The BYD Dolphin Surf is proof that affordable EVs don’t have to feel like punishment. It’s quirky, surprisingly fun around town, and offers enough range and tech to make urban commuting a breeze — even if the relatively low power, cheap plastics, and noisy cabin remind you where BYD cut costs to hit that R396,000 price tag.
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Design
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Performance
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Infotainment
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Features
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Value
Once South Africa’s cheapest EV at R341,000, BYD’s Dolphin Surf casually cruised through the taxi-ridden streets with a chip on its shoulder. By the time we got our hands on the steering wheel, however, things had changed. But there’s nothing wrong with second place, is there? We spent a week or so in the company of the more expensive ‘Dynamic’ trim, which primarily adds some range over the ‘Comfort’ for a couple more bucks.
Although at that point, is it really fair to call the Dolhin Surf Dynamic the second-cheapest EV in the country? Truth be told, we prefer words. Numbers, not so much. Even then, we can tell you that at R396,000, the little ‘Dynamic’ hatchback is still one of the better deals you’re likely to find. It helps that the Dolphin Surf was a blast to drive around the city. We never quite made it to the Kruger, but we’re guessing it wouldn’t have fared as well.
Yup, that’s a hatchback
You can imagine our disappointment when the Dolphin Surf turned up on our doorstep looking nothing like a dolphin. We quickly hid our dissatisfaction and reverted to judging the little hatchback on its merits. At a first glance, it’s small. Really small. Not so small that it wouldn’t yield its deceptively capacious depths to a larger-than-average person, though. We managed to fit right inside, even if the roof was a little too close for comfort.
It’s a little four-door hatchback, if our description wasn’t enough of a clue. But not like any other than you’ve seen. You see, it was Wolfgang Egger (rad name) of Audi and Lamborghini fame who designed the ‘Seagull’ as it’s known elsewhere. That makes a bit more sense once you get a peek inside at the seagull-inspired dash.
But back to the exterior, which somehow manages to crib Lambo’s homework without bringing it to shame. Despite the Dolphin Surf’s rather dumpy dimensions (3,925mm long), it manages to incorporate some rather sharp, good-looking lines. It’s available in lime green, cosmos black, and ice blue, while our model turned up sporting a cream white coat. We grew to resent its ordinary look after some time, but to each their own, we guess.
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It’s a different story inside. It’s incredibly clean, even if it does all feel a bit cheap. All the buttons, knobs, and even the gear shift are relegated to a single, compact dial system in the centre that took some getting used to. Above it all sits the 10.1in infotainment display, which was easily accessible from the driver’s seat. The 7in digital cluster on the driver’s side struggled to justify its existence, only being handy for keeping an eye on the car’s charge.
Storage is a bit of a mixed bag. On one hand, you’ve got a fairly spacious cubbyhole, two centre cupholders, cupholders in the door, and a 308-litre boot. Those central cupholders aren’t as great as they seem, being too large for the average water bottle. A Stanley may have a better time, but we weren’t able to put that to the test. Otherwise, you’ll have to be content with your bottle falling out at every turn, or sticking ’em in the door.
Hold onto your horses, this baby’s electric!
Almost all of the Dolphin Surf’s eccentric personality derives from its status as an EV. Would Saffas still turn their heads if they heard the Surf coming past them with an internal combustion engine? Maybe, if it donned that lime green coating, but otherwise, it’s the 38.8 kWh (30 kWh in the Comfort) ‘Blade’ battery getting all the attention.
And rightly so. Especially at this price, with BYD claiming a 300km range (WLTP) on our review model. We never let the battery touch zero, but we have no trouble believing BYD’s boasts with what we got in the Dynamic model. The Dolphin Surf falls a bit short with its lone ‘Permanent Magnet Synchronous Motor’ (PMSM), sending only 55kW and 135Nm of torque to the vehicle’s front wheels, which turned out to be good enough for a dash to Spar.
You’ll want to make friends with one of your local DC chargers ASAP. It’ll handle AC power just fine, but if you aren’t familiar with EVs, it’s an excruciatingly slow process. The first time we plugged the Dolphin Surf in at home — with 41% charge left, mind you — we were told it’ll take approximately 13 hours to hit the 100% we sought. Let a DC charger take over, and it’ll cut that down to roughly 30 minutes if you can find an 85kW charger.
Drives like a (Build Your) Dream
The Dolphin Surf exceeded our expectations in both speed and comfort — managing to nip through traffic without much hassle — all while being pretty smooth about it. It’s not the fastest car in the world, but you’ll beat the orange light at the robot more often than not, especially if you’re in Sport mode.
At first, the three different drive modes — Eco, Normal, and Sport — felt quite interchangeable, and a waste of battery. It wasn’t ’til we’d put some hours under our belt that their strengths began to shine. Sport will get you into the flow of traffic faster than the rest, but it sacrifices range to do it. Eco will have you pulling away like a snail, but it saves on battery and is hardly noticeable once you’re properly out and about.
While by no means a slouch when barrelling down the N12, it’ll require your whole foot to be down if you hope to keep up. BYD reckons the car will top out at around 130km/h, but we can confirm that isn’t true. Just get some gravity on your side, and voila. You won’t send it rocketing to 150km/h, but it’s more than enough to visit the far-right lane before admitting defeat.
It’s louder than we anticipated, even when the journey took us down the drive. It only gets louder the faster you go. Don’t get us wrong, the Dolphin Surf is quiet. But it doesn’t live up to the EV revolution that Stephen Fry’s Gadget Man promised us all those years ago. You’ll need to spend a bit more for some true peace.
Sufficiently tech-y
Android Auto was a complete and utter nightmare. Much of the time, our resident Android device (an Honor Magic 8 Pro) failed to automatically connect when wireless, necessitating us to restart our phone before it would work. Arguably more frustrating was the fact that it wasn’t consistent, working perfectly about 25% of the time we got in the car.
This is likely a fault on Honor’s side rather than BYD’s, as we’ve heard from other local media that Android Auto on Honor devices doesn’t play nicely with some of the Chinese automotive imports. We eventually ditched Android Auto for good and blasted our tunes through ‘ye olde Bluetooth connection.
iPhone owners are good to go, as Stuff’s Toby Shapshak reported no connectivity issues when using CarPlay.
We were pleasantly surprised by this ‘budget’ EV’s rearview camera, which turned out to be quite clear. You’ll be looking at it through the 10.1in infotainment display, which, aside from a dodgy Android Auto connection, was more responsive than we expected. It certainly made adjusting settings on the go a whole lot simpler.
Sitting inside the mostly-plastic interior was a pretty roomy wireless charger that comfortably held our Magic 8 Pro. Less impressive was the charger itself, which we’re guessing is only rated for 15W. That amounted to a little over 1% of charge over our daily 33-ish-km drive to work. That’s fine, especially when you’re working with a budget, but don’t go in with high expectations.
Perhaps the handiest feature of the Dolphin Surf was its keyless start and entry. Before you’ve even got in the car, the electric motor is whirring and positioned to go. All the driver has to do is take a seat, fasten their seatbelt, and put foot. That time saved is slightly negated by the extra time spent unplugging your car every morning, though.
BYD Dolphin Surf verdict
The BYD Dolphin Surf won’t replace your Hilux, and it probably won’t survive a cross-country road trip without a carefully planned charging itinerary. But as an affordable city-slicking EV? It’s hard not to like. It’s surprisingly fun to drive, easy on the wallet (for an EV, anyway), and packed with enough tech to make the daily commute feel a little futuristic.
Sure, the cabin plastics won’t fool anybody, and the Android Auto experience was sub-par, but BYD has managed to build an electric hatchback that feels approachable rather than intimidating. The Dolphin Surf won’t convert every petrolhead overnight, but for urban South Africans eyeing their first EV, it’s one heck of a compelling gateway drug at R396,000.
