BYD Ocean-X sports sedan is an Aussie chance

Chinese EV giant BYD has just given us the first look at a mid-size battery electric sporty sedan that could turn up in Australia as soon as 2022.

Dubbed the Ocean-X, it appears at the moment to be an arty render to act as the eye candy in a BYD press release promoting its new BEV architecture.

First revealed last April and dubbed e-platform 3.0, BYD says it is designed exclusively for electric vehicles in a variety of sizes.

READ MORE: Small/medium $35K SUV to lead BYD EV Australian charge
READ MORE: Target Tesla: BYD sports sedan to chase down Model 3
READ MORE: BYD EA1 targeting sub-$30K start price; bigger battery for Australia

BYD claims the architecture can deliver a range more than 1000km and 0-100km/h acceleration in as little 2.9 seconds courtesy of a new all-wheel drive system.

The Ocean-X might even be able to do both, as BYD claims it has figured out how to combine the energy consumption of two-wheel drive EVs with AWD high-performance.

The platform will act as the “cradle” for the next generation of BYD EVs, but the company also says it will be open source, in the same way Chinese rival Geely has made its SEA platform available to other manufacturers.

Anyway, back to the Ocean-X, which BYD describes as a “mid-size sporty sedan with high performance”.

“The Ocean-X brings brand new experiences in performance and intelligent driving thanks to the fully integrated blade batteries in the car body, an 8-in-1 electric powertrain, and an all-wheel-drive architecture,” the announcement continues.

“The vehicle features shorter overhangs and a longer wheelbase, significantly expanding the passenger space; a lower body and a longer wheelbase liberate the vehicle’s aerodynamic design, decreasing the drag coefficient to 0.21Cd.”

The lower the drag coefficient the better and to put that in perspective the Mercedes-Benz EQS claims to have the lowest Cd of a production car of 0.20.

The Ocean-X sounds a lot like a further development of the Han sedan, of which ambitious local BYD importer Nexport has brought a single example to Australia.

Nexport boss Luke Todd has made it clear the existing Han won’t make it to Australia, but says the updated version will be coming here as a rival to the Tesla Model 3 and upcoming Polestar 2.

And that folks, might just be whatever the production version of the Ocean-X evolves into.

BYD (or Build Your Dreams) says e-platform 3.0 aims to improve EV performance, safety, range and intelligent driver aids. The Australia-bound EA1 Dolphin is the first vehicle based on it.

BYD’s signature Blade batteries come with e-platform 3.0 and are integrated into the car body to increase rigidity. While BYD’s hardly provided a comprehensive summary, it does suggest a similar approach to Tesla’s new 4680 structural battery pack.

E-platform 3.0 comes with an 800V electric system and BYD is also claiming 150km fast-charging in five minutes, a 20 percent reduction in energy loss due to improved cooling and heating and an improved heat pump that can work from -30 degrees C to 60 degrees C and increase winter range by 20 percent.