I swapped my gas truck for a Chinese hybrid. The BYD Shark is great to drive, but one thing worries me.
Wayne Dopson runs a renovation business in Brisbane, Australia, and bought a BYD Shark hybrid pickup in March.
He said it's great to drive compared with his old gas truck, but fears it may be obsolete in a few years.
Chinese EV makers are expanding rapidly in tariff-free Australia, putting Tesla under pressure.
This as-told-to essay is based on a conversation with Wayne Dopson, a project manager in Brisbane, Australia about owning a BYD Shark hybrid pickup truck. It has been edited for length and clarity.
I've always been in the property market, flipping houses and doing renovations. I have a small renovation business, working on kitchens, bathrooms, and decks for clients in Brisbane, which I've been doing for about 12 years now.
I bought a VW Amarok diesel-powered pickup in 2015. I wanted to upgrade for a while, but nothing came along that took my interest.
Other combustion-engine trucks like the Ford Ranger were all very similar to the Amarok. I would have been getting pretty much the same car with just a bigger screen, so I waited for something a little bit different.
I bought the BYD Shark hybrid pickup in March for 64,000 Australian dollars, around $41,000.
Ford and Toyota are charging ridiculous prices for their pickup trucks, or utes in Australia. You're looking at up to 80,000 dollars for something that is, to me, inferior to what BYD is charging 60,000 for.
I've only done 2,000 kilometers in the Shark so I'm still learning the car, but so far I love driving it.
The technology, the power, and the smoothness — it feels decades ahead of the Amarok.
The level of luxury inside is incredible for the money. I've owned Audis and BMWs and it feels just as good, just as solid and well-built as a premium car. It also does 0 to 100km/h in 5.7 seconds, so it drives like a sports car.
I use it mainly for work as well as leisure, and there are a couple of advantages to using it for work.
It costs me just cents to run it each day. I've got 30 solar panels on my roof, so my electricity during the day is free.
I pay eight cents per kilowatt hour from 12 a.m. to 6 a.m., which is enough time to charge the car — it takes between three to four hours to charge.
If I set the car to charge at midnight, it's done by about 4 a.m., and it generally costs less than two Australian dollars, or $1.03. I'd be using 13 or 14 dollars ($8-9) worth of diesel a day in the VW Amarok, so comparatively it's very cheap to run.
The other advantage is you've got power outlets in the back of the truck that provide about six kilowatts of power, which you can use on-site to power tools.
It's got a really big tray with a couple of little tricks up its sleeve. You can open your tailgate with a quick press of the key, which is handy if you're walking up with your hands full.
The Shark is what they call an EREV, or extended range electric vehicle. It's got two electric motors, at the front and rear, and it also has a 1.5-liter petrol turbo engine that acts as a generator.
The petrol engine means range anxiety isn't really a thing for me.
Generally, I do less than 100 kilometers a day, which will be done in electric mode, but if I do want to go to the beach or further down the coast, I've got the petrol engine right there.
That just kicks in and charges the battery and I'm good to go for around 800 kilometers.
The only thing that would worry me down the line is the resale value. I've already seen that new vehicles are coming out from Nissan, Ford, and Great Wall.
The technology is advancing like crazy at the moment, so my Shark could be fairly obsolete in five years.
It's got a six-year warranty, and I'm planning to keep it for the warranty period. What's it going to be worth at the end is anyone's guess.
I think having more Chinese EV brands in Australia is great. We're getting longer warranty periods and better quality cars.
Utes are a very important part of Australian culture. One of the issues the BYD Shark will face is that it doesn't have the same off-roading credentials as a vehicle with a diff lock — an axle mechanism that you need to crawl over rocks and rough terrain.
It's fine on the sand and in the mud, but when it comes to really serious off-roading, where you are crawling up huge hills with ruts and boulders, it's going to struggle.
For me, though, the Shark is great. It's a pleasure to drive, and it's nice being able to drive around knowing it's not costing me and not costing the planet either.
Read the original article on Business Insider
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Bloomberg
32 minutes ago
- Bloomberg
Australia Names Wilkinson Treasury Head, First Woman in Role
Australia's Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has named Jenny Wilkinson as the nation's new secretary to the Treasury, making her the first woman to hold the bureaucracy's top economic post. Wilkinson, currently head of the Department of Finance, will replace Steven Kennedy who will oversee the Department of Prime Minister and Cabinet after almost six years at Treasury. The two officials will take up their new roles with five-year terms on June 16.
Yahoo
an hour ago
- Yahoo
Exclusive-Hyundai Motor has a rare earths stockpile that can last about a year, source says
By Heekyong Yang SEOUL (Reuters) -Hyundai Motor has a rare earths stockpile that can last about a year and it does not expect any near-term impact from global supply chain disruptions caused by China's export curbs, said a person who attended a company investor call. China's decision in April to restrict exports of a wide range of rare earths and related magnets has tripped up the supply chains central to automakers, aerospace manufacturers, semiconductor companies and military contractors around the world. The stockpiling by Hyundai, the world's No.3 automaker along with its affiliate Kia Corp, indicates it is better-placed than many competitors to withstand restrictions that have already impacted production or the supplier network of companies including Ford and BMW. A Hyundai investor relations official said the South Korean automaker had "far more wiggle room" than rivals with regard to rare earths-related supply chain issues affecting the industry, according to the attendee on the investor call, which was not open to the public. The official told investors Hyundai's efforts to diversify supply chains and improve procurement had succeeded and the company expected to be able to produce electric vehicles or hybrid cars without disruptions "for at least about one year," the attendee said. Hyundai also significantly boosted its rare earths inventories during a recent period when China had slightly relaxed its export restrictions, the official said, according to the attendee who spoke on condition of anonymity because the call was private. The South Korean automaker's stockpile of the key minerals had not been reported previously. It was not clear whether the inventory was solely stockpiled by Hyundai and its affiliate Kia or also included stocks held by their suppliers. In a statement to Reuters, Hyundai declined to comment on specific inventory details or procurement strategies. "We continuously evaluate market conditions to ensure operational stability and maintain a diversified global supply chain," Hyundai said. "As part of our standard business practices, we maintain appropriate inventory levels to support uninterrupted production." China produces around 90% of the world's rare earths, which are essential for the production of vehicles, especially electric vehicle motors. Hyundai Motor Group also holds about a one-year inventory of rare earths-related magnets needed for its mainstay EVs and hybrid vehicles, said a person familiar with the matter, declining to be named due to the sensitivity of the subject. China's dominance of the critical mineral industry is increasingly viewed as a key point of leverage for Beijing in the trade war sparked by U.S. President Donald Trump's tariffs. U.S.-China trade talks were set to extend to a second day in London on Tuesday as top economic officials from the world's two largest economies sought to defuse a bitter dispute that has widened from tariffs to restrictions over rare earths.
Yahoo
an hour ago
- Yahoo
Exclusive-Hyundai Motor has a rare earths stockpile that can last about a year, source says
By Heekyong Yang SEOUL (Reuters) -Hyundai Motor has a rare earths stockpile that can last about a year and it does not expect any near-term impact from global supply chain disruptions caused by China's export curbs, said a person who attended a company investor call. China's decision in April to restrict exports of a wide range of rare earths and related magnets has tripped up the supply chains central to automakers, aerospace manufacturers, semiconductor companies and military contractors around the world. The stockpiling by Hyundai, the world's No.3 automaker along with its affiliate Kia Corp, indicates it is better-placed than many competitors to withstand restrictions that have already impacted production or the supplier network of companies including Ford and BMW. A Hyundai investor relations official said the South Korean automaker had "far more wiggle room" than rivals with regard to rare earths-related supply chain issues affecting the industry, according to the attendee on the investor call, which was not open to the public. The official told investors Hyundai's efforts to diversify supply chains and improve procurement had succeeded and the company expected to be able to produce electric vehicles or hybrid cars without disruptions "for at least about one year," the attendee said. Hyundai also significantly boosted its rare earths inventories during a recent period when China had slightly relaxed its export restrictions, the official said, according to the attendee who spoke on condition of anonymity because the call was private. The South Korean automaker's stockpile of the key minerals had not been reported previously. It was not clear whether the inventory was solely stockpiled by Hyundai and its affiliate Kia or also included stocks held by their suppliers. In a statement to Reuters, Hyundai declined to comment on specific inventory details or procurement strategies. "We continuously evaluate market conditions to ensure operational stability and maintain a diversified global supply chain," Hyundai said. "As part of our standard business practices, we maintain appropriate inventory levels to support uninterrupted production." China produces around 90% of the world's rare earths, which are essential for the production of vehicles, especially electric vehicle motors. Hyundai Motor Group also holds about a one-year inventory of rare earths-related magnets needed for its mainstay EVs and hybrid vehicles, said a person familiar with the matter, declining to be named due to the sensitivity of the subject. China's dominance of the critical mineral industry is increasingly viewed as a key point of leverage for Beijing in the trade war sparked by U.S. President Donald Trump's tariffs. U.S.-China trade talks were set to extend to a second day in London on Tuesday as top economic officials from the world's two largest economies sought to defuse a bitter dispute that has widened from tariffs to restrictions over rare earths. Error in retrieving data Sign in to access your portfolio Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data
