Can This BYD Hybrid Really Go 2,000 KM?

Pop quiz, hot shot: Which automaker has the most advanced hybrid technology? The answer seems obvious, right? Toyota—or at least it would have been Toyota if you asked a few years ago. However, in the year 2024, the answer might just be BYD. You see, BYD isn't just China's largest producer of electric vehicles; it's also its largest producer of plug-in hybrids. They claim that the fifth-generation DMI plug-in hybrid powertrain in their BYD Chén L, a Camry-sized sedan starting at just $14,000 in the Chinese market, is capable of going over 2,000 kilometers, or 1,250 miles, on a single tank of gas and a single charge of its battery. That's the equivalent of going from New York to Miami without stopping for gas.

Against my better judgment and the advice of my chiropractor, I've decided to put that claim to the test. Over the course of the next three days, we will attempt to traverse four different Chinese provinces to see if this system really can deliver on its promise of eclipsing 2,000 kilometers on a single tank of gas. Will we make it all the way? Will we be stranded on the side of the road? Will my lower back explode from spending so much time behind the wheel, leaving me unable to support my family or myself, eventually leading me to a life of crime and an early grave? Stay tuned to find out. Welcome to Wheelsboy, where we cover the newest, coolest, and wildest vehicles from the Chinese car market. Be sure to like, subscribe, and hit the bell icon.

After filling the Chén L's 65-liter (16-gallon) fuel tank and charging up its 10-kilowatt-hour battery, we set out from Shanghai with an estimated total range of 2,285 kilometers: 2,220 kilometers of gas range and 65 kilometers of pure electric range. I want to be very clear about something upfront: we are not trying to hypermile this thing. I want to know what its actual range is under realistic circumstances. As such, we are going to be setting the cruise control at the posted speed limit. We’ll obviously drive at the speed of traffic if it's below that limit. The air conditioning is set to auto mode at 23°C (about 74°F), and the drive mode is Eco.

The biggest factor in our first leg of the trip is this car's pure electric range. There are two available blade battery packs, both with lithium iron phosphate (LFP) battery chemistry. They measure 10 and 16 kilowatt-hours, with CLTC ranges of 80 and 120 kilometers, respectively. As mentioned before, our car has a smaller 10-kilowatt-hour battery pack. We decided to let the car choose between hybrid and pure electric modes based on what it thought would be more efficient. It chose to start in EV mode but then changed to hybrid mode once we got onto the highway. Overall, it took us about 81 kilometers to deplete the electric range. Our battery pack's current state of charge is 16%, which is why this thing is indicating a pure electric range of between 1 and 2 kilometers. Once it drops below 20%, it will operate like a normal hybrid and will no longer drive in pure electric mode.

We are now on top of a 36-kilometer-long bridge that stretches over the ocean. I was really hoping to show you some gorgeous views, but it's rainy and foggy, so you can't see anything. Oh well. The heavy traffic so far might not have made for a fun drive, but it was conducive to maximizing range, both electric and gas. Once we got past the bridge, however, the real challenge began.

I mentioned that this thing basically becomes a regular hybrid when it gets below 20% state of charge. What I didn't mention is that BYD claims that when it is a regular hybrid, it can get 2.9 liters per 100 kilometers, or 80 miles per gallon. One major factor in BYD's ability to even claim that level of efficiency is the naturally aspirated four-cylinder engine up front. It has a thermal efficiency of 46.6%, which is not only significantly more efficient than the previous generation DMI engine but also, according to BYD, one of the most efficient gasoline production engines in the world. It only makes 74 kilowatts, but that's not especially relevant since most of the power that reaches the wheels comes from the single front-mounted electric motor. If you get the smaller battery pack, that motor will make 120 kilowatts and 210 Newton meters of torque. If you get the larger 16-kilowatt-hour battery pack, then you get 160 kilowatts and 260 newton meters of torque.

Before I knew it, the day was over, and we could take stock of Chén L's performance so far. We reached the end of day one and our destination, the city of Ningbo. Let's take a look at the stats for today: when we set out, we had a total of 2,285 kilometers of range. According to our trip computer, we have driven 658 kilometers, but it has dropped to 985 kilometers of range.

Welcome to day two of our range test. Our destination today is a beautiful county called Jing’an in Jiangxi Province, about 550 kilometers away. The weather is looking considerably better than yesterday, with hopefully much less rain. Let's see how that affects our fuel economy. Spending this much time behind the wheel of any car will certainly give you a deeper appreciation of the good, the bad, and the ugly of its driving experience. Take, for example, the suspension tuning on this car. With a starting price that's a little over half as much as a Toyota Camry here in the Chinese market, this thing has a suspension that does not feel half as good as a Toyota’s—maybe 90%, almost 95% as good. The biggest difference I can feel is that there's a greater amount of vibration that makes its way into the cabin versus the Camry. That thing has a much softer suspension tuning but feels a little bit more refined than this one.

The 120 kilowatts provided by the single front-mounted electric motor in this car certainly aren't going to set your hand on fire, but they're more than serviceable for something you just need to drive to and from work every day, or in this case, drive for a very long time on the highway. I will say that over 80 kilometers per hour, acceleration is laid back, to say the least, but with a 0-to-100 kilometer per hour time of 7.9 seconds, I don't think anybody is going to think this car is super slow. Driving a car in these specific circumstances—many, many hours on the highway—there are a few things that are really going to jump out at you that wouldn't really make themselves as apparent in a shorter drive. Take, for example, the NVH, or noise, vibration, and harshness. As I've already said, there is a decent amount of vibration that makes its way into this cabin, but I would say that noise is more of an issue. Whether it's tire noise, wind noise, or engine noise, none of them are particularly great—or at least they wouldn’t be particularly great if this car cost twice as much as it does. At this price point, I'm more than happy to forgive the amount of NVH that I am hearing, especially because the last time I experienced a cheap PHEV sedan, it was the Wuling Asta, and the engine sound on that car—oh my god—was really bad. It sounded like a blender turning on and off every time it started up.

You also get a chance to appreciate the seat design—or maybe not appreciate it, depending on whether it's good or not. In this case, I think the front seats, at least, are pretty good on this car. Good support in the shoulder area, though the low back could use a little more support. There is no adjustable lumbar support on this particular model, as it's a very cheap model, but there is one available on more expensive versions. Just for the record, the people in this car who have driven it other than me and don’t have horrible backs like I do think that these front seats are pretty comfortable.

I'm not going to spend a ton of time focusing on the infotainment in this car because it uses the same 12.3-inch center screen that we've seen in a ton of other BYDs, including our own BYD Yuan Plus that we use as a filming car. If you want to learn more about that, you can check out any number of other BYD videos, but I recommend our BYD Yuan Plus video. Speaking of the BYD Yuan Plus, I was really hoping to see the latest generation of BYD's adaptive cruise control in this car. Unfortunately, this is a low-spec version, so it only has standard cruise control. I really, really would have liked to have adaptive cruise control on this trip; it would have made it a lot easier.

Have you ever watched a Wheelsboy review and thought, "Man, I'd really like to get behind the wheel of one of those Chinese cars and see what it's all about?" Do you also happen to love gorgeous scenery, delicious food, and a touch of adventure? You sound like the ideal candidate for the Wheelsboy EV Tour. The Wheelsboy EV Tour is your opportunity to join me and the rest of the Wheelsboy team on a five-day road trip through China's Sichuan Province, during which you'll be able to enjoy gorgeous scenery and get plenty of time behind the wheel of a fleet of cool Chinese cars. If you want to learn more, reach out to us via email at [email protected].

Welcome to Jing'an, ladies and gentlemen. We covered a total of 526 kilometers today—a little bit less than we planned—but we dropped 808 kilometers from the indicated range. At this point, we have gone 1,184 kilometers on this trip, but we have used up 1,793 kilometers of our indicated range. I think you can probably tell at this point that we are not going to make it to 2,285 kilometers or even 2,000 kilometers. The last leg of this journey is going to see us travel from Jiangxi Province all the way to the very cool and very historic city of Wuhan.

This final leg is a special one because we will be traveling a significant amount of our trip on the G45 Daguang Expressway, which actually runs through a small part of a city called Huangmei in Hubei Province. Huangmei County is famous for its unique form of opera called Huangmei Opera, a popular local art form originating in the early 18th century that has become one of China's most famous styles of traditional Chinese opera. I have no plans to attend any kind of opera performance on this trip, but it is cool to think that we are driving through the area where it originated. Now, let's get going.

As we near the end of our journey, I think this would be a good time to share some of the final range numbers with you. To recap: our car's battery pack size is 10 kilowatt-hours, and it is almost completely depleted. At this point, the car is operating just as a regular hybrid. We are also traveling on the G45 Expressway. The Chén L has exceeded our expectations in some ways. For example, when the battery was depleted, it drove 81 kilometers, and now it operates with the normal hybrid system, although it is performing better than anticipated.

We have now completed our journey to Wuhan, covering a total of 1,805 kilometers (about 1,121 miles). The total fuel consumption was about 54.5 liters of fuel, meaning we averaged about 3 liters per 100 kilometers (94 miles per gallon). While we didn’t quite reach the 2,000-kilometer mark, our experience suggests that, under optimal conditions, it’s quite possible. So, can the BYD Chén L DMI hit the magical 2,000 kilometers on a single tank and charge? Yes, but the journey should include a more ideal route, less rain, and fewer interruptions to truly achieve that level of range.

This car isn't perfect; its suspension isn’t quite at Camry levels, and there’s a bit more noise and vibration than you might want. But for the price, the range, and the overall driving experience, it delivers incredibly well.