BYD showroom launched, 2 Seal variants to hit roads in May
BYD Seal rear-wheel drive is likely to be priced at Tk1.0-1.1 crore, while the four-wheel drive variant will cost 30-40% more
BYD, a leading electric vehicle manufacturer, celebrated the grand opening of its first Bangladeshi showroom in Dhaka's Tejgaon on Saturday.
Two variants of its premium sedan, BYD Seal, were unveiled before visitors, and after weeks of market response observation and pre-booking, the cars will hit the roads in May, said officials of CG Runner Bangladesh Ltd, the national distributor of BYD EVs.
The company, a joint venture of the Bangladeshi Runner Group and the Nepalese Chaudhary Group, did not announce the price of the units.
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Two BYD Bangladesh officials, however, told TBS BYD Seal's rear wheel drive variant that runs 570km per full charge would be priced between Tk1 crore and Tk1.1 crore.
The performance variant of the BYD Seal, which is a four-wheel-drive car with a mileage of 520km per charge, would be priced 30-40% higher, they added, citing the recent price announcement in Nepal.
BYD Seal is expected to be launched in the Indian market this week.
The BYD Seal showcases a distinctive "Ocean Aesthetics" design and seamlessly integrates a suite of state-of-the-art technologies developed by BYD, including their e-platform 3.0, innovative CTB (cell-to-body) technology, blade battery, and iTAC (intelligent torture adaptation control). It comes with a slanted roofline, a panoramic glass roof, a short rear deck, waterdrop mirrors, a wave waistline, and LED lights.
Prime Minister's Private Industries and Investment Adviser Salman F Rahman said, "The government wants to achieve a target of 30% adoption of electric vehicles in the country by 2030 and materialise the Smart Bangladesh vision by 2041.
"For both of these things to happen, it's important that electric vehicles are made available in the country so that people can make smart choices by buying EVs in great numbers. For this reason, I welcome BYD's move to open its first showroom in the country."
Bangladesh's government has a vision to phase out traditional fossil fuel-powered cars and introduce electric vehicles instead to tackle carbon emissions. But the delayed start through supportive policies caused a slower adoption of electric vehicles, which is still in the early phase.
With less than 100 EVs bought by early adopters, charging stations are yet to offer a nationwide network, as there are only three EV charging stations in the country, and each is in the capital.
However, the most active EV players in the country till date have been looking for third party charging network owners to cover all the regions of Bangladesh.
Ten stations – eight in the capital, one in Cumilla, and another one in Chattogram – are set to start in June, while 30 more are expected by December.
The commercial stations would charge all the branded electric car batteries in 45 minutes for some Tk1,500-1,800, while home charging would take 6-7 hours and an electricity bill of less than Tk1000, according to EV marketers.
China's top new energy passenger vehicle maker, BYD, active in manufacturing in 30 countries to cover 70 markets, took over Tesla as the world's top selling EV brand last year.
In the last three months of 2023, BYD sold 5.26 lakh battery-only cars globally, beating Tesla for the first time, which sold 4.84 lakh cars in the same quarter.
