Ranked #155 car in the UK · Hatchback (EV) · 8,768 units sold last year
The BYD Dolphin is the value electric hatchback - a Volkswagen ID.3 and MG4 rival from the world's largest EV maker, built on BYD's safe, durable Blade battery. Roomy for its size, well-equipped and sharply priced, it's pitched squarely at affordable everyday electric motoring. It's not the sharpest to drive and the cabin design is love-it-or-hate-it, but as a keenly-priced, well-warrantied electric hatch it makes a strong value case.
WLTP
The short version
Forecourt score
Value 1 · Reliability 34 · Insurance 65
The BYD Dolphin loses value faster than most cars and is cheaper to run than most. Its MOT-based reliability is good, 70 out of 100, ahead of 34% of the cars we track. On three-year value retention it ranks better than 1% of models.
The Forecourt score blends how this car ranks against the catalogue on value retention, reliability and insurance cost (weighted 40/40/20). Higher is better; running cost is not yet folded in.
Estimates are tuned to the version you choose.
Fuel
Electric
Power
204 ps
Drivetrain
FWD
Efficiency
4.1 mi/kWh
The volume Dolphin. 60.4 kWh Blade Battery LFP, 204 PS front motor, FWD. 265mi WLTP. 88kW DC. Design trim — 17-inch wheels, leatherette, panoramic roof. The BYD compact EV hatch.
Tidy and well looked-after for its age — the typical car.
Remembered as you browse other cars.
Optional — fills in the exact year and ULEZ status for your specific car. The registration isn’t stored.
Estimated market value
How we got this number — click for the breakdown, or to challenge it.£15,000
Range £11,650 – £18,700
medium confidence
How a 2023-registration BYD Dolphin loses value over time.
Based on the 2023 car with 23,400 miles you entered above — worth about £15,000 today — here is the cost of owning it for the next 5 years, at roughly 7,800 miles a year.
5-year total
£15,050
Per year
£3,010
All-in per mile
£0.39
Fuel per mile
7.7p
Best age to buy — around 4 years
A 4-year-old example loses roughly £2,450 a year — under half the £4,900 a one-year-old sheds. The steepest drop is behind it.
Uses current UK pump and home-charging prices (DESNZ weekly), typical-driver insurance and manufacturer service intervals. "Fuel per mile" is just the energy input — so an EV at ~9p and a diesel at ~22p make running-cost comparison direct. A guide; your own costs will vary.
Where this car ranks against the 340 vehicles in our index — higher is better.
Percentile rank across our full index. A measure is shown only where the data spreads meaningfully across the index.
How the available versions compare on price, running cost, and the headaches each tends to develop.
BYD's compact EV hatch. Blade Battery LFP — fire-resistant, allows daily 100% charging. Cross-shop MG4, Citroen ë-C3, Renault 5 E-Tech. Dealer network thin — BYD still establishing UK presence.
Watch for
Fuel/energy costs based on this week’s UK averages (w/c 22/06/2026) · Petrol 153.3p/L, Diesel 172.5p/L, Electricity 27.0p/kWh · DESNZ
Group 18 of 50 (mid — around the UK average) · Comprehensive · 3 years NCB
Indicative annual comprehensive premiums for this car, by driver age band and risk profile. Pick the combination closest to your circumstances.
Estimated annual premium · typical, age 33-39
£928/ year
Roughly £77 per month
Typical
Average UK driver — 3 years NCB, average postcode, no recent claims.| Age band | Lower risk | Typical | Higher risk |
|---|---|---|---|
| Age 17-25 | £2,116 | £2,645 | £3,438 |
| Age 26-32 | £1,104 | £1,299 | £1,585 |
| Age 33-39Selected | £817 | £928 | £1,095 |
| Age 40-49 | £693 | £770 | £893 |
| Age 50+ | £618 | £687 | £810 |
How we estimate this
Indicative annual comprehensive premium estimates. The 'Typical' figure represents an average UK driver in each age band; Lower and Higher risk show the realistic spread driven by factors UK insurers legitimately price on (postcode, occupation, claims history, NCB, voluntary excess, modifications). Based on 10,000 miles/yr, £250 voluntary excess, and the no-claims bonus selected above. Always get individual quotes before buying.
Adjust the annual mileage to match how you'll actually use the car. Insurance is what you selected above (age 33-39, typical risk, 3 yrs NCB).
Routine service
£185
Annual main-dealer service
Major service
£210
Every 2 years, annualised
Road tax
£195
Standard rate, post year-one
Electricity
£514
3.5 mi/kWh, 27p blended
Insurance
£928
Age 33-39, group 18
Clean-air zones
✓ ULEZ compliantBased on London ULEZ standards — Birmingham, Bath, Bristol, Sheffield, Glasgow and other UK clean-air zones generally follow the same rules.
Excludes depreciation and unscheduled repairs (see next section).
What out-of-warranty repairs typically run, by mileage band. Your selected mileage is highlighted.
0-30k miles
£80
per year · low risk
30-60k miles
£240
per year · low risk
60-100k miles
£520
per year · medium risk
100k+ miles
£900
per year · high risk
195/65 R15 · 205/55 R16 · 215/45 R17
What a full set of four will cost you (including fit and balance), and which brand each tier of buyer should pick. A typical set lasts about 24,000 miles.
Budget
£300
set of 4, fitted · £60 per tyre
Mid-range
£440
set of 4, fitted · £95 per tyre
Premium
£620
set of 4, fitted · £140 per tyre
Factory options ranked by how much of their original cost they recover at resale. Anything above 70% return tends to make money back; below 40% is paying for your own enjoyment.
| Option | New cost | Added used value | Return |
|---|---|---|---|
Tow bar (factory-fit) Niche, but the buyers who want one will pay for it. | £650 | £450 | 69% |
Parking sensors & reversing camera Near-expected now — its absence costs more than its presence returns. | £500 | £300 | 60% |
Heat pump Genuinely useful in winter; buyers increasingly look for it. | £1,000 | £450 | 45% |
Heated seats / cold-weather pack | £450 | £200 | 44% |
Faster on-board AC charger | £800 | £300 | 38% |
Metallic or premium paint Almost universal — an unusual colour is the bigger resale risk. | £600 | £200 | 33% |
Panoramic / opening roof | £1,100 | £350 | 32% |
Larger alloy wheels | £700 | £200 | 29% |
Drawn from owner reports and warranty data. Filtered for relevance to 23,400 miles.
Watch now
Failure typically happens around your current mileage.
Upcoming
A known weak point — but you haven't reached its usual mileage yet.
Already due
Past its usual failure mileage. Either already fixed, or about to.
General wear item — not a model-specific fault.
General wear item — not a model-specific fault.
General wear item — not a model-specific fault.
General wear item — not a model-specific fault.
"Parts low/medium/high" indicates how easy the replacement part is to source — discontinued or specialist parts mean longer workshop time and bigger bills.
Euro NCAP's independent crash-test rating for the BYD Dolphin, from its 2023 assessment.
The passenger compartment of the DOLPHIN remained stable in the frontal offset test.
Independent crash-test data from Euro NCAP. Star ratings reflect the test protocol of the year shown — newer protocols are stricter, so a 5-star from 2024 represents a higher bar than a 5-star from 2014.
How this model fares at its MOT as it ages — from 14,575 real DVSA test records.
Longevity
Not enough older examples yet to gauge longevity.
Survival by registration year
Each point is one registration cohort. Older cars on the left, newer on the right. A flatter line means the model holds up over time; a steep drop means cohorts disappear from UK roads faster.
Good
No usable MOT data — estimated score.
MOT outlook
Insufficient MOT history at this car's reference age — too few tests to compute a reliable percentile.
Safety recalls
Manufacturers occasionally issue safety recalls to fix a fault free of charge. You can check whether the BYD Dolphin, or your exact vehicle, has any outstanding recalls on the official DVSA service.
Check on GOV.UKOpens the Driver & Vehicle Standards Agency recall checker. Choose the make, model and year of manufacture — no registration needed.
A general indicator from UK 2025 theft data and this car’s characteristics — not a prediction for any one vehicle.
Whole-car theft
Around average
Theft risk is around the UK average. Like most modern cars it has keyless entry, so relay theft is the method to guard against.
Parts theft
Lower
As an electric car it has no catalytic converter, so the most common parts-theft vector doesn't apply.
Worth doing
Whether driving a BYD Dolphin into a UK clean-air zone will cost you anything. Rules use the same Euro standard across most zones — petrol from 2006 and diesel from 2015 onwards are exempt; pure electric is always exempt.
| City | Area | Daily charge | Likely outcome |
|---|---|---|---|
| London | All of Greater London (within the M25) | £12.50 | Likely exempt Battery-electric — exempt everywhere. |
| Birmingham | Inside the A4540 Middleway | £8.00 | Likely exempt Battery-electric — exempt everywhere. |
| Bristol | City centre and part of the Portway | £9.00 | Likely exempt Battery-electric — exempt everywhere. |
| Glasgow | City centre | — | Likely exempt Battery-electric — exempt everywhere. |
| Edinburgh | City centre | — | Likely exempt Battery-electric — exempt everywhere. |
| Aberdeen | City centre | — | Likely exempt Battery-electric — exempt everywhere. |
| Dundee | City centre | — | Likely exempt Battery-electric — exempt everywhere. |
Model-level guidance only. To check a specific registration, use the official gov.uk clean-air zone checker. Zone charges and boundaries are set by local councils and change over time.
Winter range estimates assume ~5°C ambient with cabin heating; figures from manufacturer cold-weather testing where available, otherwise derived as a fraction of WLTP. DC times are manufacturer-claimed 10–80% on the headline charger; real-world sessions on UK rapids can be slower. Charging cost is a full battery at the home/blended electricity rate; public rapid charging costs more.
UK charging network
As of 2026-04-01, the UK has 119,080 publicly available EV chargers, up 12.6% on the prior year (13,281 added in 2025). 23% of those are rapid (50 kW+) or ultra-rapid (150 kW+), so the network can support both home and on-route charging.
3-8 kW
50%
Standard
8-50 kW
27%
Standard plus
50-150 kW
12%
Rapid
150 kW+
11%
Ultra-rapid
Source: Department for Transport / Zapmap · Released 2026-05-21 · DfT statistics
How well-supported BYD is across the UK — a practical read on how easy servicing, parts and warranty work will be to find.
Franchised UK dealers
~60
Limited network
New-entrant EV
Network size relative to the UK's largest (BYD is 1.3% of all franchised outlets)
A limited network — you may need to travel for main-dealer servicing, though independent specialists can often help.
For context, the UK has roughly 4,500 franchised car-dealer outlets in total, plus about 15,500 independent garages.
Approximate figures, curated from public UK industry sources (NFDA, Car Dealer Magazine). Franchised networks shrink year on year — these indicate network size, not an exact count.
Length
4,300 mm
Width
1,790 mm
Height
1,460 mm
Kerb weight
1,700 kg
Boot
380–1,250 L
Battery
64 kWh
Of every BYD Dolphin ever registered in the UK, this is what's actively on the road, parked off the road on a SORN, or gone for good.
Total ever registered
11,358
Currently taxed & on road
11,335
100% of all registered
SORN (off road)
23
0% of all registered
Scrapped or exported
0
UK fleet trend — 2023 to 2025
+318.1% vs 2024Source: DfT VEH0124 vehicle licensing statistics (year-end 2025) · Updated 1 Jul 2026
Common questions
Similar cars
Same underpinnings
BYD's dedicated electric platform supporting Atto 3, Dolphin, Seal and Sealion. Different badges, often substantially different residuals, but broadly the same mechanicals and repair cost profile.
BYD e-Platform 3.0 · BYD
Common questions
Answers are generated from this car's Forecourt data — DVSA MOT records, DfT licensing statistics and our valuation model — and update with the weekly data refresh.