BYD Dolphin vs Toyota Urban Cruiser

The BYD Dolphin costs £1,700 more than the Toyota Urban Cruiser. For that premium it adds 52 miles more WLTP range, 57 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 Toyota Urban Cruiser is £1,700 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 Toyota Urban Cruiser comes out roughly £1,660 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 178 miles for the Toyota Urban Cruiser - both below their WLTP figures, because sustained high speed is the hardest case for an EV. The BYD Dolphin goes roughly 43 miles further between charging stops.

The BYD Dolphin is the easier car for tight UK car parks: it is 30 mm narrower than the Toyota Urban Cruiser. In a standard 2,400 mm bay that leaves about 630 mm of total clearance for the BYD Dolphin and about 600 mm of total clearance for the Toyota Urban Cruiser. The BYD Dolphin also turns in a 1.0 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 Toyota Urban Cruiser. 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.