BYD Dolphin vs Citroën ë-C3

The BYD Dolphin costs £10,200 more than the Citroën ë-C3. For that premium it adds 131 miles more WLTP range, 80 kW faster peak rapid charging and 54 litres more boot space. On EVcarsguide's combined category scores, the BYD Dolphin comes out ahead overall.

The Citroën ë-C3 is £10,200 cheaper to buy. The BYD Dolphin is cheaper to charge, roughly £152 a year versus £184 for the Citroën ë-C3, at 8,000 miles on an off-peak home tariff. Add 5 years of charging and the Citroën ë-C3 comes out roughly £10,040 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 94 miles for the Citroën ë-C3 - both below their WLTP figures, because sustained high speed is the hardest case for an EV. The BYD Dolphin goes roughly 127 miles further between charging stops.

The two are within 15 mm on width, so neither is meaningfully easier to thread into a tight space. In a standard 2,400 mm bay that leaves about 645 mm of total clearance for the Citroën ë-C3 and about 630 mm of total clearance for the BYD Dolphin. The BYD Dolphin also turns in a 1.2 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 90% for the Citroën ë-C3. That is close enough that capacity loss should not decide between them. Both use LFP-type cells, which are happy charged to 100% every day. Both batteries carry a 8-year manufacturer warranty.