Chinese car giant BYD last year caused a surprise with details of a small hatchback model that was spotted testing in China and was destined to compete in Japan’s unique Kei market.
BYD then revealed at the Tokyo Motor Show that the new electric hatchback would be known as the 2026 BYD Racco, which translates from Japanese to BYD “Sea Otter”.
Now, more details on BYD’s smallest EV’s battery packs have been teased at the Tokyo Auto Salon ahead of the car officially going on sale in the coming months, which were shared by Thinkercar on X.
At the show, a slide at the BYD stand revealed that the Racco will come equipped with two battery packs, with the smaller 20 kWh pack delivering around 200 km of range, and a larger 30 kWh battery pack delivering around 300 km of range.
That’s plenty of range for most city drives, and the car is expected to have both AC and DC charging capabilities for when it comes to top-ups. Earlier reports hinted at DC charging speeds of up to 100 kW on these small battery packs but that’s yet to be confirmed.
The Racco shares many of its features with other BYD products but also brings in some unique styling cues not seen in the rest of the lineup.
The styling resembles other smaller Kei Car models in the Japanese markets, and features a boxier front and rear sections. The Racco is just shy of 3.4 metres in length, 1.48 metres wide and 1.8 metres in height.
It is likely that the Racco carries 15-inch wheels, making it one of the smallest in BYD’s lineup. For comparison, the smallest size on the BYD Dolphin and Atto 1 are 16 inches.
Those reports also mentioned that this pack could be charged at DC speeds of up to 100 kW, which is pretty high for a city car with this small battery pack.
Given that many of the Kei car models in Japan are powered by an engine with up to 660 cc of capacity, an electric variant by BYD could really help put BYD on Japanese consumers’ shortlist in the years to come.
BYD is not offering its compact hatchback, the Atto 1/Seagull, in Japan. The new Kei model is expected to land in Japan in the coming months, with the official website going live in February.
Detailed specifications and pricing will be announced closer to the launch, making BYD’s smallest electric car known to many more around the world.
Riz is the founder of carloop based in Melbourne, specialising in Australian EV data, insight reports and trends. He is a mechanical engineer who spent the first 7 years of his career building transport infrastructure before starting carloop. He has a passion for cars, particularly EVs and wants to help reduce transport emissions in Australia. He currently drives a red Tesla Model 3.
