BYD's five-minute Seagull charge starts one trim up

The five-minute charge and the sub-$10,000 price on the new BYD Seagull are not the same car. Electrek reported on 20 October that the second-generation hatchback was on sale in China, with regular prices from 65,900 yuan, about $9,900 on Electrek's conversion, or 62,900 yuan, about $9,500, once BYD's Super Trade-in is applied. Electric Cars Report, New Mobility and Electron Motion, working from the launch table, put Flash Charging on the cars from 75,900 yuan with the 39.2 kWh pack. The cheaper cars use a 30.1 kWh pack and, on those tables, do not get the fast session.

The yuan figures are stable across the reports. The dollar headline is not. Electron Motion, citing BYD's parameter sheet, converted the same 65,900 yuan to about $9,800. A buyer who stops at the phrase under $10,000 has not yet learned which battery is in the car.

Where the accounts agree, the window is narrow. Electrek, relaying BYD, rates the Flash-capable battery at 10 to 70 percent in five minutes and 10 to 97 percent in nine minutes, on a compatible Flash charger. Electric Cars Report described that first figure as a partial recharge under suitable conditions, and said the CLTC range should not be treated as a real-world trip. Sixty percent of a 39.2 kWh pack is about 23.5 kWh. Spread across five minutes, that is an average of about 282 kW. New Mobility published the same arithmetic. It is an average across the window, not a peak. These reports do not publish a peak kilowatt number for the Seagull itself. A charger with a higher nameplate does not raise the average if the car will not take the power, and the session is not on offer for the 30.1 kWh car.

Electrek also carried a cold-weather claim: 20 to 97 percent in 12 minutes at minus 30 Celsius. Electron Motion's account of BYD's March figures points the same way, saying the cold-weather run takes only about three minutes longer than at room temperature. Both are BYD's own numbers, and none of the reports shows a published charge curve or the test conditions. It stays a company claim.

Electrek's measurements put the new car at 4,205 mm long, 1,810 mm wide and 1,570 mm high, with a 2,650 mm wheelbase: 425 mm longer than the outgoing Seagull, with 150 mm more between the axles, and seats for five rather than four. Drive moves from a 55 kW front motor to a rear motor of 85 kW or 95 kW. The smaller pack is rated at 320 km on China's CLTC cycle. The larger pack is rated at 420 km CLTC. None of these sources has published a WLTP or EPA figure for this car. Subtracting a homemade percentage from 420 km and calling the result a range is a guess.

The 65,900 yuan Seagull is the longer five-seat body, the rear motor and the 30.1 kWh pack. The five-minute claim belongs to a car from 75,900 yuan, and then only at a BYD Flash charger. New Mobility priced the base car near 8,400 euros. Electrek's expectation is that an overseas version follows, likely as a second-generation Dolphin Surf or Dolphin Mini. That is an expectation in the report, not an announced price or a confirmed charge time outside China.

The check is short. Match the yuan price to the pack before trusting the five-minute line. Read 10 to 70 percent as about 23.5 kWh, not as a full battery. Leave the 420 km CLTC number out of any comparison with a WLTP or EPA car until one of those ratings exists.