Suzuki Uses BYD Battery Technology for Small e-Sky Electric Car

Jakarta (ANTARA) — Suzuki is using battery technology from Chinese carmaker BYD for the launch of its small e-Sky electric car in Japan.

According to a CarNewsChina report on Wednesday (7 October), Suzuki has teamed up with BYD to source electric-vehicle battery technology in order to achieve a competitive price.

The Suzuki e-Sky is powered by a 26 kWh lithium iron phosphate (LFP) battery, giving it a range of up to 310 km under the Worldwide Harmonised Light Vehicles Test Procedure (WLTP).

Suzuki said its first electric passenger kei car is built on a newly developed dedicated electric-vehicle platform and is equipped with the company’s own e-Axle drive system.

The e-Sky measures 3,395 mm long, 1,475 mm wide and 1,625 mm high, with a wheelbase of 2,460 mm. It weighs 1,030 kg.

Suzuki is offering three versions of the e-Sky. The entry-level model is designed primarily for corporate customers and will be made to order; it omits features such as rapid charging to keep costs down.

The company is targeting total monthly sales of 1,000 units across the three e-Sky variants.

The Suzuki e-Sky will be priced from 2.12 million yen (about Rp239 million) and is intended to become Japan’s most affordable electric kei car.

With a Japanese government subsidy of 568,000 yen (about Rp64 million), consumers will be able to buy the electric car for 1.55 million yen (about Rp175 million).

That is still less than the price of its main rivals, including the BYD Racco and Nissan Sakura. The BYD Racco starts at 1.99 million yen after subsidies, while the Nissan Sakura starts at 1.86 million yen.