Car Giant BYD Sets Out Plans For Electric Scooter
BYD is relatively unknown here, although the brand is already making waves in Europe, and has ideas of building bikes
The Chinese car giant BYD is looking to move into the two-wheeled sector after patent images show the brand’s first scooter. This is despite BYD previously denying rumours about a move into the motorcycle market.
BYD (which adopted the slogan ‘Build Your Dreams’ a few years ago, before dropping it after widespread mockery) wouldn’t be the first car maker in recent years to eye a move into the urban mobility sector. We’ve seen Seat teaming up with Silence to launch bikes, and even Mini thinking about selling re-branded BMW Motorrad electric machines.
The brand isn’t also a total newbie in the two-wheeler market, although not as a full manufacturer. Instead, the Chinese brand has supplied batteries and electrical systems to other, existing electric bike makers.
The unnamed bike in question is a pretty bog-standard looking step-through scooter. A telescopic upside-down fork and dual radially-mounted brakes are featured at the front, and a twin shock rear suspension setup at the rear. Being an electric scooter, the motor is mounted deep within the chassis of the bike, meaning the rear end of the machine looks much cleaner than on a petrol scooter. We can’t be sure about the size of the bike, but by eye-balling the belt drive and doing some finger-in-the-air calculations, we’d guess it's around the size of Yamaha’s XMAX 300.
The move from BYD would be a sensible one for the brand, which is currently the world’s second-largest EV battery maker, with a 15.8 per cent slice of the market in 2023. That amount of clout would make a diversion into the bike market a fairly safe move, and given that the brand is the most bought EV maker in its native China, a ready-made pool of potential customers who are already familiar with the name is another very big positive.
What makes BYD such a popular choice for automakers and customers alike is its dedicated battery technology. The Chinese firm uses its in-house developed ‘Blade’ battery, which is said to allow high loads while maintaining fast recharge times and a long life. It is though said to be slightly heavier than some other lithium ion batteries, which may need to be looked at if the hardware is used in a lightweight city scoot.
Simon (AKA Toad) has been working within the motorcycle industry for more than twelve years, and a member of the motorcyclist family since birth. Growing up around British-built single and twins, it was inevitable that a life on two wheels was on the cards, from a very early age!
