A BYD e1 electric hatchback, as seen at a BYD dealer in east Beijing in 2019. The e1 was brand new and painted in a dark shade of red with a black roof. The BYD e1 had just been launched at the time and it was the first one I met.
The BYD e1 is an electric version of the BYD F0. The F0 was a petrol-powered hatchback made from 2008 until 2015. When it was launched, BYD got a lot of buh and bah because the design was a near-complete copy of the first-generation Toyota Aygo. However, Toyota never did an electric Aygo, the Japanese just didn’t get that there would be an interest in affordable small electric city cars. They still don’t get that today. But BYD did.
The BYD e1 debuted in 2019, four years after production of the BYD F0 ended. In China, cars never really die. Never ever. The e1 was BYD’s first small electric car project and they had to make it cheap. So they dusted off the production line and malls for the F0 and went for it. That’s how Chinese automakers roll. BYD made a few changes to the front and rear but the basic design and the dimensions remained the same.
BYD also added a two-tone color scheme inspired by old Smarts, tinted windows, black window frames, and sporty gray wheels.
The e1 stands on 14-inch Linglong tires and it has brake calipers in body color.
The interior was completely new for the e1. It had a small screen for the instrument panel and a large screen for the infotainment. The drive selector was located on the center tunnel. The seats looked nice enough but the door trim was rather basic.
The e1 was rated as a five-seat car, but the middle seat is only big enough for a kid. Size: 3465/1618/1500, with a 2340 wheelbase and a curb weight of 1050 kilos.
The BYD e1 was a front-wheel drive car. The electric motor had an output of 61 hp and 110 Nm, good for a top speed of 101 km/h. The motor was mated to a 32.2 kWh battery, good for an NEDC range of 305 kilometers. Fast charging from 20 to 80% took 30 minutes.
These specifications were pretty good for 2019, and better than many Japanese EVs even today. And it was cheap! The BYD e1 sold for 69.800 yuan, which made it one of the cheapest small electric cars on the market at the time.
The red car mirroring on the right is a BYD e2. More on that one in a later post.
Production of the BYD e1 ended in 2021. The e1 was always intended as a stopgap between no-small electric cars and modern small electric cars. The BYD e1 has since been succeeded by cars like the BYD Dolphin and the upcoming BYD Seagul. So a short life for the BYD e1, and that is too bad because it was a nice looking affordable machine with impressive specs for the segment and for the time.