The BYD Dolphin is a serious contender in the small electric hatchback market, undercutting rivals from Hyundai and Citroen on price but still delivering an impressive amount of kit for the money. Just over £30,000 buys a 60.4kWh battery that delivers an impressive combined range of 265-miles, while this compact hatchback boasts enough performance to keep everyone happy.
The BYD Dolphin won’t impress with its handling dynamics, or its exterior styling, but it does do affordable, fuss-free electric motoring well. And the Dolphin manages to offer a solid electric range while also being easy to live with.
Jack is an experienced motoring journalist who has been covering the latest new-car releases for the last 10 years.
Read bioThe current BYD Dolphin is only available with one powertrain and two trim levels, the cheapest of which (Comfort) costs from £30,230 and rises to £31,730 for Design models that come with a number of additional luxuries.
Earlier cars came in Active, Boost and Comfort trim levels, with the option of either a 44.9kWh battery or the larger 60.4kWh unit that is used today. Opting for nearly new or used stock is a great way of saving some cash, with 2025 models with under 10,000-miles on the clock sitting on The AA’s Used Cars page for just £18,299 at time of writing.
There’s just one choice these days and that’s a 60.4kWh ‘Blade’ battery that is paired with a 204hp electric motor that drives the front wheels. The system is capable of accelerating the Dolphin from 0-62mph in 78 seconds flat and then on to a top speed of 99mph.
BYD claims an official WLTP range of up to 265-miles on a full charge, while it claims the typical 10-80% charge takes 36 minutes from a 100kW outlet, although it can charge at a max rate of 110kW.
As is the way with most electric cars, the BYD Dolphin accelerates up to speed smoothly and feels decidedly nippy around town. There’s enough power from that front axle-mounted motor to get it up to motorway speeds with ease.
It won't comfortably lap up the motorway miles like larger models in the BYD range, but it’s fairly well insulated from wind and road roar. That said, it feels far more at home in the urban environment, where great visibility and light steering make it extremely easy to park and manoeuvre.
The electric range is also good for the money and all Dolphins come with a heat pump as standard, which helps improve efficiency in colder months, reducing the drastic drop in predicted range that some EV owners experience during winter.
The suspension set-up in the BYD Dolphin errs on the soft side, which makes it comfortable at slower speeds but it doesn’t do anything for the handling and general dynamics when keeping up with faster traffic.
Light and quick steering is great around town and in tight parking lots, but it’s very vague, particularly when attempting to tackle faster B-roads or winding country routes. It’s also fidgety at motorway speeds, often requiring correction to prevent it swaying in its lane.
On top of this, BYD includes a whole host of nannying safety systems that beep and bong at every possible infringement. Creep 1mph over the speed limit and it chimes, veer too close to the edge of a lane and it will try and intervene.
Switching this stuff off requires diving into a number of menus via the large central touchscreen display, which is distracting and annoying. Some rival manufacturers now provide a hot key to disable these features without the faff.
The brakes are strong and feel is good through the pedal, but there are only two options when it comes to the strength of the regenerative braking. Even in its maximum setting, it’s no way near as useful or intuitive as those offered by Kia and Hyundai, for example.
Bizarrely, that generic exterior actually contains a rather funky cabin that’s full of swooping lines, curved surfaces, circular air vents and a range of premium-feeling fabrics.
There’s a flying buttress design to the centre console that provides plenty of stowage areas and looks futuristic to boot. Plus, the slightly more expensive Design models get a massive panoramic glass roof that floods the cabin with light.
Infotainment is taken care of by a floating 12.8-inch touchscreen that is mounted in the centre of the dash and remains constantly updated via a 4G connection. The screen houses a number of native apps but it is also Apple CarPlay and Android Auto for seamless smartphone connectivity.
Design models also come with vegan leather “sports seats”, while the flat floor and dimensions mean there’s a good amount of room in the rear, which features surprisingly comfortable seats for a compact hatchback.
With the rear seats in place, boot space is a very respectable 345-litres, which is slightly more than the likes of the MG 4, the Smart #1 and Peugeot’s diminutive e-208. That said, the rear seats also fold flat in a 60:40 split, freeing up 1,310-litres of space for bulky items.
There is no frunk — or front trunk — in the Dolphin but there is plenty of space beneath the boot floor for housing bulky charging cables and other items. It’s just a faff to reach them if the boot is already full of junk.
As previously mentioned, space in the rear is generous, with two adults sitting comfortably, even over larger distances. It’s cramped if you fill the middle seat, but it’s plenty big enough back there for kids.
Better still, the rear doors open nice and wide, which makes it very easy to get in and out, while the panoramic glass roof that comes as standard on Design models is excellent for making the cabin feel bright and airy.
The main party piece inside the Dolphin is the impressively large 12.8-inch infotainment display that ‘floats’ in the centre of the dash. Its main ‘trick’ is its ability to rotate from portrait to landscape orientation at the press of a button.
BYD claims that portrait is better for navigation, while landscape is better suited for viewing media and content when charging, for example, although we are not so sure. The Chinese manufacturer has suggested that it might drop the tech due to underuse, but it still comes as standard on Dolphin.
There are USB-C slots up front and in the rear for charging devices, as well as a 12V outlet, with plenty of cupholders, door bins and other cubby holes to safely store loose items.
Despite the weight of technology offered for the price (360-degree camera, parking radars, blind spot detection etc), interacting with the touchscreen to adjust settings and whatnot can be clunky. Many of the menus don’t feel particularly well organised or intuitive.
There’s a voice assistant to reduce the amount of touchscreen prodding but it struggles to understand commands and often gets confused.
BYD has slimmed its trim options down somewhat lately, with the choice of just two. That said, even the most ‘basic’ Comfort cars come very well equipped, with Design adding a panoramic glass roof, wireless smartphone charging and cooling, ventilated and heated front seats and rear privacy glass.
It feels worth the extra £1,500 to add those items, seeing as the glass roof lightens up the cabin and the heated seats are a boon in the depth of winter.
Colours are also relatively limited, with white, grey, black and a secondary Atlantis Grey on offer. Honestly, they all look largely similar and certainly don’t feel worth the additional £650 charged for anything other than Skiing White.
The interior can only be specified in black and grey, while wheel choice is limited to just one 17-inch option, which is standard across the range.
The BYD Dolphin was awarded the full five stars by the European New Car Assessment Programme (Euro NCAP) when it was tested back in 2023. It received high scores for both adult and child occupancy, while the standard level of drive aids is also generous.
Lane keep assist, blind spot detection, traffic sign recognition and even a door opening warning, which detects oncoming cyclists and pedestrians, all come as standard across the range.
Being a relatively new brand hailing from China, there isn’t enough data to comment on overall reliability, but the company backs itself with a six-year, 93,750-mile warranty on the Dolphin. It extends to eight years on the motor and battery, the latter also covering up to 125,000 miles.
Due to the low sticker price, the BYD Dolphin falls well under the recently implemented Expensive Car Supplement, so the first year of Vehicle Excise Duty (VED) is £10 if registered after April 2025, followed by a standard rate of £195 thereafter in the UK.
There is nothing in the way of emissions and the pure electric range is a claimed 265-miles on the WLTP combined cycle. It is worth noting that this range figure is ‘up to’, so expect that to drop, particularly in colder weather.
Waltham Cross
Dartford
AA finance available
Peterborough
Connect with us
