BYD Racco Test Drive: Japan's First Chinese Kei EV Under the Microscope

Three weeks after the Racco went on sale, the first proper independent teardowns are landing, and they are long. EVsmart, a Japanese EV specialist channel, just published a 48 minute test drive of the Racco 300 Premium that inspects everything from the steel content of the body shell to whether the drink holder keeps your coffee warm. Nobody spends 48 minutes on a car the market has already dismissed. When we covered the Racco launch and its 1,002 orders in two weeks, the open question was whether the car itself would hold up once reviewers got past the press event. This video is the first detailed answer.

The Trim 80 Percent of Buyers Picked

EVsmart tested the 300 Premium, the top of the three trim lineup, and that choice mirrors the market: per Nikkei order data reported by CnEVPost, a full 80 percent of early Racco buyers went straight to this grade. It runs the larger 35.84 kWh lithium iron phosphate battery, good for 320 km of WLTC range, which Electrek's launch coverage notes makes the Racco the first kei EV in Japan to clear the 300 km mark.

The lineup starts at ¥2,145,000, and Japan's national CEV subsidy knocks ¥150,000 off, bringing the entry price to ¥1,995,000. That psychological drop into the one million yen range is a number EVsmart flags right in the video title, because in a segment where the Nissan Sakura has owned the electric conversation since 2022, price framing is the whole game.

Behind the Wheel: Stiff Body, Real Charging, One Odd Camera Trick

The driving section of the video digs into things launch coverage never touches. EVsmart points out the body shell uses 70 percent high tensile steel, a spec you would expect a premium compact to brag about, not a kei wagon built to a subsidy price. The kei class caps electric motors at 47 kW, so no kei EV will ever win a stoplight fight, but rigidity and suspension tuning are where an EV platform can actually feel different from the gas incumbents, and that is exactly where BYD spent its money.

Charging is the other substance check. The Racco takes 6 kW AC at home and 49 kW DC fast charging on the road. For a car with a 35.84 kWh pack, that DC rate is genuinely useful, roughly a lunch stop from low to full. The Sakura's smaller pack and slower charging have been the standard complaint from Japanese owners, so BYD matching a bigger battery with faster charging is not an accident, it is a targeted shot.

The quirky bit: the Racco runs a speed linked camera display that changes what the driver sees based on how fast you are going. EVsmart gives it a full chapter, along with the factory navigation and the electronic owner's manual that lives entirely in the 10.1 inch touchscreen. Whether you find that delightful or horrifying probably predicts how you feel about the whole software defined vehicle pitch.

The Details That Sell Kei Cars in Japan

Kei buyers do not shop spec sheets, they shop packaging, and this is where the video earns its runtime. EVsmart puts a 183 cm tall adult in the back seat and spends three full minutes verifying knee and head room in a car that is only 3,395 mm long. The power sliding doors on both sides get their own segment, as do the seat folding arrangements and rear cargo area. As TopElectricSUV observed at the car's world premiere, BYD entered the segment with rear disc brakes and dual power sliding doors in a class where rear drums and one manual slider are the norm.

Then there is the gadget layer: a radar based child presence detection system, over the air software updates for the whole car, and yes, a drink holder with a warming function. These sound like gimmicks until you remember the Honda N-Box built Japan's best selling vehicle franchise on exactly this kind of family focused detail work. BYD did its homework on what a kei truck or kei wagon buyer actually values, and it shows.

A Gripe List This Short Should Scare Suzuki

Every honest review has a complaints section, and EVsmart's is telling for how small the targets are: the gear selector takes getting used to, some functions that deserve physical buttons live in the touchscreen, USB port placement is odd, the power folding mirrors and rear door controls have quirks, and the armrest storage is nothing special. That is the whole list. For a first attempt at a segment that Japan's EV community has watched domestic makers own for 77 years, ergonomic nitpicks are a remarkably light indictment.

Compare that to what launch skeptics predicted: quality problems, tofu build, a car that photographs well and drives cheap. The early hands-on evidence is not supporting that story. The incumbents' real advantage is now down to the dealer network, the subsidy rubric, and brand habit, and we already covered how Japan's subsidy scoring protects domestic EVs in the electric kei van segment. Product alone is no longer the moat.

Can You Buy One? Not Until 2051

No. The Racco does not meet US safety standards and BYD will not certify it, so the only path is the 25 year import rule, which exempts vehicles 25 years and older from NHTSA's federal requirements. A 2026 Racco becomes legal in 2051, assuming its OTA dependent software still boots by then, which is a genuinely open question for every software defined vehicle.

In the meantime, the kei vehicles you can actually own today, like a Suzuki Carry or any of the analog workhorses the crowd at r/keitruck runs daily, remain gloriously free of touchscreen owner's manuals. Check your state's rules in our state legality guide before you buy, and browse the dealer directory to find an importer near you. The Racco is a preview of where the kei world is headed. Your carbureted Carry is proof of where it came from, and for now, the old world is the one with the keys in it.