BYD's New Seagull EV Starts at $9,800 in China, With 5-Minute Charging on Pricier Trims
BYD launched the second-generation Seagull in China on October 20 from 65,900 yuan (about $9,800). It's bigger, seats five and is rear-wheel drive, and its three bigger-battery trims add Flash Charging that goes from 10% to 70% in five minutes.
A brand-new, five-seat electric car for less than a lot of people pay for a used Civic. That’s what BYD just put on sale in China.
On Tuesday, October 20, BYD launched the second-generation Seagull at an event in Zhengzhou. It starts at 65,900 yuan, about $9,800, which is actually 4,000 yuan cheaper than the previous model’s starting price. There’s a 3,000-yuan trade-in promo on top of that, but that’s a deal, not the sticker price.
What you get for the money
- It’s bigger: 4,205 mm long, 425 mm longer than before, with a 150 mm longer wheelbase. That buys a fifth seat.
- Rear-wheel drive now: the old Seagull was front-drive. The new one uses an 85 kW or 95 kW motor, up from 55 kW.
- Real suspension: an independent multi-link rear replaces the old setup.
- Two battery sizes: BYD’s Blade 2.0 LFP packs at 30.1 kWh (320 km CLTC) or 39.2 kWh (420 km CLTC, about 261 miles).
- Optional roof-mounted LiDAR on the top trim for BYD’s driver assistance.
The 5-minute charging part (read the fine print)
This is where the headlines get a little ahead of themselves. Flash Charging is only on the three 39.2 kWh trims, which start at 75,900 yuan, about $11,300. The two cheapest trims don’t get it.
On those trims, BYD says the car charges from 10% to 70% in five minutes and 10% to 97% in about nine minutes. That’s at BYD’s own Flash Charging stations, not any random plug. Private buyers of those trims who buy by November 30 also get a year of free charging at BYD’s flash stations.
And keep in mind that CLTC range numbers are generous. Real highway range will be noticeably less.
What this means for you
If you’re in the U.S., you can’t walk into a dealer and buy this car. It’s on sale in China, and Electrek reports BYD is expected to bring the bigger, upgraded version overseas as the next-generation Dolphin Surf and Dolphin Mini, the names the Seagull already uses in Europe, the U.K. and other markets.
But it still matters here. A roomy five-seat EV for under $10K, with super-fast charging just a few thousand dollars more, resets what “cheap EV” means for everybody. Every automaker building a budget EV now has to answer the question: why does ours cost three times as much?
Bottom line
The sub-$10K price and the 5-minute charging are both real. They just aren’t on the same car. The combo is about $11,300, which honestly is still wild.
Would you buy a tiny EV like this if it charged as fast as filling up with gas, or is a small car a dealbreaker no matter what?
Sources: Electrek, “BYD launches new Seagull EV with 5-minute Flash Charging, starting under $10,000” (Oct 20, 2026); CnEVPost, “BYD launches larger second-gen Seagull from $9,810, adds flash charging” (Oct 20, 2026). Video photos show the previous-generation Seagull and the Dolphin Surf: User3204, JustAnotherCarDesigner and Alexander Migl (CC BY-SA 4.0), and a BYD Flash Charging demo from China News Service (CC BY 3.0), via Wikimedia Commons.
