Booming electric car maker BYD is preparing a fresh assault on a new market segment.
The Chinese brand has taken the covers off the new E-Vali electric van in Europe, which will compete against the Ford e-Transit and the LDV eDeliver 9.
In Australia BYD has so far focused on passenger cars with its all-electric Atto 3 SUV, Dolphin hatchback and Seal sedan and has just launched its plug-in hybrid Sealion 6 mid-size SUV.
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It is also preparing to launch the Shark plug-in hybrid dual-cab ute later this year.
The E-Vali has been designed for the European market where vans are king, but BYD's rapidly growing range and high demand for electric options in government and company fleets Down Under could prompt the van to arrive here sooner rather than later.
If you dive into the details, the E-Vali appears to be best suited for short urban deliveries and commutes rather than inter-city commuting.
The E-Vali features BYD’s Lithium-iron phosphate battery (LFP), dubbed 'Blade Battery' in BYD speak.
It’s a derivative of the lithium-ion battery but does away with rare metals such as nickel and cobalt, which makes it cheaper to build. The trade-off is it is less energy dense than conventional batteries but is also less prone to fires.
The E-Vali’s circa-80kWh battery only provides a driving range of between 220-250km via the WLTP test cycle.
Its top speed is limited to just 90km/h in rear-wheel drive layouts and rises to 120km/h in all-wheel drive versions.
Single motor variants make do with 150kW and all-wheel drive examples add a 100kW motor on the front axle.
Payload varies between 700 and 1450kg.
The electric van market is starting to grow in Australia with the recent launch of Ford’s eTransit and LDV’s large eDeliver 9 and mid-size eDeliver 7. Peugeot and Renault also have electric versions of the Partner and Kangoo small vans. Ford is preparing the mid-size eTransit Custom, too.
BYD is the second biggest seller of electric cars in Australia with more than 11,000 vehicles sold through the first eight months of this year but it is still a long way behind Tesla, which has sold more than 30,000 electric cars this year.
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