With local advertising for the BYD Dolphin spotted in the wild, stating a starting price of R540,000 for the cheapest of the two incoming models, South Africans will soon have a new affordable EV king.

Until now, that title was held by the GWM Ora 03 and its starting price of R686,950. The new BYD Dolphin undercuts that by a sizeable amount.

When it officially launches, the Dolphin will be the second vehicle from the Chinese automaker available in South Africa following the launch of the BYD Atto 3 last year which currently starts at R768,000.

Swimming with the BYD Dolphin

A 70kW/180Nm-producing electric motor drives the BYD Dolphin Standard (the cheaper model). BYD has paired that with a 44.9kWh battery which is said to have a range of 340km. Plug it into a DC charger up to 60kW and you’re looking at a full charge in under an hour. As with all manufacturer-quoted figures, take that with a pinch of salt.

The Extended model sports a larger 60.5kWh battery pack and a quoted 427km range. On paper, it’s nearly twice as powerful as the Standard model with a 150kW/310Nm electric motor. BYD reckons you’ll get from 0-100km/h in seven seconds. We’re guessing the Standard model will take longer.

Despite its larger battery and more powerful motor, the Extended model claims the same charging time as the Standard owing to it supporting up to 80kW fast DC charging.

Read More: All the new EVs coming to South Africa in 2024 (so far)

Both models offer plenty of new-age tech that we’re itching to try out, including a centre-mounted 12.8in rotatable infotainment display.

Along with new tech, the BYD Dolphin also features a rather lengthy list of standard features, many of which are safety-focused like collision warning, blind spot alert, multiple parking cameras, autonomous emergency braking, lane-keep assist and lane departure warning, and driver attention alert to make sure you don’t drift off behind the wheel.