BYD New Zealand to offer Atto 3 Tesla charging fix

BYD New Zealand will make the charging harness fix for Atto 3 Tesla Supercharger compatibility issues available to local customers following the solution’s development in Australia.

BYD New Zealand country manager Warren Willmot confirms the retrofit will be offered to affected New Zealand owners. “Yes this will be available sometime in the next few months. No costs finalised yet,” he says.

The confirmation follows BYD Australia’s announcement that it has developed a charging harness to enable late 2022 and 2023 model Atto 3 vehicles to use Tesla’s Version 3 and Version 4 superchargers.

According to a BYD Australia spokesperson, the modification work has been completed and is under final review, with parts now in Australia and upgrades to be available through service centres in coming weeks.

The incompatibility issue affects early Atto 3 models that were manufactured before Tesla opened its supercharger network to non-Tesla vehicles in late 2023. Owners of affected vehicles have been unable to charge at Tesla’s V3 and V4 supercharger locations.

Fix addresses charging network gap

The charging harness retrofit will give affected New Zealand Atto 3 owners access to Tesla’s expanding supercharger network, which represents a significant portion of the country’s fast-charging infrastructure.

BYD Australia says the incompatibility stemmed from timing rather than oversight, as the Atto 3 launched when Tesla’s network was exclusively available to Tesla vehicles. Standard testing protocols couldn’t include compatibility checks for charging networks that weren’t accessible to other manufacturers at the time.

Atto 3 models manufactured from 2024 onwards were built to work with all existing Tesla supercharger versions, according to Zecar, which first reported the Australian development.

The retrofit addresses a practical limitation for owners who travel between cities or rely on superchargers for regular charging. Those who primarily charge at home may find the upgrade less critical.

BYD Australia provided a similar fix for early model Seal vehicles that faced comparable Tesla supercharger compatibility issues, with that update offered at no cost to customers through service centres.

Willmot’s confirmation suggests New Zealand customers will receive the same solution being implemented across the Tasman, though specific details about booking procedures and final pricing remain to be announced.

Source: Zecar