BYD Dolphin Surf arrives in South Africa

BYD South Africa’s highly anticipated Dolphin Surf was launched at Battery Park, Cape Town on Tuesday, 16 September and Recharged was in attendance.

South Africa’s newest cheapest EV, the Dolphin Surf comes in at R339 900 for the Comfort model, and R389 900 for the Dynamic model. It marks a significant milestone in the EV space since entering the market, breaking the R400 000 barrier to make EVs more accessible to the mass market.

Described as stylish, practical and safe, the Dolphin Surf gets a five star Euro NCAP safety rating, which BYD says is a first in its class.

Dolphin Surf Quick Look

• 55kW of power; 135Nm of torque
• Comfort: 30kWh battery; 232km range (WLTP)
• Dynamic: 38.8kWh battery; 295km range (WLTP)
• 30-80% charge in 30 minutes
• Apple CarPlay and Android Auto
• 16-inch wheel; 5 seat capacity

The Dolphin Surf includes a bunch of tech as standard, such as parking cameras, a 10.1-inch rotating infotainment screen, 7-inch colour instrument panel, power adjusted driver seats, USB-A and USB-C charging ports plus wireless Apple CarPlay and Android Auto.

It supports voice commands through the trigger word “Hey BYD”, has four speakers, 15W wireless charging for smartphones, a 12V socket in the middle of the centre console and keyless entry and start functions. It also supports NFC keys through supported devices and a BYD app to control certain functions. And if that wasn’t enough, it also has a fun built-in karaoke function.

The Dolphin Surf also has another trick up its sleeve, it supports Vehicle-to-Load (V2L) functionality, which lets you power your home with the vehicle when there is no electricity. It acts like a giant power bank; and BYD supplies the necessary cables.

Other safety features include three parking sensors, a tyre pressure monitoring system, seat belt reminders, ABS, traction control, hill-start assist control, electric power assisted steering and a coordinated regenerative braking system.

BYD says it has 20 smart storage solutions throughout the cabin; 230L boot capacity that expands to 930L with the back seats folded down.

First Impressions: BYD Dolphin Surf

I like the look of the car, it’s cute yet edgy and I love me some sharp angles. It’s hard to miss in the bright yellow colour, which is available alongside a blue, cream and black option.

The cabin is modern, feels well built, and finishes look good. The gear selection is to the left, alongside a strip of circular controls for the demister, fan, temperature, hazards, mode selection, etc. It is a bit fidgety. I like that the seat can be electronically adjusted, very nifty for a car at this price, plus the large infotainment screen.

I spent some time with the car briefly for a quick less than 10km drive and while I cannot summarise everything about the car from that, you can appreciate this is the EV for quick commutes, city driving, doing school rounds or even as a small business car without worrying about rising fuel costs.

It has a total output of 55kW, and while I didn’t think Eco mode was needed for this car, Sport and Normal modes were best for my quick drive. Unlike most EVs when you take off and feel the power, the Dolphin Surf isn’t about that. It’s the car you want for taking you from A to B really cheaply.

On my drive back, my consumption figure was 13.6kWh/100km but bearing in mind it was a short drive. And I was in Sport mode mostly, barely used Eco but switched to Normal on the last stretch. I like that the instrument cluster in a colour display.

I enjoyed the short drive in it and would love to spend more time with it to test the app functionality and pairing with my phone to get the full seamless tech experience.

Early Adopter Package

BYD has an early adopter package that includes the V2L socket, a portable charger, a point to point cable, and a 7kW wallbox charger included in the price. It supports 6.6kW AC charging on both models and 30kW DC on the Comfort model and 40kW DC on the Dynamic model.

If you take out finance with Absa, in addition to the above, you get R10 000 cash back, and pay R999 insurance on the Dolphin Surf.

There will be 1000 units allocated as launch stock, according to Steve Chang, MD for BYD South Africa, available at its 16 dealerships, with a plan to rollout to 23 by the end of the year.

He also confirmed that cash sales are eligible for the early adopter package with the free accessories. The Absa deal is exclusive to the cheaper insurance and cash back.

Chang tells Recharged that BYD SA is partnering with Eskom to rollout AC charging stations at areas like schools, universities, hospitals, government buildings, office blocks and residential complexes.