Video Summary
The BYD Dolphin will soon be available from €25,570 plus delivery.The design version tested here is closer to just over €31,000.
BYD uses cobalt-free battery chemistry, called blade batteries.
All models come with a heat pump as standard.
BYD is the third most valuable car brand in the world.
BYD aims the Dolphin at first-time EV buyers.
There is an eight-year or 200,000-kilometer warranty on the battery.
Boot space is 345 liters.
There are two battery options, 44.9 and 60-kilowatt hours.
The batteries have been tested between 3,000 and 5,000 charging cycles, equivalent to one million kilometers.
The fan in the BYD Dolphin is loud.
While 22 degrees Celsius might not be warm enough, the interior can be intrusive when the heater is going.
The shifting setup can be counterintuitive. Reverse is that way, and drive is that way.
The cruise control is very easy to use.
Efficiency is 15.3 kilowatt-hours per 100 kilometers, even in cold weather. On the motorway, this increases to around 18.
The car is not able to do fast charge
There is no timer for pre-heating the cabin.
The car has an 88-kilowatt charging speed and an 11-kilowatt charger on board; the reviewer only saw it achieve 9 kilowatts.
You’ll want to turn off traffic sign recognition due to incessant beeping.
The back is well-designed, but the boot space is not so good.
The front-wheel-drive version produces 204 horsepower, but it doesn’t always feel that way.
It’s not particularly cold, and the wheels are still spinning when you floor it, so there are problems getting the power down.
There’s also a lot of noise around the front of the car at motorway speeds, suggesting insulation savings.
The steering is light, making it a good city car.
With that said, driving the BYD Dolphin is loved in many ways because it fits into spaces.
The reviewer loves to drive the car. It fits into spaces, and you can squeeze past other cars without disapproval.
At €50,000 for the Seal and less for the Dolphin, the Dolphin might just do the job for some buyers.
