On paper the Model Y Long Range humiliates the Sealion 7: 657 km against 482, for twenty euros less. Both numbers are true and neither is the number you drive.
Two corrections stand between the brochure and the driveway. WLTP is optimistic for both cars, and unequally. And the two cars are charged to different limits, because their manufacturers tell you to. Apply both and a 175 km advantage becomes three.
At a glance#
German list prices and specifications as published by EV Database on 9 September 2026.
| BYD Sealion 7 RWD Comfort | Tesla Model Y Long Range RWD | Tesla Model Y RWD | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Price, Germany | €47,990 | €47,970 | €40,970 |
| Chemistry | LFP, Blade | Nickel, 4680 | LFP, CATL |
| Usable capacity | 82.5 kWh | 74.0 kWh | 60.0 kWh |
| WLTP range | 482 km | 657 km | 534 km |
| Estimated real range | 420 km | 470 km | 380 km |
| Real consumption | 196 Wh/km | 157 Wh/km | 158 Wh/km |
| Charge limit the maker advises | 100 % | 50–90 % | 100 % |
| Usable daily range | 420 km | 423 km | 380 km |
| DC peak | 150 kW | 250 kW | 175 kW |
| 10–80 % | 32 min | 36 min | 24 min |
| Battery warranty | 8 yr / 250,000 km, 70 % SoH | 8 yr / 160,000 km | 8 yr / 160,000 km |
The chart at the top of this article is the same three cars stated three ways. The ranking changes between the first bar and the third, and only the third describes a Tuesday.
Criteria#
Why the daily number is the honest one#
Tesla’s manual sets a daily charge limit of 50 to 90 % for nickel-based packs and reserves 100 % for trips. For its LFP packs it says the opposite: keep the limit at 100 %, even for daily use, and charge fully at least weekly. BYD’s LFP pack takes the same instruction as Tesla’s LFP pack, for the same reason. The chemistry decides, not the badge.
So the comparable figure is each car’s real range times the limit its maker tells you to live at. That is 90 % for the nickel Tesla and 100 % for both LFP cars.
Where the WLTP gap goes#
Two thirds of the 175 km evaporates before the charge limit is applied. The Model Y Long Range’s WLTP figure is 40 % above its estimated real range; the Sealion 7’s is 15 % above. WLTP rewards efficiency at gentle speeds, and the two cars are not equally flattered by it.
That leaves 50 km of genuine real-range advantage to the Tesla, which the charge limit then removes.
The Tesla advantage that survives all of this#
Efficiency. 157 Wh/km against 196 is a real 20 % gap, and it is the Tesla’s strongest number in the whole comparison. Over 15,000 km a year that is about 585 kWh of extra electricity for the BYD. It costs money every year, unlike the range figure, which costs nothing if the car reaches the end of your day.
Long distance. The daily-range argument stops applying the moment you charge to 100 % for a trip, and then 470 km beats 420. Add a denser fast-charging network and the Tesla is the better long-distance car. Not by as much per stop as the 250 kW peak suggests, though:
The third car changes the question#
The Model Y RWD costs €7,020 less than either. It is LFP, so it charges to 100 % daily like the BYD, it adds range fastest on a motorway stop, and it gives up 40 km of daily range against both. If the daily-range argument is what convinces you, this is the car it convinces you into.
Warranty#
BYD underwrites the pack for 250,000 km to a floor of 70 % state of health. Tesla underwrites 160,000 km. On a car kept a decade that difference outlives every figure above.
Test conditions#
Nothing here is measured by us. Prices are German list prices without incentives, which move; check them before deciding anything. Range and consumption figures are EV Database’s estimates for mild weather, which is the closest thing to a like-for-like independent basis available for both cars, and are still estimates.
The daily-range figures are ours, and they are arithmetic rather than measurement: a published real-range estimate multiplied by a published charge limit. They assume you follow the manual, that you start each day from your limit, and that consumption does not vary with how full the pack is. Real winter figures for either car would move all three columns, probably not equally.
We drive a Sealion 7 and we do not have a Model Y. A measured comparison would need both cars, the same route, the same day.
Per-case verdicts#
Commuting from home, under about 400 km a day. The three cars are separated by 43 km of usable daily range and €7,020. The range difference is not the deciding factor anyone expects it to be. Buy on price, warranty, or how the car drives.
Regular long distance. Model Y Long Range RWD. More real range once both are charged full, better efficiency, better network. The charging-stop advantage is smaller than the peak-power number implies.
Lowest cost per usable kilometre. Model Y RWD. It gives up 40 km against the BYD, costs €7,020 less, and charges fastest of the three.
Keeping the car past 200,000 km. Sealion 7, on warranty terms alone. It is the only one of the three whose maker will still be underwriting the pack when the others have expired.
If you were going to buy the Long Range and hold it at 80 %. Then you are choosing a €47,970 car with 376 km of daily range over a €47,990 car with 420 km. That is the case where the brochure gap most misleads, and it is why the chemistry article matters more than the range one.