BYD TANG RANGE TEST HIGHWAY AND FAST CHARGING TEST

I will test the range at higher average speeds on the highway. I want to know what the minimum range of this car could be. At the beginning of this part of the test, the battery is at 68%. I base my estimated range on average consumption and net battery capacity. I did the test in December and it was very cold, i.e. between -6 and -1 degrees.

For the first part of the test, I drove from Brussels towards Namur for a total ride of 69 km. The battery dropped to 36% and the estimated range based on 34.2 kWh consumption was 246 km. I left the highway to do some sporty driving on country roads for a short stretch of about 23 km. Then the battery had dropped to 31% and the estimated range increased slightly to 269 km.

Now it’s time to drive all the way back to Brussels on the highway. Let’s take a look at my results. I ran the battery down to 10% and the consumption dropped during this drive. The highway range ended up being 313 km based on an average consumption of 26.8 kWh.

Now let’s do a charging test at a fast charger. The BYD TANG is equipped with a combined charging system. This system allows the BYD TANG to be charged with both AC and DC. For this test, I am going to charge the car on a DC Fast Charger. The TANG can fast charge at up to 120 kW. BYD says it takes 30 minutes to charge from 30% to 80% at a rate of 120 kW.

At the beginning of the test, the battery is only at 12%. It’s -2 degrees outside. I’m going to do a 30-minute charging test. In the first few minutes, the car charged very slowly. After 3 minutes, the TANG finally found its bearings and we were at a speed of 83 kW. The car indicated that it would take about 1 hour to fully charge the battery.

After 10 minutes, I was charging at 88 kW. The battery increased to 23% and we gained about 11% in battery charge. After 20 minutes, I noticed that we were charging at a rate of 102 Kw. I gained another 18% battery charge and the battery is now at 41%. After 30 minutes, the battery is at 60%. The charging speed is still at 102 kw. So we went from 12% to 60% in 30 minutes. On the range indicator we gained about 197 km in that half hour.

I haven’t done an AC charging test with this car, but let’s look at some theoretical information. I can’t find any info about AC charging on BYD’s site. According to ev database, the TANG AC charges at a speed of 7,4 kW and takes 13,5h to charge the battery from 0 to 100%.

In conclusion, the BYD TANG’s range on the highway is around 313 km, based on similar driving conditions and measured in very low temperatures between -6 and -1 degrees. I suspect you will get more range at much higher temperatures. In the city, the range will also be much higher. BYD itself speaks of a WLTP range of 528 km in the city.

Fast charging at 120 kW is not best in class, but good enough.

What I liked about this car was that it was very luxurious and very well equipped. It feels very premium inside, on par with the German brands. The parking camera is exceptionally good and I love the ambient lighting. It is a fun car to drive and with a 0 to 100 km/h time of just 4,6 sec, it can accelerate very quickly.

What I liked less about this car was the wind noise at higher speeds and the artificial noise during low-speed driving, which was tuned a little too loud for my taste. The range on the highway and the charging speed while charging is not great, but on the other hand it is sufficient.