Wild update for popular electric car: 330kW BYD Atto 3 Evo revealed in compliance documents

Lukas Foyle

Contributor

Bigger batteries, rear-wheel drive, and a huge kick in power just some of the updates scheduled for BYD’s small-to-medium Atto 3 facelift known as ‘Evo’

BYD’s four year-old Atto 3 midsize electric SUV has gained a huge list of wild technical changes alongside small styling tweaks.

The facelift, known as ‘Evo’ internationally, leaves almost no current Atto 3 under the skin. Most prolific is the shift from front- to rear-drive for base model cars, with the already released UK flagship ‘Excellence’ gaining dual-motor all-wheel drive and 330kW.

It’s the opposite to what MG has done with its 4 small car, which will go front-wheel drive later this year.

Despite BYD’s local arm not confirming the ‘Evo’, a near-identical-to-Evo Atto 3 facelift has already been approved for sale by Australia’s road vehicle regulator (ROVER).

Australia is expected to see the Atto 3 Evo in the next six months, though the name will likely change.

Two new Atto 3 variants headline BYD’s 26-page approval document: A 230kW rear-wheel drive base model and 330kW all-wheel drive range topper, in line with the UK’s new offerings.

Local battery sizes are yet to be determined. However, UK cars gain a larger 74.8kWh BYD Blade unit good for driving ranges of 510km (RWD) and 470km (AWD), both WLTP figures.

This ought to help the Atto 3 in an increasingly competitive market, against the longer range Kia EV3, MG S5 and others.

Also in BYD’s recent approval documents are facelifted versions of the two existing front-driven Atto 3 variants: Essential and Premium. Both cars produce 150kW, and appear to share a 60kWh battery (displayed as 150ah), likely the same LFP unit from the existing Premium.

Charge time and range for those cars aren’t likely to change, however the forthcoming RWD and AWD Atto 3’s could gain 800V architecture to support 220kW DC charging, as seen in international markets. This would result in a 10-80 percent charge time of 25 minutes.

Other changes to the Atto 3 Evo include the addition of a 101-litre frunk, an additional 50-litres of rear boot space (now 490-litres), a revised 8.8-inch digital instrument cluster, new column-shift gear selector, and a tweaked, Google-integrated 15.6-inch touchscreen.

And yes, the new Atto 3 will continue to feature guitar strings on the door cards.

Pricing is yet to be revealed, but with more than twice the power available, whole new powertrain and 25 percent larger battery we’d expect an increase to the current $44,990 before on-road costs price of the top-spec Atto 3 Premium.