BYD Australia explains which Atto 3 & Seal will be able to use Tesla V3 V4 Superchargers

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by

Neerav Bhatt
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Since the middle of 2023 Tesla has allowed other brands of electric cars using CCS ports to use some of their Australian Tesla DC fast charging supercharger network.

Aussie owners of BYD Atto 3 and BYD Seal found out that they could use older 120kW V2 Tesla superchargers without a problem.

However their Atto 3 and Seal cars were incompatible with newer 250kW+ V3 and V4 Tesla superchargers, so these EV drivers have to mostly use other brands of charging networks like Evie and Chargefox instead.

UPDATE 2: Aussie BYD Seal Owners Rejoice: Tesla Supercharger Fix Applied During Service – Multiple very happy Australian BYD Seal electric car owners on Whirlpool Forums are reporting that BYD is offering to fix the Tesla supercharger network incompatibility at their next scheduled service but only if they got the service done at a BYD Service Centre, not at MyCar.

UPDATE 1: 8th June 2024 – Australian BYD Seal owner Christopher Hunt has released a video (shown below) explaining how this issue was fixed by BYD, his testing at V3 and V4 Tesla Superchargers and confirmed ongoing working operation at other third party DC and AC chargers.

BYD Australia has not publicly announced the fix, how owners of BYD Seals made before March 2024 can book in for a service to fix this issue and whether the fix will be available for Atto 3 owners as well at a later date.

Honest, original journalism like this article takes a lot of time and effort. You can support Neerav with a One off donation or by becoming a Member.

I asked Mark Harland Chief Operations Officer of EV Direct (official distributor of BYD Auto in Australia) about this issue:

Question: Quite a few ATTO 3 and Seal owners have experienced not being able to charge at newer Tesla superchargers while their cars can charge at old V2 superchargers.

Please comment on this situation and whether it is likely a software or hardware update will be provided soon for these BYD EV owners so their cars can charge at all open access Australian V2 V3 V4 Tesla superchargers.

I’ve noticed a few days ago that some Seal owners say they can use V3 V4 Tesla superchargers with their car, has a software change been made for all Seals or perhaps a hardware change for recently sold Seals?

Mark Harland replied as follows:

“Currently, the Dolphin and the Seal (produced since March) are compatible with Tesla V3 Superchargers. We brought the V3 hardware compatibility update into production for the Seal as soon as we could based on customer feedback”.

“We are working to also add the V3 compatible hardware for the ATTO 3 when we do the next model year update. No plans for V4 currently”.

My interpretation of this answer is that Australian:

  • BYD Dolphins can use V2 V3 and V4 Tesla superchargers without a problem
  • BYD Seals built after March 2204 can use V2 V3 and V4 Tesla superchargers without a problem
  • BYD Atto 3’s with 2023 plates and BYD Seals made before March 2024 will never be able to use V3 and V4 Tesla superchargers because of a hardware incompatibility.

If you buy a second hand BYD Atto 3 prefer a 2024 plate one and if buying a second hand BYD Seal make sure it’s built after March 2024. Those built before will probably have lower resale value to informed buyers.

Some other points I’d like to make are:

UPDATE 10/5/2024: BYD Automotive Australia are sending customers who ask about this issue the following message which was forwarded to me. This is the Announcements page mentioned. Names of the staff member and customer are removed for Privacy.

I also asked Mark Harland:

“Question: Why does EV Direct/BYD Aus advertise the NEDC range for their electric cars instead of the more achievable WLTP range? I’ve noticed this online on your site and also audio ads eg: on the weekend while shopping I thought I heard the store radio mention BYD Seal has 650km range”.

Mark Harland replied as follows:

“We plan to migrate all of website and advertising materials to reference WLTP ranges when we refresh our website during the next product launch”.

This is a very good answer. NEDC is a really old way of testing vehicle driving range from the late 1990’s.

In the automotive industry some people joke that it stands for Not Even Damn Close because there’s no way a driver will be able to drive that far.

Comments

18 responses to “BYD Australia explains which Atto 3 & Seal will be able to use Tesla V3 V4 Superchargers”

  1. Kate Lineker

    Sucks to be anyone who bought a seal before me.

  2. Matt

    Disgraceful if true

  3. Daniel

    So … After the warranty debacle, the fogging debacle, the ongoing low voltage battery charging debacle, the low voltage battery failure debacle …. now we have the BYDs were shipped with defective on-board chargers and BYD have abandoned them debacle.

    Hmm
    I have 100% trust in BYD and EVdirect.
    #Sarcasm.

    I will never recommend a BYD vehicle to anyone again, and will actively steer them to a quality company.

  4. Jason

    We have had our Atto 3 for a year. We still love it. great to drive, reliable and cheap to run.

    While all the little problems experienced by some is disappointing, it shouldn’t come as a surprise.

    Most vehicle makers have problems, small and large. Most of these problems are centred around a change of some type. A new model, a new technology, a new business, a new component design or change of supplier. All.have a risk of creating problems.

    Early adopters are more likely to be exposed to these risks.

    Yes our car isnt perfect. But given the brand and the model are in its infancy in Oz, i honestly did not expect it to be as good as it is.

    Looks like a bright future for BYD.

  5. Scott McGregor

    Let’s be clear, BYD ATTO 3 and Seals pre March 2024 cannot charge on Telsa V3 at all. I would take 50kw at these sites, not ZERO………………………………………….. I will be putting in a warranty claim for hardware repair by way of the ACCC. Let’s see how good Australian Consumer Law actually is.

  6. Mark Coleman

    I didn’t purchase my ATTO 3 based on compatability with Tesla chargers, it wasn’t even a consideration. 20k on the clock and still loving it, no issues what so ever.

  7. Harold Larsen

    I have the first delivered Atto 3 in Australia. I picked it up from Robina, Gold Coast on 2nd September 2022. I haven’t had any problems with it and charge it at home during the day and it has run entirely on solar power. I am 76years old and I love my Atto3. The best car I have ever owned and there have been a lot in my lifetime. Thanks BYD for making such a great car.

  8. Neerav Bhatt

    Glad you’re enjoying your electric car Harold

  9. tristan

    “No electric brand marketing promises their cars will working with any particular brand of charger, let alone all current and future chargers” – I don’t agree, visit the EV charging page of the BYD automotive Australia website, it shows all Type 2 and CCS2 charging locations unqualified. Is it lazy of them to just embed Plugshare in their website – yes, but the inference is that their cars can charge at all those locations presented on their website.

  10. Neerav Bhatt

    It’s not a promise in words but that is an interesting point Tristan 🤔

  11. Mat boorman

    I agree and expect it to be fixed. CCS is the standard the cars compatibility on the spec sheet.

    The issue of the atto3 not waking up to charge on smart charges is another significant thing to be remedied. Again standards compatibly is a thing on the spec sheet.

  12. Michael Casey

    I’m in sales. BYD need to do more communication around the charging issue. If they have been so slow on this Tesla charging issue (it’s been flagged by users from day 1) why would I trust them on my next business car purchase in 2 years? There is a lot of bad press amongst their owners due to poor communication and lack of support. NB: I find the staff at BYD very good. The problem is the organisation.

  13. John Mitchell

    Daniel said “BYDs were shipped with defective on-board chargers” – that is not how DC fast charging works. There is no “onboard charger” involved. The car exchanges CANBUS messages with the charger and then the battery is directly charged DC to DC by the charger. The charger then sets the voltage and amps that the vehicle can accept. Theres no real hardware involved – it’s all software. What we have here is a failure to communicate.

  14. clayton d’cruz

    I couldn’t charge my Ioniq 28 on V3 and V4 Tesla chargers, worked fine at the one at Dubbo Supercharger, I assume it was a V2.

  15. Neerav Bhatt

    You’re correct. The slower 130 KW locations are V2

  16. David

    Penny hasn’t dropped yet for most of them, and little understanding of ISO standards around charging, what a subtle change might mean and why a manufacturer needs to stay up to date in this space.

    And it might well become BP or NRMA chargers. Especially with at least 2 charger manufacturers in liquidation and Tesla actively marketing / selling chargers to 3rd part providers.

    https://www.bp.com/en/global/corporate/news-and-insights/press-releases/bp-boosts-ev-charging-network-with-100-million-dollar-order-of-tesla-ultra-fast-chargers.html

    This happened Oct last year

    QUOTE: “Today bp (NYSE: bp) announced a deal in which bp pulse, bp’s EV charging business, will acquire ultra-fast charging hardware units from Tesla (NASDAQ: TSLA) for $100 million. The investment will facilitate the expansion of the bp pulse public network across the US, while also enabling support for EV fleet customers by deploying chargers at their private depots. The introduction of Tesla’s chargers to the bp pulse network is the first time the hardware will be purchased for an independent EV charging network.”

  17. Michael

    BYD has probably implemented a sort of CCS 1.5 not 2. And the generic charger manufacturers possibly did something similar to avoid compatibility issues.
    Tesla on the other hand may well have strictly adhered to CCS2 because they know their cars meet that standard.
    It’s gonna be a bigger problem in the long run when more vehicles meet the standards and charger companies also do the same.
    There will be less and less public chargers available to BYD.
    People need to remove the Tesla name from this issue and talk about the standards.
    The guy above is correct.

  18. Zab

    If BYD will not make Atto 3 compatible with Tesla Supercharger no one will buy it in Europe. BYD has to work and find a solution. I had a big problem with atto 3 during this summer on a road trip from Denmark to Paris. It sucks when BYD navigation does not make plan for charging like Tesla. And when the car needs charge you have to fine a compatible charging station. If it doesn’t work and you are just few % battery left so you are no where to go. I would never recommend any one to buy one.

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