Ownership Review Of BYD Seal From 1st Indian Woman To Own This Electric Sedan
In October this year, we did an article featuring the first woman in Kerala to own a BYD Seal electric sportscar. Lakshmi Kamal, a young entrepreneur from Thrissur bought the Seal in the stunning Black colour. The 21-year-old owns and runs Mishlak Bridal Studio. After almost 3 months of ownership, she has now shared an ownership review of the Seal.
In the video that looks more like a customer testimonial done by the dealer, Lakshmi explains her experience so far with the Seal. She talks about how she had been waiting for the Seal to launch in India, and how she thought it could be expensive while making an India entry.
She further says that the actual price of the car surprised her, by being on the affordable side of things. To put things into perspective, the Seal is available in three trims- Dynamic, Premium and Performance. The entrepreneur has opted for the ‘Premium’ which has an on-road price of 51 lakh in Kerala.
Lakshmi says she was very particular about her car being good-looking with a futuristic design. She wanted an EV while her father was sceptic about the same. Like most people, she too had the infamous ‘range anxiety’. The ‘Premium’ variant of Seal has an ARAI-certified range of 650 km per charge.
She did much research before making the purchase and went through multiple testimonials and ownership experiences to find out how well the Seal lived up to its range claims. Lakshmi says that she is very happy with the ownership and the range that it delivers.
She says the car delivers a range of around 650 km. The battery and its technology are to be thanked for this. BYD’s battery pack uses ‘Blade Cells’ which are considered the best in business today. These offer high efficiency, packaging efficiency and safety. This technology has risen to such fame that multiple OEMs are now in pursuit of licensing or acquiring the tech from them. The upcoming Maruti Vitara is known to host Blade cells. BYD, as a brand, is known for making vehicles that deliver the exact range that’s shown on the MID.
Globally, the Seal is a Tesla Model 3 rival, while in India, it is the BMW i4 that is its primary competitor. Lakshmi also seems to have had the BMW in her list of potential buys but reportedly dismissed it for being more expensive to own. In a way, this was a good choice as the i4 offers lesser power and range figures.
The entrepreneur also talks about her purchase experience with BYD EVM Southcoast- Kochi’s BYD dealer that delivered the car to her. She says that the staff at the dealership were very helpful and provided ample assistance throughout the purchase journey.
About Seal Premium
Of the three available trims, the base-spec Dynamic gets a 61.44 kWh battery pack while the Premium and Performance variants come with 82.56 kWh units. Unlike Performance, Premium gets RWD. The electric motor is capable of producing 312 hp and 360 Nm. 0-100 kph is done in 5 seconds.
The Seal is based on BYD’s “Ocean aesthetics”. Key highlights include a coupe-like roofline, flush door handles, eye-catching LED lighting elements, and 19-inch alloy wheels. There are four colours available: Arctic Blue, Aurora White, Atlantis Grey, and Cosmos Black.
The cabin is feature-rich and comes with a large, rotating 15.6-inch touchscreen, a 10.25-inch digital instrument cluster, HUD, wireless phone charging, a panoramic sunroof, a powered tailgate, 360-degree camera, a 50-litre frunk, and a unique crystal-finished drive selector.