BYD Dolphin vs Honda e

The BYD Dolphin is £520 cheaper to buy. Running costs are almost identical - about £152 a year either way, at 8,000 miles on an off-peak home tariff. Add 5 years of charging and the BYD Dolphin comes out roughly £640 cheaper overall. These figures cover list price and home charging only - insurance, servicing, tyres and depreciation will move the real total.

EVcarsguide estimates a real-world motorway range of about 221 miles for the BYD Dolphin and 115 miles for the Honda e - both below their WLTP figures, because sustained high speed is the hardest case for an EV. The BYD Dolphin goes roughly 106 miles further between charging stops.

The two are within 18 mm on width, so neither is meaningfully easier to thread into a tight space. In a standard 2,400 mm bay that leaves about 648 mm of total clearance for the Honda e and about 630 mm of total clearance for the BYD Dolphin. The Honda e also turns in a 0.8 m tighter circle, which helps with U-turns and multi-storey ramps.

Over a 8-year ownership window EVcarsguide's degradation model projects roughly 90% battery health for the BYD Dolphin and 84% for the Honda e. That gives the BYD Dolphin a modest edge in retained real-world range. The BYD Dolphin's LFP-type pack tolerates daily 100% charging, while the Honda e's NMC-type pack lasts longest kept to about 80% for everyday use. Both batteries carry a 8-year manufacturer warranty.