Starting from $49,888 before on-road costs and state incentives, the recently launched BYD Seal sedan is one of the best value EVs on sale in Australia. It has a up to 570km of range (WLTP), a 15.6-inch infotainment system, and a raft of safety assistance systems as standard.
This guide breaks down everything you need to know about charging a BYD Seal. tesla to type 2
The BYD Seal charging port uses the CCS standard, which features a combined AC and DC inlet port. The top portion of the inlet is for the Type 2 connector, which is used for AC charging at home, work or at public chargers (e.g. shopping centre car parks).
For public fast/rapid DC charging, both the upper and lower sections on the inlet are used to support the high power output required. The Seal CCS charging inlet is located on top of the rear right wheel arch. This can cause some issues for kerbside charging if the cable is not long enough.
The Seal can be slow, fast and rapid charged from public charging stations. In most cases:
Your main options for finding public charging stations for the BYD Seal include:
Driving up to the charger, ensure that your vehicle’s charging port, located on the front right, is nearest to the stall. This may require you to drive in or reverse into the charging spot.
Once parked, grab the appropriate charging connector type from the stall’s holster, open the Seal’s charging flap and any other caps, and firmly plug it into the vehicle.
Use the charging provider’s mobile app or tap the RFID card on the stall to activate the charging session. You may need to press a start button on some charging stalls, too.
After a few seconds of communicating with the Seal, you can see the charging status via the station’s screen, the vehicle’s driver instrument display, or the BYD mobile app.
The time it takes to charge a BYD will depend on: 1. the size of the battery pack and 2. the charging method.
The BYD Seal comes in two battery pack sizes:
1. 61.4 kWh for the BYD Seal Standard Range variant; and
2. 82.6 kWh for the BYD Seal Extended Range and Performance variants.
Level 1 and 2 Charging refers to charging from a power socket or a mounted charger. This is typically done at home, work or shopping centre car parks.
The BYD Seal is capable of charging at a maximum of 7 kW AC with its single phase onboard charger. This means that using high speed AC charging outlets (often capable of up to 22 kW AC) at public charging stations will be limited to 7kW. The power supply in homes is generally single phase, meaning the maximum power you can draw from the onboard charger is ~7 kW.
Charging a BYD Seal Standard Range using a portable charger and a standard 10A power socket will take 27 hours. Upgrading the power source to 32A for a wall charger will reduce the time for a full charge to 9.2 hours.
Fully charging a BYD Seal Extended Range / Performance using a portable charger and a standard 10A power socket will take 36.2 hours. Upgrading the power source to 32A for a wall charger will reduce the time for a full charge to 12.4 hours.
The BYD Seal Standard Range can support maximum DC charging of 110 kW DC, chargers with higher output than this will be throttled to this limit. Charging a BYD Seal SR from 10% to 80% at a fast/rapid DC charging station can be done in as little as 34 minutes, providing 319km of range.
The BYD Seal Extended Range / Performance can support maximum DC charging of 150 kW DC, chargers with higher output than this will be throttled to this limit. As per the charge test conducted, the BYD Seal AWD has an average charge power of 100 kW DC over a charging session.
Charging a BYD Seal Extended Range / Performance from 10% to 80% at a fast/rapid DC charging station can be done in as little as 37 minutes, providing 401km of range.
It is generally recommended to limit the charging at rapid chargers to 80% to preserve battery health.
The times shown are only a guide only. Other factors that impact the the actual charging time of your car include: temperature, state of charge, charger compatibility. For a personalised estimates of the other variants use the zecar ev charging calculator.
The below tables show the estimated cost of charging the Seal Standard Range Dynamic's 61.4 kWh battery at home using a standard flat tariff or a public fast DC charger.
Based on these figures, the Seal Extended Range's fuel costs are $4.57-$10.67 per 100 km, depending on the type of charging. In general, home charging provides the cheapest per kilometre cost and public rapid charging tends to be around double the cost (per charge and per kilometre). This compares favourably to an equivalent petrol car which would cost $15 per 100km, assuming $2/litre for petrol.
Use the zecar EV charging calculator to find the cost and times to charge any EV using any charge method. The results can be personalised for different electricity costs and the level of charge required.
The BYD Seal's battery pack uses the LFP chemistry. BYD recommends setting the charge limit to 100% for daily use.
The key advantage of LFP is the freedom to fully charge the pack to 100% every time with substantially less degradation concerns compared to other chemistries.
The BYD Seal is compatible with almost all portable and wall-mounted chargers. It comes with a portable charging cable, which can be used on any Australian domestic power point.
For faster charging speeds, you may want to consider a wall-mounted charger to reach the maximum 7.2 kW charge rate the Seal is capable of.
Home charging while taking longer will likely result in less degradation.
The BYD Seal can be charged using all the major charging networks including some Tesla Superchargers and some select Tesla destination chargers.
Refer to this guide for all the key public charging providers including links to app downloads.
Excessive use of fast charging may accelerate the degradation of the battery due to the heat caused by fast charging.
Yes, BYD Seal's can charge at some Tesla Supercharger sites. As of the latest update to this article, Tesla has opened up 30 of its 63 Supercharger sites in Australia to non-Tesla EVs.
Note: Some BYD Seal owners have reported compatibility issues at some Tesla Supercharger stations, in particular V3 Superchargers which supply charge at up to 250kW. It has been reported that BYD will fix the Seal's compatibility issues with V3/V4 Superchargers at it's next service at a BYD service centre.
Non-Tesla vehicles will be charged $0.79 per kWh for drivers of non-Tesla cars However, non-Tesla drivers can sign up to a $9.99/month subscription to reduce the cost to $0.66 per kWh.
Tesla supercharger sites can be accessed by non-Tesla EVs via the Tesla apps.
The BYD Seal is one of the EV models that features bidirectional charging. The V2L adapter that comes with the Seal can be plugged into the type 2 AC port providing up to 3.3 kW of continuous power to appliances.
The BYD Seal charging speed is considered average compared to other electric cars. It provides below-average speeds for AC chargers and average speeds for DC fast chargers. Check out our fastest charging car list to see how the Seal ranks against its peers.
wallbox 22 kw Danny is a consultant and entrepreneur working at the cutting edge of the electric vehicle and energy transition. He is passionate about educating and helping consumers make better decisions through data. He is the founder of zecar and is currently the EV Innovation Manager at Endeavour Energy.