BYD-Daimler Denza EV launched on the Shanghai car market in China

Reading Time: 2 minutes

News like this to your inbox or phone?

Weekly summary to your inbox

Never miss and important news

Get Instant notification once the news is published.

- Advertisement -

The new BYD-Daimler Denza EV has been launched on the Shanghai car market in China. Price starts at 369.000 yuan and ends at 399.000 yuan ($60.000 – 65.000), and that includes all green-car subsidies but excludes the free license plate for electric cars which is worth about 90.000 yuan. Shanghai is currently the only city in China where the Denza is available. Shenzhen will follow later this month and Beijing will be served in November. The rest of the country will have to wait until 2015.

- Advertisement -

denza-shanghai-launch-2

The Denza EV is manufactured in Shenzhen by BYD-Daimler, a joint venture between BYD Automobile and Daimler-Benz. The joint venture aims at making “affordable” electric cars for the Chinese auto market. The full name of the venture is ‘Shenzhen BYD Daimler New Technology’ (BDNT), it was established in March 2012.

- Advertisement -

The first Denza concept debuted on the 2012 Beijing Auto Show and the production version debuted on the 2014 Beijing Auto Show. BYD and Daimler are said to be happy with the final result and are studying on the possibility of adding a second car to the Denza range. There are currently no plans for export to other countries.

denza-shanghai-launch-2a

The Denza EV is loosely based on the platform of the first generation W245 Mercedes-Benz B-Class, but the necessary adjustments to turn the B into an electric car were so numerous that the platform is basically new.

Power comes from an electric motor with 86 kW and 290nm, mated to a 47.5 kWh  lithium iron phosphate (LiFePO4) battery system. Top speed is 150km/h. 0-50 km/h takes 4.5 seconds. 50-80 km/h takes 5 seconds, and 0-100 km/h takes 14 seconds. Range is about 250 kilometer, but can be extended to about 300 kilometer when the aircon and all other unnecessary electrical systems are switched off.

denza-shanghai-launch-3

It might look like hatch but it is actually a sedan. An electric sedan, for that matter.

- Advertisement -
- Advertisement -

5 COMMENTS

  1. And what’s so wrong with only being cheaper than a Tesla Model S with the first BEV out of your program? There’s a queue of people waiting for the Model III because it will be “cheaper then the tesla”.

    Note that “The joint venture aims at making “affordable” electric cars for the Chinese auto market.” That doesn’t mean that THIS first car it has released is ‘affordable’ to everyone, but it does cost less than others, and is closer to the Nissan Leaf.

    Such negative comments merely fuel the anti-electric brigade, and ignore the fact that 10, or even 5, years ago there would have been no way such a venture could have produced a car such as this at this price.

    Let’s see what they are making in 5 years or so, then decide if they deserve to be kicked for their efforts.

    • Hugh did u understand my comment? or u don’t know the meaning of affordable?
      in this case I’m sorry
      it’s almost 400 thousands excluded subsidies and importation tax , because if all of this included it was the same price of the tesla that is a CAR.

LEAVE A REPLY

Please enter your comment!
Please enter your name here

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.

- Advertisement -