BYD's Denza N8 fits 130 kWh of LFP in an SUV and claims 1,003 km

BYD has shown an all-electric Denza N8 SUV with a 130.15 kWh pack and a top claimed range of 1,003 km, or 623 miles ^[1][2]. The claim is not label-comparable with a European or American rating, but it is the number that Western EV product plans will now be measured against in reviews and internal benchmarking decks.

Start with the pack, because that part is not a test-cycle artefact. A typical long-range Tesla carries roughly 75 to 100 kWh ^[10], so the Denza's pack is between 30 and 74 percent larger ^[1]. There is a smaller 105.792 kWh option ^[3], itself about 19 percent below the big pack ^[4]. Fitting 130 kWh of LFP into a production SUV is the hard engineering here, and it reaches the range without nickel-rich chemistry, which is the cheaper path ^[15].

The powertrain spread is wide. The single-motor rear-drive N8 comes with 429 hp (320 kW) or 497 hp (370 kW) ^[7]. The tri-motor all-wheel-drive version pairs a 362 hp front motor with two 416 hp rear motors for a claimed 1,193 hp, or 890 kW ^[8]. Add the component figures and you get 1,194 hp, so the headline is a rounding of converted kilowatts rather than a measured total ^[3]. Published range figures span 800, 840, 970 and 1,003 km depending on battery, powertrain and body ^[9]. The longer N8L is rated at 960 km ^[5] and measures 5.20 m on the same 3.08 m wheelbase, 2.00 m width and 1.82 m height as the standard car ^[6].

Now the discount. 623 miles from 130.15 kWh implies about 13 kWh per 100 km, which Interesting Engineering notes would be exceptionally efficient for a vehicle likely to weigh several tonnes ^[11]. The figures almost certainly come from the CLTC cycle, which runs about 30 minutes, rarely exceeds 114 kph, and leans on low speeds, gentle acceleration and heavy regeneration ^[12]. The same report says such cycles overstate range by 15 to 30 percent ^[13], which puts the 1,003 km claim at 702 to 853 km ^[2]. The publication's own real-world estimate is 750 to 850 km in mixed driving, falling considerably at sustained motorway speed or in cold weather ^[14]. Even discounted, it says, the N8 could be among the longest-range electric SUVs on sale ^[17].

Two things temper the spec-sheet story. The article that reports 130.15 kWh also describes the pack as 129 kWh in its opening line ^[4], a reminder that these launches are covered from spec dumps rather than tests. And the original Denza N8, launched in 2023, claimed 1,030 km combined as a plug-in hybrid ^[16], which is 27 km more than the new EV's headline, or 2.6 percent ^[5]. Three years of battery progress has bought the removal of the engine, not a bigger number.

What to watch: price, DC charge curve and kerb weight, none of which appear in the source material. A 130 kWh pack that charges slowly is a weight and cost problem rather than a range advantage. Watch which pack sells, too. If the 105.792 kWh version is the volume trim, the 1,003 km figure is a halo spec, and planners chasing it are chasing an option box.