A group of irate buyers of Chinese BYD electric vehicles (EVs) on Tuesday staged a protest outside the showroom of the local sales agent in Colombo, demanding the release of their cars currently held by Sri Lanka Customs.
The protesters accused the local sales agent – John Keells CG Auto – of delaying compliance with a court order that directed the release of over 1,000 BYD vehicles against a bank guarantee pending investigations.
The car company had petitioned the Appeal Court in August for intervention to seek the release of 1,000 EVs from Customs.
The court directed the Customs to release the vehicles based on a bank guarantee from the company, pending investigations to test the true power of the motors.
Around 700 affected buyers held placards at the showroom to protest what they said was a go-slow approach by the John Keells CG to comply with the court requirement of furnishing bank guarantees.
“It’s been over six months, and the cars are getting deteriorated at the port,” said MAB Chinthaka, one of the buyers.
He added that customers were offered three choices by the company: a full refund, waiting for the issue to be resolved, or paying an additional six million Sri Lankan rupees to switch to another model.
Since July, Customs have been holding at least three shipments of BYD EVs numbering over 2,000 units, as it was alleged that their motor power had been declared lower, 100 kW from the actual 150 kW. The company has denied the charge.
The customs tariff for a 100 kW motor is four million Sri Lankan rupees lower than for a 150 kW motor.
Chinthaka said buyers had paid for cars with motors ranging between 49 and 100 kW, adding that “we don’t even know about cars with 150 kW power.”
He said each buyer also invested 450,000 Sri Lankan rupees for solar panels and another 150,000 Sri Lankan rupees for home charging units.
BYD experienced brisk sales after Sri Lanka allowed car imports in February for the first time in five years. By May, within 3 months, they captured almost 90 per cent of the electric car market and over 10 per cent of all car sales.
