… but not for the Netherlands
BYD is presenting a plug-in hybrid version of the BYD Seal U in Geneva today. This BYD Seal U DM-i shines in Switzerland in European trim.
The BYD Seal U DM-i distinguishes itself mainly at the front compared to the electric BYD Seal U, because it has a set of cooling slots there to supply the combustion engine with air. The power source is a 1.5-liter Atkinson engine with 98 hp, which works together with two electric motors. The front produces 204 hp, the rear produces 163 hp. Together they drag the BYD Seal U DM-i from 0 to 100 in 5.9 seconds, so the performance is very decent. The capacity of the battery pack is also not pitiful at 18.3 kWh and helps the plug-in hybrid with an electric range of no less than 115 kilometers. Plug-in hybrid or not, the PHEV version of the Seal U also has a heat pump, V2L functionality and even the option of fast charging, albeit with a maximum of 18 kW.
The luggage compartment of the BYD Seal U DM-i is exactly the same size as that of the electric version: 552 to 1,440 liters. It is not very relevant for Dutch people, because the hybrid BYD Seal U is not included in the Dutch price lists. BYD is a purely electric brand here and so we only get the electric Seal U, which we were recently able to use.
The fact that there is a non-electric version of the BYD Seal U at all seems very special at first glance. After all, the Seal U is being put forward as the SUV based on the regular Seal, a sedan that is always a pure EV and is also on a purely electric platform. Secretly, the BYD Seal U has little to do with that Seal, but is ‘just’ a visually modified version of the SUV that is sold in China as BYD Song Plus. The Seal U is shorter than the Seal and also has a shorter wheelbase. Europeans outside the Netherlands who are interested in the PHEV-Seal U can welcome it in the last quarter of this year.
– Thanks for information from Autoweek.nl