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BYD drops the price of its Atto 1 to a stunning $19,990 driveaway – making it the cheapest new car in Australia (www.whichcar.com.au)
submitted 1 month ago by to c/electricvehicles@slrpnk.net
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~ USD $14000

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[–] 15 points 1 month ago (4 children)

A good-looking, cheap electric car? I want one.

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  • [+] 3 points 1 month ago (3 children)
    [deleted]
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  • [–] 3 points 1 month ago (2 children)

    Well, fuck that. Loans are for suckers.

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  • [–] 12 points 1 month ago* (last edited 1 month ago) (1 child)

    Is buying something only to set it on fire even more for suckers?

    In Australia (where this article is written) it's more expensive to drive a petrol car than to get a loan for a new EV. The average commute costs $125 per week in petrol. An EV loan to get this car costs $90 per week in repayments and less than $10 per week in electricity.

    Literally cheaper to give the ICE car away and get a loan for an EV than to continue to buy petrol and burn it.

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  • [–] 3 points 1 month ago

    Dude, I have been pondering the idea of getting an electric truck, hauling a fifth wheel and recharging the truck off of the fifth wheel's solar (not while driving, of course. That's a quick recipe to overheat your battery). Also using the EV as the fifth wheel's third battery (you have the main battery and the backup battery for if the main blows built in, and then the EV is the second backup. It's unlikely you'll need it but do you want to be caught without a second backup?

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    [–] 26 points 1 month ago (28 children)

    That's only 12,400 Euro! At that price one has to wonder if batteries are included. 😋

    WLTP range of 220km

    Obviously the battery can't be big at that price, but still good enough for commuting and most daily drives.

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  • [–] 17 points 1 month ago (11 children)

    Batteries now cost $85 kwhr. 30kwhr battery is now $2600. Battery costs driving EV prices was Musk's bullshit, his cars had the highest profit margin in the industry. Model S batteries dropped 90% in price 2012-2024.

    EVs should cost less than ICE. A battery pack is now close to the cost of catalytic systems in ICE.

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  • [–] 9 points 1 month ago* (last edited 1 month ago) (4 children)

    $2600 for a 30kWh battery? Can I get a battery like that without the car attached.. Jackery and most others are fairly similar, for that price you would only get a few kWh.

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  • [–] 7 points 1 month ago (2 children)

    Short answer is yes, but you'll have to dig up suppliers and handle the form factors on your own. Used EV batteries (i.e. once their capacity becomes an issue for use in a car, or after the car is wrecked) are commonly used for things like grid storage and home battery backup.

    You can try to get one from a junkyard, but usually someone else has beaten you to it.

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  • [–] 1 point 1 month ago* (last edited 1 month ago) (5 children)

    Inverters are pretty expensive too. And you have to remember those combined with the battery merely replace a gas tank that probably cost less than 10 bucks to make.
    But then the electric motor is probably cheaper to make than a combustion engine. Also the heavier weight of a BEV car makes brakes and suspension more expensive.

    But despite all that, I think that BEV cars are actually mostly at the level of ICE car prices now. Especially if you compare in the 400-500 hp AWD range.

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  • [–] 2 points 1 month ago (3 children)

    What do you need an inverter for? Cars are small. Isn't everything DC?

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  • [–] 2 points 1 month ago* (last edited 1 month ago)

    The motors are AC and it'll have a variable frequency drive (fancy inverter that changes frequency to drive the motor at the desired speed). Also provides the regenerative braking by running at a lower speed than the motor.

    DC motor EVs are not really a thing any more, outside of hobby conversions.

    Low power VFDs are dirt cheap these days, but a 65kW one would run a few thousand. A brand name industrial spec one in that power range would cost $5-10k USD.

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  • [–] 8 points 1 month ago (9 children)

    Does Australia have tariffs on Chinese cars?

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  • [–] 14 points 1 month ago (5 children)

    No they don't:

    https://www.autonext.co/news/australia-evs-outsell-petrol-august-2026-no-chinese-tariff

    Australia is the one rich market where Chinese cars pay nothing at the border

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  • [–] 10 points 1 month ago (4 children)

    Putting tarrifs on Chinese vehicles wouldn't be logical, because there is no domestic car manufacturing left in Australia for tariffs to protect.

    Ford and GMH both stopped making cars there a decade ago, Mitsubishi stopped in 2008. All of them were propped up by the Australian government with hundreds of millions before they left.

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  • [–] 2 points 1 month ago* (last edited 1 month ago) (3 children)

    True, but they could still have a tariff on ALL cars. Or only Chinese just to make USA happy.
    Here in Denmark where we also don't make cars, we used to have a very high tax on cars, officially to limit pollution, but also because the state was low on money.
    This dated back to post WW2 where for years for instance color film was illegal to import, because the country lacked the wealth to import luxury items.
    Even when in the EEC later EU we still had/have high taxes on cars, but they were not called import taxes, they were added at registration, so it was called a registration tax, that however was obviously a workaround, and EEC/EU allow it.
    Taxes are now way lower on cars, because to stimulate transition to electric, they have way lower registration tax, and the sales of BEV cars is 90% now.

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  • [–] 3 points 1 month ago* (last edited 1 month ago) (1 child)

    Registration cost is quite high in Australia as I understand it, my small 4 cylinder car is around €500 a year, and it's about double for an 8 cylinder.

    There is a tax on luxury vehicles over approx €50k, and a fuel tax of about 30 percent per litre , and fuel at about €1.75/l, there's plenty of revenue coming in for the government.

    And while Australia is friends with the USA, putting tariffs on Chinese vehicles "to make them happy" would be quite disadvantageous. A lot of Australian raw materials go to China to be turned into stuff that is then sent back. Retaliatory tariffs from China would be quite devastating on those primary industries.

    Having said all that, employee leasing arrangements where your employer folds in a car as part of your salary package have been exempt from "fringe benefits tax" if you buy an EV. That works out to around €5000 a year if you are in the upper income tax brackets, so that has had quite an effect on the market.

    And to be honest, BYD make EVs that are relatively well built, have good range in the typical Australian climate, have lots of "luxury" items, and are cheap compared to EVs of similar spec from other overseas companies. So if by those means they bring on the wholesale electrification of Australian vehicles, I say go for it.

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  • [–] 2 points 1 month ago

    From what I've heard BYD should have decent build quality.
    The problems I mostly hear about are poor steering characteristics, it is not as safe as the average European car in double evasive maneuvers. And some of the assist systems are horrible. So users simply turn them off.

    But the value is undeniable. And here in Denmark we are not seeing them rust yet. Which is a common occurrence with cheap new brands of cars. Honda Civic in the early 70's probably being the worst yet, they rusted away in a couple of years back then.
    So for such a young company, BYD is doing really well, avoiding common problems we've seen with other brands that have become reputable brands with improved quality over time.

    Regarding the taxes, I can see you have some "funny" regulation like we do here. 😋

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  • [–] 3 points 1 month ago (2 children)

    Australia told GM and Ford to fuck off years ago. They no longer make cars.

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  • [–] 3 points 1 month ago (1 child)

    I think ford and GM said to fuck off first. Which was a shame because their Aussie divisions were killing it.

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  • [–] 8 points 1 month ago

    Not exactly, GM and Ford in Australia and Canada lived off billions in corporate welfare. When Australia refused to keep paying, they left.

    Canada really needs to rethink it's relationship with Detroit. Ottawa likes the export value numbers, but we certainly subsidize this industry that only makes thirsty trucks.

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  • [–] 1 point 1 month ago

    They have complete vertical integration, China owns everything from mining operations to the refinement, to the production of the battery packs. Any non-Chinese manufacturers are going to have to pay ~2x as much for battery packs, especially in Europe because China won't sell them as cheap to our manufacturers as they do their own and we have environmental regulations preventing us from doing large scale lithium refinement AFAIK.

    Not to mention that there's a subsidy that China pays on all NEVs, regardless of where they're sold.

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  • [–] 1 point 1 month ago (2 children)

    Most of tiny EVs are having range of like 100-150. At 220, it's an upgrade!

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    • [–] 14 points 1 month ago (10 children)

    Huh… at that price I might actually just buy one.

    I wonder what’s required to disable the spyware.

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  • [–] 14 points 1 month ago* (last edited 1 month ago) (7 children)

    Just say "1989 Tiananmen Square massacre" intermittently and put a sign up on the dashboard saying it too.
    I bet everything going to China will be turned off pretty quickly.

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  • [–] 25 points 1 month ago (4 children)

    Me when I say 1970 Kent state massacre and my ford f150 shuts down and calls ice to my location

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  • [–] 8 points 1 month ago* (last edited 1 month ago) (1 child)

    Wow never heard about that before.
    That's absolutely disgusting!

    Eight of the shooters (National Guard) were charged with depriving the students of their civil rights, but were acquitted in a bench trial.

    For fucks sake USA, and you didn't learn diddly?!

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  • [–] -1 points 1 month ago

    i have a BYD in Aus and have had it since February last year, I give zero shits about Chinese spyware, I'm worried about the Australian government, or one of the 5 eyes spying on me, they want to do my harm.

    Having user connect is good: OTA software updates, can turn charging off and on remotely, can preheat the car and turn the seat heaters on 10 mins before you leave (good in Tassie winters) can check the SOC remotely etc.

    You can grab Toyota, Cupra or VW ecar, they have no connected services in Aus. but the main gripes on forums is they have no connected services eg software updates (notified by email etc ) need you to go in to the dealer and an can take all day (i. e when they get to it)

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    • [–] 7 points 1 month ago (1 child)

    Is there any sort of after market community with guides on how to make this thing not a surveillance capsule?

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    • [–] 2 points 1 month ago

    Australians are more prosperous after giving up subsidizing an auto manufacturing industry. The option to have $20k cheaper alternative EVs of equal value is $400/month in financing savings. Another $400+/month savings in fuel (current prices) and maintenance savings, and $50/month insurance savings. Australia has embraced suburban sprawl and home solar, and a 2nd car is perfect as (both) EV. Free daytime charging if not used much, and V2L models can charge home overnight reducing utility dependence.

    A single car middle class household saving $850/month tax free is almost like a UBI to boost their standard of living. Where 2nd cars are a necessity, its more.

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    [+] 2 points 1 month ago (1 child)
    [removed by mod]
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    • [–] 2 points 1 month ago (5 children)

    And that’s why dumb shit like the slate is DoA.

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  • [–] 4 points 1 month ago (2 children)

    Wut. slate is the only EV I might buy. all the others are horrifying surveillance capsules

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