BYD Atto 3 charging times, battery capacity and real consumption
What BYD publishes for the UK car, each figure with its source, next to what one BYD Atto 3 has actually used over every kilometre of its life.
This covers the 2023–2025 UK car. The 2026 Evo is a different vehicle with a larger pack, and BYD has not published enough about it in the UK to put here yet.
Charging time, DC charging speed and battery capacity at a glance
| AC charging time | 6 h 30 min verified on an 11 kW three-phase supply, BYD's published time, almost empty to full. about 10 h 15 min estimated on a 7 kW single-phase supply, scaled from the 11 kW figure; BYD publishes no 7 kW time. |
|---|---|
| DC charging speed | 88 kW peak verified published by BYD UK. 30–80% in 29 minutes verified on a 150 kW charge point; the 150 kW is the charger, not the car. |
| Battery capacity | 60.48 kWh rated verified LFP Blade, BYD's figure, gross or net not stated. Usable capacity not published unpublished |
Owner data
Measured against declared
15.6 kWh/100 km over 49,351.3 km, read from the car's own lifetime-average display, as of 2026-10-01.
One car, bought new in November 2024, one driver, every kilometre by the owner, in Santiago, Chile. There it is sold as the BYD Yuan Plus: the same 60.48 kWh LFP (BYD Blade) battery, 150 kW motor and 4,455 / 1,875 / 1,615 mm body as the UK BYD Atto 3, figures BYD UK and BYD Chile both publish, but a different onboard charger. The Chilean car takes 7 kW AC and 80 kW DC verified (BYD Chile ficha técnica Yuan Plus 2026.07), against 11 kW and 88 kW for the UK car. So the consumption below transfers to the UK car; the charging times on this page are the UK car's own and were never measured on this one. The figure is the car's own lifetime average and is updated monthly from the log.
BYD's published WLTP consumption is 3.98 miles/kWh verified, which converts to 15.6 kWh/100 km calculated. The two numbers are close, and that closeness is misleading, because they do not measure the same thing. WLTP consumption is defined from the energy recharged from the mains: the regulation requires the meter to sit between the vehicle charger and the mains and defines the figure from the recharged electric energy from the mains verified (Commission Regulation (EU) 2017/1151, Annex XXI, Sub-Annex 8, paragraphs 3.4.4.3.2 and 4.3.4.2 (pure electric vehicles)). So the WLTP figure includes charging losses. The car's display counts energy leaving the battery and sees none of them.
Put on the same footing, a wall figure of 15.6 kWh/100 km corresponds to about 13.3 kWh/100 km at the battery if 15% of the mains energy is lost in charging estimated. Against that, the measured 15.6 kWh/100 km is roughly 18% above the WLTP figure compared like for like. The 15% is an assumption, not a measurement. It cannot be read off the car: the BYD Atto 3 does not report the energy it received when a charge ends. It will be replaced by an estimate from the log once enough sessions, at home and on rapid chargers, pair the meter reading with the change in state of charge; the meter-to-charge ratio at each power gives the loss, and that takes more sessions than the log holds today.
The other comparison people make is 60.48 kWh divided by the 418 km WLTP range, which gives 14.5 kWh/100 km estimated. That figure inherits the open question below: BYD does not say whether 60.48 kWh is the whole pack or the usable part of it, so range divided by capacity is a ratio between a measured distance and an unknown quantity of energy. It is shown because readers will meet it elsewhere, not because it settles anything.
Owner data
Why a single consumption figure does not tell the story
On 2026-09-10 the log has the reference route driven both ways. The same road driven out and back. Outbound is a sustained, gentle climb; the return is the same slope downhill, where regenerative braking recovers part of the energy.
| Leg | Distance | Energy | kWh/100 km |
|---|---|---|---|
| Out (depto-cua) | 15 km | 4.1 kWh | 27.3 |
| Return (cua-depto) | 15 km | 0.6 kWh | 4.0 |
| Round trip | 30 km | 4.7 kWh | 15.7 |
Same road, same day, same car: one leg used 7 times the energy of the other. Either leg on its own is a true measurement and a false picture. The round trip lands at 15.7 kWh/100 km, within a whisker of the 15.6 kWh/100 km lifetime average, because over a whole journey the climb and the descent cancel. A review that quotes one trip as "real-world consumption" is publishing a real number that describes almost nothing.
What BYD publishes, and what it does not
| Rated battery capacity verified | 60.48 kWh BYD's specification table calls this rated capacity. It does not say how much of it is usable. |
|---|---|
| Battery chemistry verified | LFP (BYD Blade) |
| Nominal cell capacity verified | 150 Ah From the owner's manual specification table. The manual calls it the high-voltage battery's rated capacity, not a cell figure; in a series pack the two coincide. Wording copied on 2026-10-01 from the English-language manual (PDF page 206, printed 204) and from the Spanish Atto 3 (2024) left-hand-drive manual (PDF page 226, printed 225, chapter 08 Especificaciones); both PDFs, not live pages. |
| AC charging power verified | 11 kW Stated for Comfort and Design. BYD does not publish a figure for the Active. |
| AC charge time verified | 6.5 hours BYD's wording is almost empty to full range, not 0–100%. |
| DC charge time verified | 29 minutes 30–80% on a 150 kW charger. |
| DC peak charging power verified | 88 kW BYD UK's wording: 'a charging capacity of DC 88kW'. The car's own limit, not the 150 kW of the charger in the 29-minute test. Absent from this page until 12 September 2026 because no manufacturer source had been traced. Source: BYD UK Atto 3 page |
| WLTP range verified | 260 miles 418 km. City range quoted separately at 351 miles. |
| Motor power verified | 150 kW From the specification table of the UK launch release. Copied 2026-10-01; added so that the comparison with the Chilean car rests on a UK figure, not on the Chilean documents alone. |
| Dimensions (L/W/H) verified | 4,455 / 1,875 / 1,615 mm Millimetres, as the release's table gives them. Copied 2026-10-01, for the same reason as the motor row. |
| Usable battery capacity unpublished | Not published BYD gives 60.48 kWh without saying whether it is the whole pack or the part the car will give back. Nothing on this site treats 60.48 kWh as usable capacity. |
Source for all of the above: BYD Europe UK launch release, 7 March 2023, except the 150 Ah figure, which is from the owner's manual specification table, and any row that links its own source.
Also missing from every BYD UK document: an AC charge time for a 7 kW supply, and an onboard charger rating for the Active trim. Where a figure for either circulates, it traces to secondary sites, not to BYD.
AC charging times
| Supply | Full charge | Energy from the wall |
|---|---|---|
| 11 kW three-phase | 6 h 30 min verified | 71.5 kWh calculated |
| 7 kW single-phase | about 10 h 15 min estimated | 71.4 kWh estimated |
BYD's wording for the 11 kW figure is Overnight charging from an almost empty battery to full range can be completed in just 6.5 hours. It is stated for the trims that carry the 11 kW onboard charger and needs a three-phase supply, which most British homes do not have. 11 kW for 6 h 30 min means about 71.5 kWh passes through the meter to fill a pack rated at 60.48 kWh, roughly 18% more: the losses in the onboard charger, the battery management and thermal conditioning, all included in the manufacturer's own time.
BYD publishes no time at all for 7 kW, which is what a single-phase home delivers. The about 10 h 15 min shown above is scaled from the 11 kW figure on the assumption that the same energy passes through the meter at either power, and it is labelled estimated everywhere it appears. The figure that circulates instead, 8 h 38 min, is 60.48 divided by 7. It assumes every kilowatt-hour from the wall reaches the battery, so the meter would record only 60.48 kWh, less than the 71.5 kWh BYD's own 11 kW time implies. If you see a time near 8 h 38 min for this car, it was divided, not measured.
DC charging
Peak DC charging power is 88 kW verified, from BYD UK's own page for the car: High-speed charging is possible, with a charging capacity of DC 88kW. BYD's rapid charging claim is 30–80% in 29 minutes verified, measured on a 150 kW charge point. That 150 kW is the charger, not the car: quoting a charge point's rating as if it were the vehicle's is a common way specification tables overstate performance.
Across the published interval the average works out at about 63 kW estimated, because the arithmetic assumes half the rated capacity moves between 30% and 80%, and rated capacity is not usable capacity. An average of 63 kW under a peak of 88 kW is what a normal charging curve looks like: the peak is held briefly, then tapers.
Watch the window as well. BYD starts the clock at 30%. Set against a claim quoted from 10% to 80%, that leaves out the first 20 points of charge, which are the fastest part of the curve, so starting at 30% skips the easiest work and produces a better number. The 29 minutes cannot be set against a rival's figure unless that rival measured the same window.
The 60.48 kWh question
The owner's manual lists the pack at 150 Ah. Divide 60.48 kWh by 150 Ah and you get 403.2 V, a plausible nominal pack voltage that BYD does not itself publish. The capacity figure reads as amp-hours multiplied by nominal volts: a nameplate number, arrived at by arithmetic rather than by measuring energy out of a battery. BYD calls it rated capacity and does not say what fraction of it the car will actually give back.
That is why nothing on this site treats 60.48 kWh as usable capacity, and why the calculator never divides it by a charger's power. Wall energy is derived from BYD's published charge time instead, which absorbs both the unknown usable capacity and the unknown charging efficiency into one figure that comes straight from the manufacturer. How that calculation works.
Questions about charging and the battery
How long does a BYD Atto 3 take to charge?
BYD publishes 6 h 30 min from almost empty to full on an 11 kW three-phase supply, stated for the Comfort and Design trims. BYD publishes no time for a 7 kW single-phase home supply; scaled from the 11 kW figure, a full charge takes about 10 h 15 min, which is an estimate by this site, not a published figure.
What is the BYD Atto 3's DC charging speed?
BYD UK publishes a peak DC charging power of 88 kW. BYD's published rapid-charging claim is 30–80% in 29 minutes on a 150 kW charge point; the 150 kW is the charger's rating, not the car's. Across that interval the average works out at about 63 kW, an estimate because it assumes half the rated capacity moves.
What is the BYD Atto 3's battery capacity?
BYD publishes 60.48 kWh as the rated capacity of the LFP Blade pack and does not say whether that is gross or net; usable capacity is not published. The owner's manual lists the pack at 150 Ah, and 60.48 kWh divided by 150 Ah gives 403.2 V, a plausible nominal pack voltage that BYD does not publish; the capacity figure reads as amp-hours times volts rather than measured energy out of the battery.
Owner data
Measurement log
Every logged journey, as recorded. A blank cell means the value was not written down that day, not that it was zero. Energy is read from the car's trip screen. Charging sessions, monthly readings and battery checks are on the owner data page.
| Date | Odometer km | Type | Route | Direction | km | kWh | SOC start % | SOC end % | Hours | km/h | °C | Climate | Terrain | People | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2026-08-29 | 47651 | 9 | 0.3 | heating | city | 1 | |||||||||
| 2026-08-29 | 47678 | reference | 15.4 | 4 | 93 | 86 | 0.6 | 22 | 17 | cooling | city | 1 | |||
| 2026-09-01 | 47758 | 18 | 4.1 | 69 | 0.5 | 16 | cooling | city | 2 | ||||||
| 2026-09-08 | 48198 | 17 | 72 | 70 | 10 | heating | city | 2 | |||||||
| 2026-09-10 | 48304 | reference | cua-depto | return | 15 | 0.6 | 60 | 0.8 | 17 | 12 | cooling | city | 2 | ||
| 2026-09-10 | 48350 | reference | depto-cua | out | 15 | 4.1 | 59 | 51 | 0.6 | 23 | 18 | cooling | city | 1 | |
| 2026-09-20 | 48725 | reference | depto-cua | out | 69 | 59 | 1.3 | 20 | 17 | cooling | city | 2 | |||
| 2026-09-20 | 48753 | laflorida-depto | return | 18 | 1.2 | 59 | 56 | 0.5 | 38 | 19 | cooling | city | 2 |
Work out your own cost
Corrected 2026-09-12. The DC peak charging power was absent from this page because no manufacturer source had been traced for it. BYD UK's page for the car publishes it, and the row has been added to the table above with that source.
Corrected 2026-09-13. The owner-data block above previously called the owner's car the same vehicle as the UK car. It is the Chilean variant, with a 7 kW onboard charger and an 80 kW DC module; the block now says which figures transfer and which do not.
Corrected 2026-10-01. This page previously called 403.2 V the nominal pack voltage. BYD publishes no pack voltage; the figure is the published kWh divided by the published Ah, and is now presented as implied by those two figures rather than as a BYD figure. The DC section also said that most manufacturers quote from 10% and that almost none measure from 30%; neither claim had been sourced, and the passage now says only that two intervals compare when they cover the same window. The owner-data block said the Chilean and UK cars share the same motor, battery and body with a BYD UK source for the battery only; the motor and the dimensions are now in the table above from BYD's UK launch release, and the sentence is built from the rows both records publish: 60.48 kWh LFP (BYD Blade) battery, 150 kW motor and 4,455 / 1,875 / 1,615 mm body.