What is likely to be one of the most important cars in Australia’s EV revolution has been spotted testing in the streets of Sydney. It’s an EV hatchback model from BYD in camouflage, which appears to be the BYD Dolphin.
The BYD Dolphin is a very important EV for the Australian market. If the testing goes well, it would be expected to launch in 2023 with a price tag of under $40,000 AUD.
Size-wise, the BYD Dolphin EV hatchback is slightly shorter in length to the very popular Toyota Corolla hatchback, coming in at 4,125 mm.
The BYD hatchback is powered by BYD’s blade batteries and the extended range model will be able to get over 300 km of WLTP range from a 44.93 kWh battery pack.
Last month BYD produced over 217,000 NEV vehicles and is ramping it’s production at a rapid pace. 25,336 of these were the BYD Dolphin EV hatchback which made up 11.6% of the total production.
The hatchback segment in the Australian car market is still quite popular. According to FCAI, the 2021 Australian vehicle sales data showed that Toyota Corolla sold 28,768 units which also included some sedans, followed by the Hyundai i30 made up another 25,575 hatchbacks.
There is plenty of pent-up demand for hatchbacks in the country and an EV that’s affordable is bound to get interest from everyday buyers but also larger fleets.
With the recently passed Electric car discount bill and the need for businesses and families to save money on expenses like fuel, an affordable EV like the BYD Dolphin will be a hit in 2023 when it is expected to land on our shores.