
Transmission: single speed
Top speed: 133mph
0-62mph: 4.5 seconds
Range: 312 miles
Emissions: 0 g/km

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