A BYD Song Plus EV Champion Edition, as seen on the streets of Beijing in the summer of 2023. The electric SUV was brand new, painted in dark gray with darkened windows and light gray multispoke alloy wheels.
The BYD Song SUV was first launched in 2015, powered by 1.5 turbo and 2.0 turbo petrol engines. It was updated in 2017, and the lineup was expanded with a 1.5 turbo PHEV and an EV version. In 2019, the Song was replaced by the Song Pro, which was again available with petrol, PHEV, and EV powertrains. In 2020, BYD launched the Song Plus, essentially a slightly larger and more upmarket variant of the Song Pro.
In June 2023, the Song Plus was updated and renamed Song Plus Champion Edition. The petrol version was deleted, and BYD only sells the Song Plus in PHEV and EV versions. The PHEV version is called the Song Plus DM-i Champion Edition and the EV version is called the Song Plus EV Champion Edition. I saw it in August, so it can’t be more than two months old. That’s what we call a fresh spot!
Today’s car is the Song Plus EV Champion Edition, the electric variant. BYD’s naming isn’t easy, and they keep changing names, adding suffixes, and coming up with new names for the same car in other markets. In Europe, for example, the Song Plus EV Champion Edition is called the BYD Seal-U, even though it hasn’t any real technical relation to the Seal sedan.
The Song Plus is a fine-looking SUV, nothing exciting, nothing too wild. BYD’s design has always been comparatively conservative. It is also somewhat old-school, with traditional door handles instead of pop-out handles, chromed window frames, and large light units.
The interior is a bit funkier, with 3-color seats and a sporty steering wheel with a thick rim and a flat bottom. The main screen is 15.6 inches, and it has a famous BYD party trick: it can rotate from portrait to landscape, and back.
The BYD Song Plus EV Champion Edition is a single-motor front-wheel drive car. The motor has an output of 218 hp and 330 Nm. The top speed is 175 kilometers per hour. BYD offers two Blade battery packs: 72 kWh for 520 kilometers CLTC or 87 kWh for 605 kilometers CLTC.
It is a big car: 4785/1890/1660, with a 2765 wheelbase. It has only five seats so folks in the back got a lot of space for their legs.
The BYD Song Plus EV Champion Edition is a popular car. It is big, it has a long-range, and it is a BYD. The price helps a lot too. The base 72 kWh model sells for just 169.800 yuan or $23K. That’s a lot of car for the cash.