Words: Richard Edwards
Published 30 August 2026
Our Group EV editor Gavin Shoebridge is the first non-Japanese reviewer to get behind the wheel of BYD’s new Racco kei car, and the full video review is live now.
Gavin flew to Tokyo, collected the Racco and covered hundreds of kilometres road-tripping across Japan, taking in rapid charging tests, a full walkthrough and the twisty mountain roads near Mt Fuji to find out how the little EV copes on skinny tyres when pushed along.
He also tried sleeping in it. That attempt, by his own account, ended in defeat.
The Racco sells in Japan in three grades: the Racco 200, good for 210km, and the 300 Plus and 300 Premium, whose larger battery delivers up to 320km. That makes it the first kei car past the 300km mark. Its X-Pack battery integrates the inverter and other electronics into a single under-floor unit to free up cabin space within Japan’s 3.4m kei length limit. Motor output sits at the class cap of 47kW, and 100kW DC charging takes the pack from 10 to 80 per cent in around 20 minutes.
Japanese pricing runs from 2.14 million to 2.49 million yen, with the base car dipping under two million after subsidies. Importers we have spoken to suggest a Racco bought in Japan now and brought here would land at around $38,000, and that is for the top-specification 300 Premium at its full Japanese price.
BYD’s first kei car will lend its technology to a new budget EV for Europe and other markets, and the company has indicated on social media that it is watching coverage to gauge interest in markets like New Zealand. It arrived in a Japanese market where Suzuki’s rival e Sky was revealed the same week.
A members’ version of the video with extra content is on the way, for which you need to be a member of the EVsandbeyond.co.nz Youtube Channel.
