3 Months with the BYD Sea Lion 06 PHEV
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Although there are some who object to plugin hybrid electric vehicles (PHEVs), preferring to go the full BEV route, I believe that PHEVs still have a place in the electric vehicle ecosystem. This is ably demonstrated by Garry’s experience with the first BYD Sea Lion 06 sold in Queensland. In short, he drives it like a BEV — as it is designed to do. Garry attended our “Coffee, Cake and EVs” morning and I was keen to hear his story.
In shopping for his first EV, Garry only had a choice of two — it was either the unknown Chinese brand “Build Your Dreams” (BYD) or the established Japanese brand Mitsubishi. A Sea Lion 06 or an Outlander. Checking out the specs and the prices, it was an easy choice. He found that the technology and consumption for both cars were similar. They both get 1.5 L of petrol consumption per 100 km driven, with about 90 km of battery range on a full charge. He drove them both and found that they had the “same amount of grunt.” They were both well able to meet his driving and towing needs.
But what a price difference! The Mitsubishi would have set the veteran pensioner back AU$75,000, while he purchased the Sea Lion 06 for just AU$48,000. That’s a AU$27,000 difference. He could have got himself another vehicle! Majella and I test drove the Sea Lion 06 when it launched in June. You can read about it here. Of course, it is better to talk to someone with the real-world experience of driving the vehicle for a few months. Because of his war service pension, Garry doesn’t pay the Federal Goods and Services Tax or Stamp Duty. This saved him about $7,000. Garry served in Vietnam.
BYD cars are actually becoming a common sight around Brisbane. Garry tells me: “I was seeing these BYDs around town, then there was more and more so I googled it and thought ‘Shit this is a good car.’” Garry went to his nearest sales centre and put $1000 down even though they didn’t have one in stock yet. Sight unseen, no test drive. He got to do a test drive two weeks later at the BYD drive day at the end of June. I asked him about the sales experience. “The salesman was a young kid just starting out.” So many are in this rapidly expanding field. You’ve got to learn fast. Garry says he has learnt most of the information he needed from dedicated Facebook pages. “I learn something new everyday!”
He tells me the “young kid” knew a reasonable amount about the car. At that time Garry says he knew “bugger all.” By the time he did the test drive, Garry’s mind was made up. Though, he would have preferred a longer test drive on the open road. He was impressed with the information on the BYD website that stated the economy of the vehicle. “When I leave home to go to Ipswich, I have the battery on 100%. I can get there and back and it costs me nothing.” Garry drives his PHEV like a BEV!
He plugs his Sea Lion in every day. And yes, he has a 5kWh solar system on his roof. The car is charged during the solar peak. He makes sure it is not plugged in after 4 pm when electricity prices peak. He tells me it takes about 5 hours to charge from a wall socket using the granny charger provided. He has learnt from Facebook conversations that it is better to charge slowly even though BYD provided a wall charger with the purchase of the car.
He still has to put petrol in the car. His previous car was a 2 L Hyundai Tucson Highlander. He describes it as top of the range, but it “had no guts. The Sea Lion 06 beats it, I can’t believe how much power this thing has got!” The Tucson used to use about $60 worth of petrol a week. Now Garry only fills up the Sea Lion every 5 weeks.
Garry needs to tow and he was unable to fit a tow bar ready-made, as the car has only just arrived in Australia. He was contacted by Speedy Tow Bars with the offer to provide a tow bar if they could “borrow” has car for a couple of weeks for their development program. A spokesperson said that they are creating tow bars and fitting them to an increasing numbers of EVs through their development program as part of the manufacturing side of their business. Their latest customers being the newly released smart cars from Mercedes.
The Sea Lion 06 Premium that Garry drives can tow 1700 kg. He has already tried it out and tells me “It handles like a dream!”
Of course, I asked the question … why a PHEV and not a BEV. Garry confides that he is “worried about running out of power between towns.” So far, he has driven the Sea Lion about 3000 km. I asked about his longest trip. It was to the Gold Coast — about 140 km from home each way, a 280 km round trip. He set the battery for 25% so he could drive 70 km on battery, then the petrol motor kicks in during the drive to replenish the battery. When he arrived at the Gold Coast he had 25% battery capacity. He charged up on Chargefox, which cost $5.
See this CleanTechnica article for an explanation of the various modes that the BYD Sea Lion offers.
Garry estimated that the whole trip cost him the $5 in electricity and about $8 in petrol. “It would have cost me over $30 in the Tucson!” I don’t know how people living on a pension can afford to run fossil fuelled cars. The Sea Lion claims that it has 758 km range in the petrol tank, plus battery range.
While charging at the Gold Coast, Garry had an amusing interaction with an Uber driver. The Uber driver had run his Tesla down to 3% and was quite keen to get some charge. There were 4 people lined up to charge. Unfortunately, another EV driver had plugged in and left the scene. Her car was already at 100%. The Uber driver asked Garry “What’s that thing you’re driving there.” Garry answered some questions and he said: “Sea Lion, BYD, I’ve heard of those things. That’s it, my Tesla’s going!”
Eventually everyone was able to charge up and be on their way. BYD intends to launch the Sea Lion 07 fully electric vehicle by the end of the year. I hope Garry gets to try it out and compares the two vehicles as part of his journey of transition.
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