Chinese EV giant BYD has made its debut in Bangladesh with its Seal electric sedan. Having teamed up with local partner CG Runner, BYD inaugurated its first showroom in Dhaka where Seal in two variants— Premium, and Performance is displayed.
The Premium variant boasts a 570 km of driving range while the Performance variant with all-wheel drive goes up to 520 km on a single charge. Seal is built on BYD’s e-platform 3.0, using CTB (cell-to-body) technology, blade battery, and iTAC (intelligent torture adaptation control). Deliveries are set to commence from May 2024.
BYD Seal in Bangladesh
Bangladesh’s government has a vision to phase out traditional fossil fuel-powered cars and introduce electric vehicles instead to tackle carbon emissions. According to Prime Minister’s Private Industries and Investment Adviser Salman F Rahman:
“The government wants to achieve a target of 30% adoption of electric vehicles in the country by 2030 and materialize the ‘Smart Bangladesh’ vision by 2041. For both of these things to happen, it’s important that electric vehicles are made available in the country so that people can make smart choices by buying EVs in great numbers. For this reason, I welcome BYD’s move to open its first showroom in the country.”
However, the EV charging infrastructure is still in its infancy in Bangladesh. Currently, there are only three EV charging stations in the country, and each is in the capital. But 10 stations – 8 in the capital, one in Cumilla, and another one in Chattogram – are set to start in June, while 30 more are expected to become operational by December.
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The commercial stations would charge all the branded electric car batteries in 45 minutes for around Tk1,500-1,800, while home charging would take 6-7 hours and an electricity bill of less than Tk1,000, according to EV marketers.
A computer animation professional with over 23 years of industry experience having served in leading organizations, TV channels & production facilities in Pakistan. An avid car enthusiast and petrolhead with an affection to deliver quality content to help shape opinions. Formerly written for PakWheels as well as major publications including Dawn. Founder of CarSpiritPK.com
