Daily orders for the BYD Atto 3 have doubled off the back of a servicing update released by the vehicle’s distributor, EV Direct, on Wednesday.
According to a note sent to The Driven from EV Direct, the distributor says it has now taken nearly 4,500 orders for what is currently Australia’s most affordable EV.
“Daily orders over the last 48 hours are now double the average of what we were seeing prior to releasing our original service schedule,” said EV Direct’s Luke Todd in a note to The Driven.
“We are closing in on 4,500 total buyers with deposits in place and thrilled that customer deliveries are now underway.”
Customer deliveries are set to commence as soon as tomorrow. One Queensland customer shared on an Atto 3 Facebook group on Friday morning that they had been scheduled to take delivery in Robina on Saturday.
The group ran into trouble last Friday after a revised warranty and service schedule were released ahead of customer deliveries.
Anticipation of the Atto 3’s arrival in Australia has been huge. EV Direct says it has secured a dedicated assembly line for the Atto 3 at BYD’s factory in China, able to supply 1,500 cars a month to the beleaguered Australian EV market.
The asking price, which is lower than any other EV in Australia, coupled with lower maintenance needs of an EV, saw 3,000 or more customers take the leap to order an Atto 3 sight unseen.
But customers expressed disappointment after receiving notice that the service schedule, which can be accessed via trained EV technicians at Eagers and mycar sites, would cost $3,090 – the highest at the time for any electric vehicle in Australia.
Additionally, a previous seven-year unlimited warranty was replaced with a longer but limited kilometre battery and drive-unit warranty, and shorter terms for certain items.
Whilst this didn’t deter some customers, others voted with their feet and cancelled their order. Another customer started a petition calling for a better warranty.
While the eight-year warranty still stands, EV Direct responded to customers by offering a 23% reduction in servicing costs.
And it is paying off, according to EV Direct.
“I am pleased to notify that our orders have spiked within the last 24 hours since we release our amended service and maintenance schedule,” said Todd in a statement to The Driven.
“With the service costs now being an average of $299 per year or as low as $189 capped per annum for lower kilometre drivers (12,00 KLMS per yer) our newly adjusted and more flexible service schedule has received a warm reception in the market of which we are pleased.”
Bridie Schmidt is associate editor for The Driven, sister site of Renew Economy. She has been writing about electric vehicles since 2018, and has a keen interest in the role that zero-emissions transport has to play in sustainability. She has participated in podcasts such as Download This Show with Marc Fennell and Shirtloads of Science with Karl Kruszelnicki and is co-organiser of the Northern Rivers Electric Vehicle Forum. Bridie also owns a Tesla Model Y and has it available for hire on evee.com.au.
