BYD Dophin making a splash in the EV hatchback car pool

The new BYD Dolphin is the latest smart new EV from BYD (Build Your Dreams) the Chinese car manufacturer that is making its presence felt in Europe with some really good new cars.

I have just returned from the press launch of their latest EV a 4-door saloon called the Seal. More of that another day but initial impressions are good.

So to the recently launched Dolphin EV. It’s seen as a direct rival to the likes of the MG 4 EV or the Ora Funky Cat (both also Chinese manufacturers).

So how does it look?
The BYD Dolphin is a somewhat conservatively styled EV. There is nothing particularly memorable or outstanding about its exterior design. It blends in rather than stands out but nevertheless, its attractive clean-looking design does not scream “EV”. The different colour on the roof and bonnet do give it a distinctive style but it's not revolutionary in any way.

What’s it like inside?
Press the touch-sensitive door handle and if the “key” is on your person the door unlocks to reveal a spacious interior. Nice design details include the huge 12.8 inch central screen which rotates at the push of a steering wheel-mounted button to be either landscape or portrait……. A neat but practical party trick.

However, the interior does not impress in the same way that the Atto 3 did. I guess it's a less expensive car and so it's not quite as glamorous as its larger sibling. The interior is though well finished and generally feels of a good quality.

The one-piece heated front seats look and feel very comfortable and the centre console boasts plenty of user-friendly rocker-type switches for many functions though sadly they put climate control through the touchscreen. My only complaints are really that the driver display is really a bit small and some of the digits, therefore, harder to read, some almost impossibly so.
Equally, the graphics for the climate control and other functions in the main screen are too faint and again hard to see particularly on a bright day even turned up to full brightness.

Finally, the annoying regularity of beeps and bongs to announce you are in a new speed zone or have exceeded the speed limit by 1km/hr is very annoying.

The cabin seats four in comfort but five would be a squeeze. The boot is, however, very small for a car in this class.

What’s under the bonnet?
The Design version on test has a 60 .4 kWh battery with an electric motor driving the front wheels producing 204 bhp. Performance is just fine. The claimed range is 420km from 100% charge. Once again as with many EVs, I managed only 290km from 100% which is way short of the predicted 427 km displayed on the dash when I started out!

I know it's a chilly February but that is very poor. On fast charger it will go from about 20% to 80% charge in about 30 minutes.

How does it drive?
It's quiet and refined and handling is reasonable. There is quite a bit of body roll in corners and the suspension is quite soft. It is by no means an involving car to drive but more a way to travel comfortably from A to B.

Hugh’s Verdict
The BYD Dolphin is priced from €29,318 for the Comfort version and €31,192 for the Design tested here after including the SEAI grant.

Overall then the new BYD dolphin is a competitively priced package that does most things pretty well despite that disappointing real world range.