BYD Dolphin review

Overview

The BYD Dolphin is an electric hatchback with 5 seats, a 60.4 kWh battery and a quoted WLTP range of 195 miles. On paper it suits drivers who want a straightforward everyday electric car. Prices start at around £26,205, with leases quoted from about £219 a month.

Its headline specification point is straightforward: rotating touchscreen and lots of kit as standard. The sections below break the published figures down and set them against the other electric cars in our UK database.

Design & practicality

Bodystyle is a hatchback with 5 seats and 345 litres of boot space. Against every EV in the database that puts it below average for outright carrying capacity, and around mid-pack among other hatchbacks.

Boot volume is modest, so this is a car best suited to one or two people and light loads.

Range & charging

The quoted WLTP range is 195 miles from 60.4 kWh of usable-plus-buffer capacity — among the weakest in the database for distance between charges. Real-world figures are typically 10–25% lower in cold weather and at sustained motorway speeds.

That is a mid-size battery with mainstream rapid-charging speeds. As with any EV, the running-cost picture depends far more on whether you can charge at home overnight than on the charging speed itself.

Performance

The published 0–60mph time is 7 seconds, which puts it around mid-pack for acceleration here and makes it brisk by the numbers. Electric drivetrains deliver that pull instantly from a standstill, so town-speed responses tend to feel stronger than the figure suggests.

Tech & features

We score cabin technology at 8/10 based on published equipment levels, which is below average across the database. The specification highlight is that rotating touchscreen and lots of kit as standard.

Expect a large central screen, over-the-air updates and driver assistance as standard on most trims.

Price & value

New prices run from £26,205 to £31,695, with three-year-old used examples from around £17,500 and leases quoted from £219 a month. That sits at the affordable end of the electric cars in this database, and the middle of the hatchbacks specifically.

Our value score, which weighs the price against range, space and equipment, is 8/10. Whether it works out cheaper than your current car depends on your mileage, fuel price and charging setup — the cost calculator does that maths properly.