What you get in the cheapest EV in Oz

BYD has locked in specifications for its incoming Atto 1 city car, which is also known as the BYD Seagull overseas.

The Atto 1 is truly a city car in dimensions, being roughly the same size as the Kia Picanto hatchback. It offers only four seats, but could be the most affordable electric car in Australia when it arrives in customer hands in early 2026. 

BYD’s representatives said at a pre-launch event that the brand is targeting a circa $25,000 starting price for the diminutive hatch.

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The brand has also locked in two variants for the Atto 1 - a base Essential and a top-spec Premium.

The variants are divided not only on specification, but also on battery size and power output with the base Essential offering a 30kWh battery enabling a 220km driving range to the WLTP cycle, or the top-spec Premium offering a 43.2kWh battery enabling a WLTP driving range of 310km.

The base essential’s front-mounted motor produces 65kW/175Nm for a 0-100km/h sprint time of 11.1 seconds, while the top-spec Essential gets a slight boost, offering 115kW/220Nm, reducing the 0-100km/h sprint time to 9.1 seconds.

Energy consumption is rated at 15.5kWh/100km for the lighter base car, with the slightly heavier Premium consuming 16.0kWh/100km.

Both grades get torsion beam rear suspension and disc brakes all-round, with the Essential wearing 15-inch steel wheels and the Premium wearing 16-inch alloys.

The two grades are also divided on charging speed, with the base car charging at a peak 65kW on DC and the top-spec car charging at a peak of 85kW, with both offering a 10 - 80 per cent charge time of 30 minutes. Impressively, both variants charge at 11kW on AC allowing a slow charge time of 3.5 hours for the base Essential, or five hours for the top-spec Premium.

Like all BYDs, both grades also offer vehicle-to-load (V2L) functionality.

Base equipment includes halogen headlights with only the Premium scoring LEDs, while both grades get a 7.0-inch digital instrument cluster and 10.1-inch multimedia touchscreen with voice control, over-the-air connectivity, as well as Apple CarPlay and Android Auto.

Both cars get synthetic leather interior trim, but only the top-spec premium gets a six-way power adjustable driver’s seat and four-way power adjustable front passenger seat with heating for both front seats. The Premium also adds wireless phone charging, a surround-view camera, rain-sensing wipers and auto-folding side mirrors over the base car.

Both grades get the full active safety suite as standard, although no spare wheel, with a repair kit under the floor.

The Atto 1 will be available in green, white, blue or black exterior colours, but only a two-tone black and grey interior scheme.

Expect to learn more about the Atto 1’s final price-tags in due course. It is one part of a massively expanded BYD range in 2026, which will include the Atto 2 small SUV, Sealion 5 mid-size PHEV, Sealion 8 three-row PHEV, as well as the introduction of the Denza range, which includes two off-road hybrid SUVs, the B5 and B8.