In the past two years, with the continuous implementation of automotive electrification, domestic new energy vehicles have also ushered in comprehensive development, and in addition to the rapid rise of new power brands, the major traditional brands are also not willing to lag behind, and launched a lot of high-end pure electric smart brands. Although they entered the game later, but the control of user needs more accurate, and the integration of resources is also more adequate, so there are also a lot of high-quality models. And relying on Great Wall Motor's ORA brand, its first globalized new energy model, ORA Lightning, is located in the mid-sized car, against popular models such as Tesla Model 3, Xpeng P7 and BYD Seal. So the same high-end domestic new energy sedan BYD Seal and ORA Lightning Cat, who is the cost-effective choice? Next, let us analyze from the design, performance, technology intelligence and safety four parts to compare the differences between them.
Lightning Cat exterior exquisite sense, BYD seal exterior has a sense of hierarchy
Both models use the latest family-style design language, the overall shape is relatively minimalist sports and does not lose the sense of technology. In the front part, both adopt the typical closed design of pure electric sedan, but BYD Seal uses multiple folding lines to create the "X" shape, which looks sharper, while ORA Lightning Cat uses curved design elements to create the "concave" design, which looks more Simple and layered. The BYD Seal adopts the "shuttle" design and flattening treatment, extending the "small tail" to be more individual, while the ORA Lightning Cat adopts the oval design, with a staggered internal structure and a more The interior structure is staggered and has a sense of hierarchy. The bottom of both cars are equipped with ventilation and heat dissipation openings, and smoked black treatment, BYD Seal adopts horizontal spokes design, more layered, while ORA Lightning Cat adopts a three-section design, more sporty.
The body part, both adopt the more mainstream coupe design, the downward pressure of the front with the sliding roof design, showing a good swoop effect. The "double waistline" design of both cars is in line with the trend, with the upper waistline showing a downward trend, together with a slightly upward lower waistline and concave door design, making the whole body side look more rhythmic, but the overall BYD Seal has a stronger sense of three-dimensionality, while the ORA Lightning Cat has a better sense of movement. In addition, the five-spoke sports wheels of both cars are very sporty, while the borderless doors, rear privacy glass, low wind resistance mirrors and hidden door handles are also very technological in design.
The rear part of the car, the two models of the rear design is also very simple, and echoes the front face, the upper part of the style presented in a relatively different, BYD seal "big duck tail" with through the tail lights, appear more layered, and ORA lightning cat "big slider The "big back" design is also eye-catching. The design of the lower and middle parts also have their own characteristics, the bottom diffuser design of BYD Seal is more aggressive, while the ORA Lightning Cat is equipped with a liftable electric rear wing with the bottom chrome trim strip, enhancing the vehicle's sense of refinement, while also adding a sporty attribute to the rear of the car.
Interior: Technology VS Design sense
The interior layout of both models is in line with the trend, simple and atmospheric while not losing the sense of technology. In the central control section, both adopt the hugging cockpit with the "T-shaped" hollow center console design, and the dual color combination looks very atmospheric. BYD Seal adopts relatively complex but very stretching lines, with some marine elements, looks very layered and relaxing, the function area does not have any physical buttons, the center control screen integrated all the car functions. The ORA Lightning Cat uses a lot of round elements and softer lines, with the through-the-wall air conditioning vent design, which is also more layered and smooth. The functional area below the center console is integrated with the central armrest box and decorated with a large silver guard, and the three internal knob-type controls are arranged in a straight line to further enhance the elegance of the interior.
The center console is wrapped with a large area of soft material and incorporates silver trim and stitching to further enhance the interior. The steering wheel adopts the traditional three-spoke flat-bottom design, which is not very strong in design, with function keys on both sides. The ORA Lightning Cat is designed with a three-spoke round bottom, and the leather material is comfortable to grip, with touch function keys on both sides, and the "OAR" logo in the center is delicate, and the middle and high models support heating function. Technology configuration hardware part, BYD Seal equipped with 10.25-inch full LCD instrument panel and 15.6-inch touch LCD screen, and ORA Lightning Cat equipped with 10.25-inch triple barrel full LCD instrument panel and 12.3-inch touch LCD screen, the two models are equipped with excellent performance, but the former has a stronger sense of technology, while the latter has a better sense of design.
As a mid-sized car electric car, BYD Seal driving experience is better
Body size, both models are located in the medium-sized car, BYD Seal's length, width and height are 4800mm, 1875mm, 1460mm, wheelbase is 2920mm, ORA Lightning Cat's length, width and height are 4871mm, 1862mm, 1500mm, wheelbase is 2870mm, the former's length and the latter's wheelbase are slightly conservative. In terms of ride space, both models use the "2+3" conventional five-seat layout, the front row space is relatively generous, 176cm experience into the front seats, after adjusting to a comfortable position, head space there is a fist a finger or so remaining. The rear space is also spacious, but the width and wheelbase of the superior BYD Seal, legroom can reach a fist three fingers, while the height of the superior ORA Lightning Cat, head space can also reach a fist or so. The luggage compartment is affected by the body structure, and their rear luggage compartment opening is not very big, but the interior space of BYD Seal is relatively flat, and the depth of ORA Lightning Cat is not bad, and the rear seats all support 40:60 ratio, which can further enhance the storage space.
4、Ride experience
BYD Seal's low and middle models are made of imitation leather, while the high models and 4WD models are made of leather, and the ORA Lightning Cat is made of one-piece ergonomic sports imitation leather seats, the former has a better texture experience, while the latter has more prominent sports attributes. The front seats are both relatively wide and comfortable, with a good sense of flatness and support for the cushion and backrest, and a good sense of wrapping on both sides of the wings. Rear seat comfort also reached the mainstream level, the cushion is moderately soft and hard, and the front end are slightly elevated, the leg support is more adequate, but the middle seat is slightly less comfortable than the two sides, the internal padding is slightly thin, and the cushion is also somewhat short, which for passengers with long legs, its support may be less adequate.
The functional configuration of the seats is evenly divided, the main and passenger seats of both cars support electric adjustment and are equipped with heating and ventilation, the main driver's seat supports memory function, while the front seats of the ORA Lightning Cat also support massage function. The rear seats support front and rear movement and backrest angle adjustment, while the BYD Seal also supports high and low adjustment, but the higher models of the ORA Lightning Cat are also equipped with heating function. It is also worth mentioning that ORA Lightning Cat is equipped with double-layer silent glass in front, rear privacy glass, fragrance system, UV sterilization and 11-speaker audio system to further enhance the driving experience.
Power & Range: power saving and safety is also high
Taking the top model as an example, both models are equipped with dual front and rear electric motors, and the rear motors are permanent magnet synchronous motors, while the front motor types are slightly different, with BYD Seal using a relatively low-cost AC asynchronous motor and ORA Lightning Cat using a permanent magnet synchronous motor. In terms of performance parameters, the BYD Seal's motor has a total power of 390kW (530hp), with a maximum power of 160kW and 230kW for the front and rear motors respectively, and a total torque of 670N-m, while the ORA Lightning Cat's motor has a total power of 300kW (408hp), with a maximum power of 150kW for both the front and rear motors, and a total torque of 680N-m. From the parameters alone, the power performance of both models is relatively good. The power performance of both models is relatively good, but BYD Seal has more power and better acceleration ability, while ORA Lightning Cat has more torque.
Battery and range
The battery part is slightly different, the entry-level models of BYD Seal and ORA Lightning Cat both use lithium iron phosphate battery, while the middle and high models of ORA Lightning Cat use ternary lithium battery, the battery temperature management system supports liquid cooling and low temperature heating, and are equipped with fast charging interface and VTOL mobile power station function, but ORA Lightning Cat also comes standard with a charging pile, charging is also more convenient. In terms of battery capacity and range, both are equipped with two different battery configurations, the BYD Seal's batteries are 61.4kWh and 82.5kWh respectively, while the CLTC maximum pure electric range is 550km for the 2WD model with 61.4kWh and 700km and 650km for the 2WD and 4WD models with 82.5kWh respectively. The CLTC has a maximum electric range of 555km for the 2WD model with 63.87kWh, and 705km for the 2WD model with 83.49kWh and 600km for the 4WD model with 83.49kWh, while the CLTC has a maximum electric range of 600km for the 2WD model with 63.87kWh and 83.49kWh respectively. Both models are equipped with a brake energy recovery system and a pure electric exclusive modular design, saving electricity and at the same time providing higher safety.
Suspension and tuning
The front and rear suspensions are both independent, and the rear suspension is multi-link independent, but the front suspension is slightly different, with the ORA Lightning Cat using a relatively conventional MacPherson independent suspension, and the BYD Seal using a slightly more advanced double-wishbone independent suspension. In terms of chassis tuning, the actual driving experience of the two models is relatively close, and both offer a variety of driving modes, and there are more obvious differences between the different modes. In the comfort mode, their steering wheel is lighter and more precise, and the low-speed driving is relatively easy and linear, while the high-speed driving or sharp cornering is more competent and sharp, and the fine vibration can be well suppressed, but when encountering a large bumpy road, the car can still feel some aftershocks.
Technology & Intelligence: ORA Lightning Cat is even better than BYD Seal
1、Intelligent connectivity
Hardware part, BYD Seal adopts the traditional split design, 10.25-inch full LCD instrument panel design sense is slightly weaker, the interface uses a digital rectangular rounded design, 15.6-inch central control screen with adaptive rotation suspension design, UI interface layout is more traditional, toolbar is located below the screen, the operation is relatively easy, the touch of the screen is more delicate, light blue background is more comfortable. ORA lightning cat full LCD instrument panel adopts a triple barrel design, 12.3-inch suspended center control screen, UI interface is relatively simple and fresh, the black border is narrower, the screen feels smoother and more flexible, the screen sensitivity is also not bad, but the display interface uses a light-colored background, the overall contrast is not very comfortable, if it can be optimized again, its aesthetics will also be better. As for the car chip, BYD Seal is equipped with Qualcomm Snapdragon 690 chip, while ORA Lightning Cat is equipped with Qualcomm Snapdragon third-generation car-grade 8155 chip, compared to the latter's CPU computing power and GPU image processing capability are more outstanding.
The software part, both models have the mainstream standard, in addition to support intelligent voice, multimedia entertainment, car online services and vehicle control and other conventional functions, BYD Seal equipped with DiLink intelligent network system also supports full-scene voice, custom wake-up words and continuous dialogue, etc., while the ORA-SPACE car system equipped with ORA Lightning Cat also has full-scene voice interaction capability. The ORA-SPACE system also has full-scene voice interaction capability, and its voice recognition rate reaches more than 97%, and it can also have continuous dialogue, long waiting time, and visible or say. In terms of other configurations, both models are well-equipped, such as GPS navigation system, navigation road information display, Bluetooth/car phone, car networking and OTA upgrades, etc. ORA Lightning Cat is also equipped with facial recognition and other functions.
ORA Lightning Cat intelligent assisted driving configuration more comprehensive
- Intelligent assisted driving
BYD Seal equipped with DiPilot intelligent driving assistance system and ORA Lightning Cat equipped with ORA-PILOT 3.0 intelligent assisted driving system can reach L2 level, but they still have some differences in hardware. BYD Seal is equipped with 6 exterior cameras, 2 interior cameras, 6 ultrasonic radars and 3 millimeter wave radars, while ORA Lightning Cat is equipped with a single front and rear awareness camera, 5 environmental awareness cameras, 4 surround view cameras, 2 interior cameras (including 3D facial recognition camera), 12 ultrasonic radars (6 front/6 rear) and 5 millimeter wave radars. In comparison, both models are equipped with mainstream level of perception hardware, but the ORA Lightning Cat is more abundantly equipped.
The assisted driving features are also complete, such as ABS anti-lock, brakeforce distribution, brake assist, traction control, body stability system, lane departure warning, forward collision warning, rear collision warning, reverse car side warning, DOW door opening warning, active braking, parallel assist, lane keeping assist, lane centering, road traffic sign recognition, fatigue driving tips, full-speed adaptive cruise control, automatic parking. Adaptive cruise control, automatic parking and uphill assistance. The ORA Lightning Cat is also equipped with high-end practical features such as in-vehicle vital signs detection, automatic lane change assist, automatic ramp exit (entry), high-speed NOH navigation, full-scene automatic parking and tracer reverse. Personally, I feel that both automatic parking and trailing reverse are more practical, as the former can effectively improve the parking efficiency, while the latter can prevent the vehicle from cutting.
Safety
In terms of safety, both BYD Seal and ORA Lightning Cat perform well in terms of body safety and intelligent power safety. In the body safety part, BYD Seal adopts CTB battery-body integration technology, while ORA Lightning Cat also adopts pure electric exclusive modular design, and both are equipped with high-strength cage body, high compressive strength roof and one-piece thermoformed door rings, etc., in which the proportion of high-strength steel in the body is over 70%, and the entire vehicle structure is optimized in terms of force path. The battery safety part, the performance of both vehicles is very good, BYD Seal equipped with the "blade battery", passed the relatively harsh pinprick test and high-intensity crushing test, while the ORA Lightning Cat equipped with the "worry-free battery", also successfully passed the four super national standard battery Safety test, respectively, 20mm steel needle piercing the core, the whole pack of 140 seconds fire, the whole pack of thermal runaway and the whole pack of 6 meters drop.
Summary
From a comprehensive point of view, the same medium-sized pure electric sedan BYD Seal and ORA Lightning Cat, their product power performance is excellent, and the control of consumer demand is also more accurate. Of course, in terms of product design, performance and technological intelligence, there are still some differences between the two models. The BYD Seal has a sharper appearance design, a more trendy adaptive rotating hover screen design, and a slight advantage in brand recognition. However, relying on the Great Wall Motor's ORA Lightning Cat, its appearance design is also very dynamic, interior design simple atmosphere, performance, intelligent hardware and assisted driving features are also relatively good, and its price is more advantageous, so ORA Lightning Cat also has the potential to impact the market. Finally, the overall product performance of the two models, which one will you prefer?
