Back in March this year, early customers of the BYD Atto 3 were advised by EV Direct that their new EVās production was being finalised for the two models on offer.
Yesterday, many order holders of the more affordable Standard model were advised that the production of that model will now not commence until mid-October.
Several options have been given to the buyers of this model without losing their spot in the queue. We look at the options being given to customers of Australiaās most affordable EV and what can be expected in the coming months.
Standard variant of BYD Atto 3 is now expected in November at the earliest
An email was received yesterday by order holders of BYD Atto 3ās more affordable Standard model has been delayed. With production now starting in October, early order holders of this variant are expected to receive their cars in November-December.
This variant starts at $44,381 in the standard white colour and new orders now have an expected delivery date of December-January 2023. This model comes with a 50.1kWh battery pack offering a 400km range instead of the 480km claimed by the Extended model.
Several options have been given to customers including an upgrade to the more popular Extended range model for $3,000 while maintaining their place in the queue. This would mean deliveries of their upgraded Extended model will be arriving in August-September.
If the order holders of the Standard model choose to keep their existing order, then the delays in production and delivery will apply.
No update has been provided on the special Red Atto 3 model since that is only available in the Extended variant with BYDās 60.4kWh blade battery.
Delays are not limited to BYD
These delays that BYD order holders are facing are not ideal, but to put things in perspective: Tesla order holders who were awaiting their deliveries in the second quarter were also impacted.
That was due to the Shanghai factory shutdowns and supply chain issues. For Tesla, itās still nearly a year wait for new order holders.
As another comparison, many Toyota Rav4 customers across the country are waiting in excess of 12 months for their Rav4 SUVs.
Slight hiccups in delays for a couple of months for EVs are still better than the average across the transport industry at the moment. Obviously, the quicker we can get EVs here, the quicker we can begin the mammoth task of decarbonising transport in Australia.
RizĀ is the founder of carloop based in Melbourne, specialising in Australian EV data, insight reports and trends. He is a mechanical engineer who spent the first 7 years of his career building transport infrastructure before starting carloop. He has a passion for cars, particularly EVs and wants to help reduce transport emissions in Australia. He currently drives a red Tesla Model 3.