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The BYD SEALION 7 electric crossover offers an extremely comfortable driving experience with 530 hp of power mated to all-wheel drive traction, along with a spacious interior and a premium feel.
We’ve already driven the BYD SEALION 7 on its UK launch event, but only for a short time and over a short distance. We’ve now lived with it for a week and driven it from the South East of England to the Lake District via Manchester and back. So what did we learn after a lot more time and many more miles in the SEALION 7?
With its low nose and narrow headlights, the BYD SEALION 7 mid-size crossover looks very sporty from the front; the styling morphs into more of a traditional SUV crossover for the side profile and the rear.
The interior looks well designed and feels high quality, with lots of legroom for rear seat passengers within its 4,830 mm length, and there’s a large 520-litre boot, or 1,789 litres with the rear seats folded down. There’s space under the boot floor for charging cables and also a 58-litre front trunk (‘frunk’) for storing charging cables.
There are three SEALION 7 models – Comfort rear-wheel drive and Design all-wheel drive, both with BYD’s 82.5 kWh Blade battery, and Excellence all-wheel drive with a 91.3 kWh Blade battery.
The rear motor produces 230 kW and 380 Nm of torque, and in the Design AWD and Excellence AWD models this is joined by an additional 160 kW motor on the front axle, delivering all-wheel drive and a combined output of 390 kW and 690 Nm of torque.
The Blade battery uses lithium iron phosphate (LFP) as a cathode material, which has higher levels of safety and durability compared with conventional lithium-ion batteries, while also being 100% free of cobalt, the mining of which has raised ethical and environmental concerns.
LFP batteries are also more resistant to extreme temperatures and can withstand more charge and discharge cycles with hardly any loss of capacity, so they should be more durable.
The Blade battery is integrated into the vehicle structure, known as Cell-to-Body (CTB). The top cover of the pack also acts as the floor of the passenger compartment; using the battery pack as a structural component improves stiffness and enhances safety, and the floor remains relatively thin.
A premium feel was one of the key takeaways about the BYD SEALION 7 from the launch event. A week in the car driving it from the South East to Manchester and then to the Lake District and back confirmed that the SEALION 7 has extremely comfortable ride quality (no doubt helped by Frequency Sensitive Dampers), with lots of power thanks to 530 hp delivering a 0-62 mph acceleration time of just 4.5 seconds, making all journeys feel very effortless. An Intelligent Torque Adaption Control (iTAC) system and all-wheel drive ensures the power is securely delivered to the road. The SEALION 7 is very refined and quiet on long motorway trips, with less road noise than some premium European EVs – double-layered laminated glass in the front doors is likely to be a factor in this.
The SEALION 7 weighs 2,435 kg but it doesn’t feel that heavy to drive, with the chassis having some fluidity. The controls are also well-weighted, with the steering and brakes having decent feel. The only issue we experienced was that on some undulating country roads the body control could have been tighter.
The SEALION 7 has a short, stubby gear selector, and drive modes of Eco, Normal, Sport and Snow are easily accessed via a physical button between the front seats. Another button here gives you the ability to select increased brake regeneration – which is a better solution than having this control buried in a touchscreen. You can also select Comfort or Sport settings for the steering and brakes, via the touchscreen.
There’s a large 15.6-inch touchscreen, which can rotate from landscape to portrait format, displaying a huge map if using Apple CarPlay. There’s also a display in front of the driver, and you can also select to view the map in this screen. There’s even a head-up display.
Climate controls can only be accessed via the touchscreen, which isn’t as user-friendly as having separate controls. And like most new cars, you’ll find the steering wheel being wrenched out of your hand due to the lane departure warning system, and to switch this off, you have to do a lot of button-pressing and scroll a long way down through lots of safety systems on the touchscreen. And if you look at the touchscreen for basic car controls, the car often tells you to focus on driving.
The BYD SEALION 7 Excellence AWD, with its 91.3 kWh battery, has an official WLTP combined electric driving range of up to 312 miles. After a week covering many miles with mixed driving, but with the majority at 70mph on motorways, the real-world range was averaging 290 miles. The SEALION 7 Excellence AWD model has electrical consumption of 2.8 miles/kWh.
Rear-wheel drive Comfort spec delivers a WLTP combined range of 300 miles, and the all-wheel drive Design trim gives a range of 283 miles, both from the same 82.5 kWh battery.
The Excellence AWD trim delivers a maximum ultra-rapid DC charging rate of 230 kW, giving a 10% to 80% charge in just 24 minutes. Comfort and Design editions can be charged at up to 150 kW, allowing the battery to be topped up from 10% to 80% in 32 minutes.
All versions of the SEALION 7 get 11 kW three-phase AC charging as standard, as well as a heat pump, which BYD says is the industry’s first direct cooling and heating system for electric batteries, capable of operating in temperatures from -30°C to 60°C, and increasing thermal efficiency by up to 20%. The system uses residual heat from the whole vehicle to warm the cabin, increasing the range by up to 20% in cold weather, as well as cooling the cabin and the battery in warmer weather.
The SEALION 7 also has a vehicle to load (V2L) function, allowing it to power items of electrical equipment.
The BYD SEALION 7 Comfort RWD is priced at £46,990, Design AWD prices start at £51,990, and Excellence AWD prices are from £58,990.
There are four paint choices: Atlantis Grey, Indigo Grey, Polar White and Space Black (so not many colourful options).
All versions of the BYD SEALION 7 come with a six-year manufacturer’s warranty and eight years for the battery and electric motor.
Read the Ford Capri review and book a test drive
Anyone who has concerns over the quality of the driving experience of Chinese EVs needs to try the BYD SEALION 7. It offers a driving experience that’s extremely comfortable as well as powerful, along with the security of its all-wheel drive system. The cabin also looks good and feels high quality, with lots of rear legroom and a large boot. The driving range of 312 miles means that this a practical car to live with – although some rival EVs have longer ranges – and an ultra-rapid DC charging rate of 230 kW should ensure charging stops are brief.
There’s lots of coverage in the media about EV brands from China, including talk about measures to protect Western car brands. The reality is that Chinese companies have been developing EVs for many years, before Western manufacturers in many cases, and BYD is an example of a company that had the foresight to set up as a battery maker in 1995, with BYD Auto founded in 2003. BYD has sold more than nine million new energy vehicles globally, covering six continents and over 90 countries and regions. The BYD SEALION 7 is one of the latest examples of a quality product that is now on sale in the UK from a Chinese brand and it’s awarded a Green Car Guide rating of 9 out of 10.
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