Brazil's best-selling electric car will gain, abroad, improvements in the autonomous driving system and battery range; news may arrive here
The BYD Dolphin Mini (marketed in China as BYD Seagull) is preparing for a significant technological upgrade that promises to increase its offer of advanced systems, despite the low-cost proposal. That’s because recent images reveal that the model will now have a roof-mounted LiDAR sensor and a larger capacity battery, capable of delivering up to 505 km of autonomy in the Chinese test cycle (CLTC). The novelty has a direct impact on Brazil, where the hatch leads electric car sales by far.
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The main technical evolution of the project is the installation of the LiDAR module, a high-cost resource usually restricted to vehicles of higher categories. The inclusion of the sensor in the subcompact — which uses laser beams to create a 3D environment around it — will be part of the automaker’s “God’s Eye” driving assistance package. In practice, the equipment provides detailed three-dimensional mapping of the surroundings, which improves autonomous driving functions, emergency braking and maneuvering in dense urban environments.
In parallel with the jump in assistance, the hatch should adopt a new Blade LFP battery with about 40 kWh. The updated component is responsible for raising the maximum range from the current 405 km to up to 505 km (CLTC). Although the Chinese standard is more optimistic than Western metrics, the estimate is that the real range of the model will jump to the range of 350 to 400 kilometers — a notable advance for urban use, corresponding to approximately 360 km in the rigorous European WLTP cycle.
