BYD Dolphin Design

The BYD Dolphin Design is the top trim of BYD’s electric Dolphin hatchback in Europe and the UK. It is a compact five door, five seat car, 4,290 mm long, with one motor driving the front wheels. In Comfort and Design trim that motor makes 204 hp, and the car does 0 to 62 mph in about 7 seconds. The Dolphin arrived in 2023 as BYD’s second European model after the Atto 3. The cheaper Active and Boost trims, with a smaller battery and less power, came later.

The Design has a 60.4 kWh LFP battery and a heat pump. That is the nominal capacity, and I couldn’t find a confirmed usable figure. BYD quotes 265 miles (about 426 km) on the WLTP cycle, or 3.9 mi/kWh. AC charging tops out at 11 kW, which fills the battery from empty in about 6 hours 12 minutes. DC charging peaks at 88 kW and takes roughly 40 minutes to go from 10 to 80%. One UK outlet gives 29 minutes for 30 to 80%, which is a different window. Reviewers call 88 kW slow for a battery this size. The charge times come from a third party database, not from BYD, so treat them as unconfirmed.

In the UK, Comfort and Design cost £30,230 to £31,730, with the Design at the top. The European base price for that specification is listed at €36,000. Australia sells a top Premium trim at A$36,990 before on-road costs, but that is a separate market specification. The Dolphin Design suits commuters and small households that want around 250 miles of WLTP range without buying an SUV, and company car drivers who want something compact. Inside BYD’s range it sits between the Atto 2 and the larger Atto 3. Its main rivals are the Renault 5 E-Tech and the Volkswagen ID.3, which is a size larger and manages over 300 miles in its longest range version. The closest match is the MG4 Long Range, with 201 bhp and 281 miles of WLTP range. The two cars are the same length, but the MG4 drives the rear wheels and the Dolphin drives the front.

BYD Dolphin Design Images

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