Family who were among the earliest supporters of BYD have 'nightmare' experience while driving at 100km/h

Chinese EV manufacturer BYD has responded to an Australian family after they claimed to have had a ‘nightmare’ experience while driving at 100km/h (62mph) in their BYD Atto 3.

BYD EVs have become more and more popular as time has gone on. They are slowly starting to become more widespread outside of China.

One Australian family, who were early adopters of the brand, say they had a nightmare after the battery in their electric car reportedly failed while they were on the move.

Naturally, that has led to speculation and an investigation by the company.

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What happened to the family and their BYD EV?

According to Ian Cool and his wife Cate, they had owned the car since November 2022.

The EV was their vehicle of choice after they found a Tesla awkward to drive due to the speedometer’s positioning.

Initially, the couple was very happy with their choice of BYD over Tesla.

However, on March 7, 2024, they reported that their Atto 3 suddenly failed.

This reportedly occurred as Mrs Cool was driving the EV on the Tuggeranong Parkway at around 62mph.

Mrs Cool said she lost all acceleration, and had to slowly roll the car into a slip lane.

The saving grace was that it was around 10am, and she had broken down outside of peak traffic hours.

According to Mrs Cool, the BYD Atto 3 had not run out of charge, and still had 51 percent at the time of the failure.

Battery issue on the move

Cate Cool claimed the company insinuated ‘we didn’t charge the car,’ a suggestion she said was untrue.

But a few weeks later after an investigation into the incident, the company informed the family that the 60kWh battery had failed.

As it was under an eight-year warranty, the family was not charged for its replacement.

At the time, BYD described it as an ‘isolated incident’.

“Battery failure is not a characteristic of the model, and this appears to be an isolated incident that occurred after 14 months and 33,000 kilometres on the road,” a BYD spokeswoman told news.com.au.

“After a thorough investigation, the customer was provided with a loan vehicle and BYD Automotive promptly replaced the battery in accordance with the manufacturer’s warranty.”

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