BYD’s Han is a Model 3 rival that can do 0-62mph in 3.9s

This is car aimed not at the road, but instead at “the premium luxury saloon market”. Oh sure, it’ll do the whole ‘road’ thing, principally because its maker promises a 0-62mph time that’d embarrass most hot hatches.

It is called the BYD Han EV (named after the Han dynasty), and it also appears to be aimed squarely at a certain Tesla Model 3, because that aforementioned 0-62mph time is claimed at 3.9 seconds. Very, very fast, then.

We’re told that the Han EV features the excellently-named ‘Blade Battery’. BYD reckons said battery is “ultra-safe” and offers a long life with good range. To the latter, the company claims 376 miles from a full charge. That however, is on the old NEDC cycle, not the current WLTP one. In other news, there is a Bosch brake system on board.

It also comes equipped with something called ‘DiPilot’, which is a self-learning driver assist system using 5G tech. Normally at this point, we’d shoehorn in a silly Terminator gag, but we’re totally above that. After all, it clearly doesn’t want your clothes, boots or indeed a motorcycle, but rather the scalps of Euro luxo-EVs.

This is because the Han EV has been “conceived, designed and manufactured to the standards more in tune with luxury European cars”. Indeed, it’s not a bad looking thing by any stretch. As is fast becoming standard practice, the interior is dominated by an enormous screen bigger than the one in your living room, probably. Looks rather comfortable inside, at least digitally.

BYD hasn’t revealed much else, other than the price, which will sit somewhere between €45,000 to €55,000. It’ll debut in China at the end of June 2020, so bank on Europe some time after that.

“We believe that the Han EV combines the best of Eastern wisdom and Western aesthetics,” explains BYD senior VP Yubo Lian. Is that enough to win over fans of Californian wisdom and aesthetics, one wonders?