Australia’s most affordable EV scores top 5 star ANCAP rating

Australia’s most affordable EV, the BYD Dolphin has now achieved a five-star ANCAP safety rating. Along with the BYD Dolphin, the BYD Seal which was just launched last week, has also received five stars from the vehicle safety body.

This makes these two BYD vehicles to be the second and third vehicles to be rated under the newer stricter 2023 criteria.

The BYD Dolphin is the lowest cost new EV in Australia and deliveries will begin this week. It and the electric Seal, also newly launched,  have gone through a series of crash tests along with active safety system testing to ensure these cars can avoid not only other cars, pedestrians and cyclists but also motorcycles as part of the new 2023 testing regime. 

The BYD Seal performed really well achieving full points for driver and child passenger protection in the side impact test. Along with that, it scored excellent scores in the oblique pole test. 

Protection was also offered to the driver’s chest and lower legs in the frontal offset test along with rear passengers in the full-width test.

The BYD Dolphin also showcased good protection for adult occupants in crash tests. The driver’s chest in the frontal offset test were tested to have a marginal level of protection. The highest scores were achieved for child occupant protection in the frontal and side-impact tests.

The Dolphin is fitted with a centre airbag which minimises head contact injury between front passengers and the intruding side of the vehicle.

“Our 2023 test and rating criteria have introduced further requirements for high levels of structural protection as well as new challenges for manufacturers in the area of active safety systems and, pleasingly, the three models rated so far this year have each achieved five-star ratings,” ANCAP CEO Carla Hoorweg said.

“This is a trend we’d like to see continue as we finalise testing and assessments on a number of new models later this year.”