In the battle for EV supremacy, two names stand head and shoulders above the rest: Tesla and BYD (Build Your Dreams). The latter is fast accelerating its sales, but also its innovations, and a slew of trademarks just filed at the European Intellectual Property Office suggest that new ideas will soon be presented.
BYD’s New Innovations May Imply Agility And Lightness
For those unfamiliar with the brand, it produces a smartphone app called the BYD Cloud, allowing owners of the automaker’s cars to check on their vehicles remotely and perform other functions. With that in mind, we suspect that the following trademarks may be for features that will be operable with the same app.
The first is for CLOUDTRAIL, the second for CLOUDTOW, and the third for CLOUDDRIFT. These all sound like modes for EVs, with the first potentially meant to signify an off-road system. This could be a mode that disconnects sway bars, changes torque profiles, and alters suspension settings. The company’s excellence in suspension tuning is well documented, and this could be a way of marketing a different application thereof.
Similarly, CLOUDTOW sounds like something that would be applied to an SUV or pickup, such as the Shark PHEV. Although this is not a patent, we can theorize again, and we assume this mode would adjust powertrain outputs to provide torque when necessary and maximize efficiency once the towing and the towed vehicles are at speed.
We should also note that, on the same day, BYD also filed to protect the name COUPLER, which sounds like a mode that could automatically hitch a trailer or camper.
CLOUDDRIFT sounds like a take on the Hyundai IONIQ 5 N’s drift mode. Presumably, the front axle could be disconnected, and/or the rear could be provided additional power, along with various other torque vectoring and suspension setting changes to maximize sideways fun.
Regardless of the application, the use of the word ‘cloud’ appears to imply connectivity and a certain lightness, or ease of use.
BYD’s Mystery Trademarks: Luxury Tech or a Bold New Model?
On a tangentially related note, BYD also applied to trademark the name LUMIS, which has Finnish and Latin origins as a description of light. Perhaps LUMIS will be a software division, an infotainment setup, or a new luxury brand. That said, BYD already has a luxury brand called Denza, which will also produce supercars, so our money is on something to do with in-car tech.
Finally, BYD trademarked the term STRATO-ST. We’ve found mention of the name under ski equipment, but that’s obviously not what’s going on here. Are BYD’s plans stratospheric? Looking to Latin for answers again, the word ‘strato’ indicates something that has been spread out. Perhaps this will be another new model, possibly something like a spacious van with plenty of luxury features, making a person feel elevated, like on a luxury jet.
We’ll have to wait for something official to know what any of these means, but one thing is for sure: BYD is just getting started, and for a company that will put a deployable drone on the roof of your car, anything is possible.
