BYD reveals new production cars, concepts and tech

The Chinese car marque has used the Auto Shanghai show as an opportunity to reveal a whole range of automotive novelties, including a chassis called the e-platform 3.0, a concept car named the X-Dream, a pre-production version of the EA1 battery car, and a Tang DM-i hybrid with an improved battery.

Starting with the new platform, BYD claims it will become the foundation of many production vehicles. A performance car based on it should be able to hit 100 km/h (62 mph) in mere 2.9 seconds and cover more than 1,000 kilometers (620 miles) on a single charge (NEDC-rated). Furthermore, charging the EV for just five minutes should be enough to get another 145–150 km (90–93 miles) of range. Finally, the e-platform 3.0 is said to support modern autopilot features in full.

Gone are the time when BYD contracted third parties to design and produce cars for them; the company now claims it will be happy to share the technical know-hows with the likes of Mercedes and Toyota.

The upcoming EA1 battery car (see video) will be the first to utilize the advantages of the e-platform 3.0. Aside from an exterior design named ‘Marine aesthetics’, nothing is known about it at this moment.

Moving on to the other exhibits, the X Dream Concept is a pure design study that should give you an idea of what to expect from the brand in terms of design. The Tang DM-i hybrid will soon switch to using new fireproof Blade batteries, and all other BYD EVs will follow the same example soon.