BYD's cheapest electric vehicles. Orders open Monday 13th January for March delivery, confirmed by most major car news websites. Competitive cars for the price.
Range for these models is the same as the current base models. 340km Dolphin and 345km Atto 3. Very competitive options for urban drivers.
How long will legacy car makers continue to rely on loyalty before having to put prices down instead of increasing prices every year?
Have you ever driven in rain! Auto wipers are great. Rain and car speed is rarely constant, so Auto wipers save you having to constantly adjust the speed manually. Given limited visibility in the wet, it's also a safety feature
I like auto wipers but have never seen them perfectly implemented. I thought it is 2025 but maybe I am still living in the 1970s when they were invented.
Auto wipers save you having to constantly adjust the speed manually
The stalk is on the steering wheel. It's the flick of a finger when holding the steering wheel. Not seeing an advantage or disadvantage.
PhilToinby
It's just another thing to fork up.
I'll leave my thoughts on that being a "safety feature" with the memory of driving the MK 2 zephyr. Those wipers were semi automatic, so not much different than full auto. You want them faster, you put your foot down a bit more….. the vacuum line from the carby to the wiper motor takes care of that automatically.
Yup. I had them on my old MC Mondeo and they were great. Just leave them set to on and the moment a raindrop touches the windscreen they leap into action.
they always go a little bit too fast/slow for my liking.. or get triggered by a slight spray and smudge the windscreen
Does Dolphin Essential still keep V2L feature?
Yes it does.
Thats the building company contracted, not byd themselves.
I worked for one of their contractors before, I know exactly what byd is. If you know Chinese, search on Chinese social media, plenty of scandals about this slavery company.
Pretty sure more than half the items in your house are Made in China. But OK.
and you bought tesla model y, kia ev5 or bmw ix3 i assumed?
What do you drive?
Honda
here you go pure superior Japanese tech only cost $160k AUD i'm sure you can afford it.
https://www.carexpert.com.au/car-news/2025-afeela-1-honda-an…
@Duece1995: That's what the Horse Carriage driver said when petrol cars got invented. History repeats it self.
@Duece1995: why do people keep regurgitating this nonsense? there's plenty of Tesla Model S on the road still and currently gen batteries nowadays easily last more than 250,000kms with minimal battery degradation
@Duece1995: I'm asking which EV you had and got rid of?
You did have an EV right? With such strong opinions I'm assuming you daily'd one for some time before deciding to return to petrol?
I've had one for 3.5 years, and been an EV-only household for 2. I hope you are not telling me what my own experience is without having an experience of your own? Surely you aren't that arrogant.
What about Holdens? Expensive Aussie junk?
Why they don’t exist anymore. The junk-iest. Lol,
Please suggest some expensive non-Chinese junk.
What about this expensive Germany made industrial rubbish?
https://www.youtube.com/shorts/-9X70TDeLac
Throw away your phone
For those that don't know -
firmware updates for BYD's come only through;
a) Updates from dealer during service/maintenance.
b) Over the air updates using the car's onboard SIM only. You cannot access these updates over wifi - there is a VPN-y technology in-place to limit access to OTA updates to SIM connections.
This means that for the Essential trim levels, updates will only be possible when you do your yearly servicing.
Good information.
Do we need constant updates though? I've got a 2022 RAV4 still works without any updates. They have serviced it and checked it out though.
Updates are nice. My Atto 3 has a bunch of new features it didn't have when I bought it. My Tesla even moreso.
Hmm …. This may be true but you can't expect updates in a 29k car Imho. It should work properly out of the box though.
@Naigrabzo: The car will work fine out of the box, and any updates are a bonus.
Mind you, it also means bugs can be resolved faster without requiring a visit to a service centre. Sure cars shouldn't have bugs, but in reality things slip through the cracks with every brand.
@loksmack: Yeah it sounds like bugs are expected? Why don't they repair all bugs and deliver a fully finished car. No updates required. :) It's a happened before many times before this "release first" and then maybe iron out the bugs when customers figure out the bugs. No need to pay testers.
@Naigrabzo: You are manifesting an issue that isn't there. I've had a BYD for almost 2 years and haven't had any software bugs, nor have I seen any reported. I'm just highlighting that there is the possibility of bugs being fixed sooner, not that they exist in the first place. You are living in a fantasy land if you think that products are shipped bug-free even if that is the intention (yes noting some products are purposely delivered undercooked).
For what it's worth, I'd trust BYD software to be more robust than many legacy brands including Toyota.
@loksmack: If it's released without bugs there are no needs for updates. No need to waste money maintaining servers etc for BYD.
I know for a fact that BYD had to reduce alarms on ADAS via software updates months after customers paid nearly 55k for their for seal models AFTER it was released in Australia. They must have forgotten to test it on our roads. Not to mention calling Batman to supply tyres instead of security, for the atto3.
I am not manifesting an issue that's not there as you have said.
The issue is artifically created by sloppy merchants who don't test their products in our market.
@Naigrabzo: Not sure what tyres have to do with software.
How about this software issue with your RAV4?
https://www.toyota.com.au/news/toyota-australia-recalls-vehi…
You would have had to bring it into the service centre for a fix. If the car had a cellular connection it could have fixed itself while you were sleeping before you even knew the problem existed.
Keep in mind we are talking about vehicle connectivity in a general sense, not about a specific model. Connectivity allows OTA bug fixing, it does not suggest a higher occurrence of bugs.
@loksmack: I didn't have to take it in for bug fix. They would have fixed it during the routine service. I didn't get bothered by it and didn't even know. I just want to use the car. Not to make it into some project where there are updates etc.
What about the terrible ADAS bugs in BYD seal? It took them months to 'fix' them.
Connectivity allows OTA bug fixing. No one is saying that it doesn't. It also makes manufacturers sloppy allowing users to be beta testers. Like the BYD seal.
@Naigrabzo: But you lived with that (potentially life-risking) bug while you waited for your next service (weeks or months) and you probably didn't even know about it. How is that better than an update being pushed to you and fixed within minutes/hours?
If OTA updates worry you that much, you can just pop the SIM card out.
The BYD Seal ADAS 'bugs' were more of an inconvenience, and don't rival the safety issue that you sat on for some time in your RAV4.
You shouldn't generalise that OTA updates allows manufacturers to be sloppy. I'm sure it happens, but it's not intrinsically true, and as I pointed out with your RAV4 - they can solve safety problems much quicker.
My 2001 Corolla still works fine without any updates since 2001.
Hmm come to think of it. Same with my CRV 2011.
Thats quite a drop in specs though.
No other way to drop prices. UNLESS we go back to lowering wages of the Chinese workers?
These cars are 99% made by robots.
Bonus $3,000 incentive and free home charger
Saw this on the website now. Is this stackable?
That is an MY24 plate clearance deal.
What MY is this deal then?
If only we can pick and choose which features we want. I don't care much for heated seats, but would like the rest
That would increase costs even more. It's cheaper to just produce to one or two spec.
True
Won't prices drop even further once Trump jacks up tariffs on imports from The Land of China?
There have been tariffs on Chinese car imports for quite some time now, so much so that none are even being sold over there anyway.
Chinese mates call em " Burn Your Driveway" lol
'my choinayse mates'
My most highly esteemed and erudite 东亚 chums.
Nice
What they need to do now is come up with an even lower end model with battery capacity reduced to about 200 km of range, and the reduction gearing shortened so the maximum speed is 110 km/h at maximum motor revs, and the torque increased in proportion. It'd be like it was stuck in 2nd, but electric motors don't make any noise. They could call it the "City" version. Who would take one out of the city anyway. With only half the battery capacity it'd be 100 kgs lighter, and another $5K cheaper.
Electric motors do whine in some cars. Besides electric motors lose power as they age, as do the batteries. So you'd have to spec it up initially to allow for these losses.
I could hear whine at 80km/hr in Tesla model Y. Perhaps worsened by a quiet cabin otherwise apart from horrendous roughroad noise.
I could hear whine at 80km/hr in Tesla model Y
Possibly from the reduction gears rather than the motor itself. And if its the reduction gears it'll be the same whether they are a 8:1 reduction or a 12:1 reduction.
I suspect that battery size isn't mass produced and therefore doesn't make economic sense to start using them.
EV batteries aren't like 12V car batteries, where there are standard sizes from 3rd party manufacturers that they fit. They are assembled into modules, then a number of modules are fitted according to the size required for that model. You want less battery capacity, you just fit fewer modules.
Haven't you ever watched Vintage Voltage on TV where a bunch of guys in Britain do EV conversions on cars. They pull out the ICE and gearbox, get themselves a front or rear Tesla drive unit off a write-off, according to what'll fit, measure up how much space they've got for battery modules, and fit as many as they can.
BYD uses battery packs that are what they call "blades". Which is wide, long, but shallow battery pack that does come from the battery manufacturer, fit as many as are required, and plumb them for power and cooling.
BYD manufacture their Blade batteries via their FinDreams Battery Co Ltd subsidiary (formerly BYD Lithium Battery Co Ltd) which is the world's second largest producer of electric vehicle batteries even supplying their cells to companies such as Tesla.
Sources:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/BYD_Blade_battery
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/BYD_Company#FinDreams_Battery
About 240 km range on the open road for the 44.9kWh one.
Might get me down the driveway.
GordonD
Or…. have your specs as the "city" version of the model I want, with ideally over 400K range, no reduction gearing to reduce motor wear at highway speeds, and 0-100 say twice as fast as an old volksy…. somwhere sub 20 seconds.
No bollocks accessories like heated seats, pre cooling, auto wipers, and a basic level of safety devices like effective lane drifting and collision radar.
Oh… and wheels no bigger than 16", so new tyres don't needlessly blow the budget.
It says the Dolphin Essential does not have the "premium tyres" in both Dynamic and Premium, those "premium tyres" are the mediocre Linglong tyres, so I wonder what type of crappy stock tyres are included with the Essential?
Batman was with atto 3 so it follows the smaller cousin will be Robin tyres.
"premium tyres" are the mediocre Linglong tyres
I think the essentials have Dingshort tyres
Great deal thanks for sharing! Love BYD.
Nah, I’ll wait until the atto 3 (or it’s competitor) drops to $35k drive away
I am waiting for the atto4
I am waiting for Atto5
BYD has recently issued(asked) 10% discount on parts price from all its suppliers, I would expect further discount from BYD later this year once new contracts are signed with supplier.
They need to come up with a $5000 model that can run on Eneloops
The arc of EVs bends towards cars becoming more like devices. Xiaomi, the smartphone maker, unveiled a new electric SUV in China last month that is designed to take on the likes of BYD and Tesla. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7bijLzVq9xI
Yeah you only need that one. Rest is history
Range is still low. Just give a few more years
The MG ES5 Healing Car isn’t far away.
Will be a competitor to BYD Atto ‘Batman’ 3
The MG4 is a great little car so I’m sure there is high hopes that the ES5 will be a good package.
Healing?
Yeah no need to visit the GP or emergency anymore. This will take some pressure off our strained medical system.
Thanks for the link. Sad to see physical knobs disappearing. It's nice to be able to just turn a knob to control the temp or volume.
I saw one of these the other day, they were very small. It’s not much bigger than a Nissan Micra.
I drive a Honda Jazz, the Dolphin is almost identical in size to my Jazz.
I'd prefer a new Camry
I personally think its not cheap enough. Compared to the cost in China and other Asian countries. Heck its Oceana for a reason. China is Australia's biggest trading partner. We should have a preferance trade deal if only the pollys can get there act together
Perhaps you're not understanding customs tariffs and trade deals…
How do you propose to reduce the tariff, which is already 0%?
Dolphin, seal, sea lion… Seal'd battery, no air intake? Are these amphicars we can take into the ocean? Build my dreams!
I’d rather the premium drivetrain but with the same nice to have but not essential stuff removed to lower the price. The dynamic has a lot less power. But I just bought a sealion 6 last year so I’m not in the market anyway. But no regrets buying my byd chinese “junk” - so far it’s been a more than pleasant surprise and you’d be doing yourself a disservice if you don’t at least test drive a BYD if you are in the market for a new phev/ev car.
Every time a Chinese EV gets posted, there are the usual commenters saying "why is it so much cheaper in China".
This is normal, not only for EV's but for almost all goods and resources. Selling domestically tends to have a lower sale value than selling international.
There's a variety of reasons for this, like tariffs, trade costs, transport costs, distribution costs, government incentives, then there is other things like if the product being sold internationally needs to meet certain compliance standards.
Please stop complaining about them being cheaper in china, this won't change….much like how there are things we sell to China that are cheaper if purchased in Australia.
I don't think CCP would give a st about you.
speak for yourself..we just want the best value and none of this political nonsense..
User name checks out
Driven by Marxist-Leninist ideology and imperialist nostalgia, the CCP silences dissent and restricts the rights and freedoms of Chinese citizens, to include forced population control, arbitrary detention, censorship, forced labor, violations of religious freedom, and pervasive media and internet censorship.
congrats on getting your google license!
I guess one thing they avoid is voting between a turd and a douche every 3 years
![[Pre Order] BYD Dolphin Essential $29,990, Atto 3 Essential $39,990 + On-Road Costs @ BYD](https://files.ozbargain.com.au/n/03/888203.jpg?h=2137d65a)
What's the point of auto wipers? Wouldn't you as the driver turn them on when you can't see?