BYD Dolphin vs Geely Ex2

What's the difference?

Chinese manufacturers have been impressing us lately with the strides they’ve been making, and BYD is no exception with its Dolphin.

Not only does this hatch help bring the price down for prospective EV buyers, but it leaves a solid impression of a cohesive, well-built car, which is also quite a bit of fun to drive.

It’s not the fastest, nor is it the most practical, and there are a handful of downsides to its design and software, but when it comes down to it, this is simply a great value entry-level electric car.

The Geely EX2 Inspire makes a good case for itself as a city runabout, with cute looks, decent urban performance and surprisingly generous cabin space. It’s less convincing on the open road, where its ride and handling and modest range let it down, but if your driving is mostly confined to the city, this little EV has plenty going for it.

You wouldn’t know it in Australia, but BYD has a huge and diverse range of vehicles with lots of different styling approaches in its home market of China.

The cars we get here, though, consisting of this Dolphin hatch, the Atto 3 small SUV, and the upcoming Seal sedan all seem to share more or less the same curvy, futuristic theme.

Contemporary touches on the exterior of the Dolphin include the bar light and full ‘Build Your Dreams’ typeface embedded in the rear, the blocky gloss black alloy wheels (17-inch on the Premium we tested), the two-tone colour scheme, and of course, the grille-free face.

Short overhangs and a tall body seal the EV deal, with the Dolphin looking closest in its aesthetic to something like the Volkswagen ID.3 than anything else on the market. It perhaps won’t be for everyone - it’s a little more experimental than the more conventional look worn by the MG4 - but then, for others this distinctiveness may be a selling point.

The interior look and feel is the biggest surprise. Somehow, the Dolphin, despite being more affordable than its larger Atto 3 sibling, feels a cut above when it comes to its design theme and build quality.

The weirdly organic touches designed to mimic muscle fibres in the Atto 3 have been traded out in favour of something a bit slicker.

I really like the material choices here. The use of neoprene across the lower half of the dash, in the doors, and down the centre of the seats feels a lot less pretentious than the standard synthetic leathers you usually get at this price-point, and there’s an agreeable mix of plastics as well as gloss and matt finishes. 

The nods to this car’s name which are present are a bit more toned down and fit with the design in a more subtle way.

The floating door handles, designed to resemble a fin, are a much nicer piece than the weird rotary ones in the Atto 3, and the wavy touches across the top of the dash aren’t too in-your-face and add an element of intrigue. I like it much more than I expected to.

It’s clear this space is designed around the giant multimedia panel, for better or worse. It looks spectacular, it’s nice and sharp, and the software, which looks as though it’s trying to emulate Tesla, does a pretty good job.

It’s quick, sharp, colourful, and has nice large iconography to jab at while you’re on the move, although some of the driving settings are ambiguously labelled and require clicking through to a sub-menu to alter. You’d get used to it, but it isn’t as slick as a Tesla operating system.

It also rotates, because of course it does, although one quirk I found with this is the polarised coating on the screen made it impossible to see when in portrait mode if you were also wearing polarised sunglasses.

Also, Apple CarPlay doesn't work in portrait mode. A gimmick? You decide.

The floating physical rotary controls jutting out below are a also a brilliant little piece of design. On one side you have your gear shifter, and on the other you’ve got your volume control, between them there are core functions, an on/off switch and an auto button for the climate, as well as the hazard light and drive mode controls.

It would be nice to also have a fan speed and temperature toggle, as these functions can only be used through the touchscreen, but there are worse offenders for clumsy climate controls on the market.

The Geely EX2 Inspire is cute as a button, and with its compact hatch proportions, it could be your new best friend in the city. At 4135mm long, 1805mm wide and 1580mm tall, it has a neat footprint that should make squeezing into tight urban areas less of a headache. It rides on 16-inch alloy wheels, which suit its small proportions.

In an automotive sea of 50 shades of grey, it’s also refreshing to see a little colour. Our test car wears Aurora Green, but you can also opt for tan or pink if you want to make more of a statement. These colours will set you back an extra $600, but I reckon it’s money well spent if you want to stand out from the crowd.

Inside, the EX2 keeps things fresh with large displays, contrasting stitching on the synthetic leather upholstery and the ambient lighting panels add a bit of personality.

It’s a pleasant looking cabin, even if physical buttons and dials are in short supply. Like many of its Chinese rivals, the Geely relies heavily on its screens for controls, which might not be everyone’s cup of tea.

The clever design bits don’t end with the controls and themed motifs, either. While the Dolphin’s cabin feels a bit smaller than many of its rivals (because, physically, it is), efforts have been made to make it a versatile space. 

There are plenty of little storage areas throughout. There’s the floating one below the touchscreen, which suits wallets and sunglasses. There’s one with a roll-out cover set low below the controls which is good for smaller objects you don’t want moving around the cabin.

A large cubby is located underneath the armrest between the two seats for bigger objects and a slick wireless phone charger cut out from the top.

The two centre bottle holders are a little small, as are the cut-outs in the doors, so if you’re negotiating with an XL takeaway soft drink you might run into trouble.

The dark theme for the interior in our car doesn’t help the more closed-in feel, but the standard panoramic fixed sunroof (mercifully with a rolling shade) helps to keep the space airy.

I found it easy to set up my driving position, another clever touch being the little digital instrument panel perched on the steering column, so no matter how you adjust it you can always see it.

I was a little concerned the rear seat would be tiny, because this car doesn’t look big from the outside, but I was most definitely wrong.

Behind my own seating position, at 182cm tall, I had leagues of knee room and plenty of space for my feet thanks to the flat floor. I also had sufficient but not stellar headroom, and the soft-touch materials continue into the doors and seat trim.

I will say, the abundance of synthetic leather is much more evident for rear passengers, but it feels like a minor complaint.

Again, the bottle holders in the doors are tiny, but at least the ones in the drop-down armrest are generous. The middle seat is very useful thanks to the flat floor, although there are no adjustable air vents for rear passengers.

The backs of the front seats have a variety of pockets in different shapes and sizes, and there are USB-C and USB-A ports on the back of the centre console, alongside a bizarre centre bottle holder which is on an angle.

Boot space is 345 litres if you move the false floor to its lowest position. I was just able to squeeze in the three-piece CarsGuide luggage set with a bit of fiddling around.

With the second row down, room expands to 1310L, and you can bring the false floor up in the boot to make the load area flat.

The space underneath is quite good for storing charging cables and such, but keep in mind the Dolphin doesn’t offer additional frunk storage.

What it does offer is a vehicle-to-load adapter, which lets you power household appliances via its external charging port. Neat, and rare at this end of the EV market.

The biggest win for the Geely EX2 Inspire is its cabin space. Up front, it feels spacious, with enough room that you’re not rubbing shoulders with your passenger. The seats are comfortable enough for urban duties, although the lack of lumbar support starts to make itself known on longer journeys.

Storage is excellent for the class, with a large glovebox drawer, a deep centre console and a handy shelf beneath the centre console. You also get bottle holders in each door, two cupholders and a dedicated phone tray with a wireless charging pad. Unfortunately, the charger refused to work with my phone, despite working with my husband’s identical handset and phone cover. Go figure.

Up front there’s a USB-A and USB-C port for wired charging, while the 14.6-inch multimedia touchscreen is responsive and easy to use. The exception is the climate control, which requires plenty of scrolling in different directions to adjust the temperature and fan speed.

The rear seat is where the EX2 really defies its small-car proportions. There’s seriously impressive space back there, with plenty of room behind my driving position. The flat floor also makes life easier for middle-seat passengers.

Storage is okay, too, with map pockets and bottle holders in each rear door, plus a little space beneath the seats for smaller bags. However, there’s no rear armrest or cupholders, and rear passengers get just one USB-A port.

The boot offers up to 375L of capacity with all seats in use, which proved more than enough for a large grocery shop and the school run during my week with the car. There’s also a 70L front boot, or frunk, for storing charging cables and other odds and ends.

The rear cargo cover is more cumbersome than helpful, and the EX2 makes do with a tyre repair kit rather than a spare. On the plus side, the powered tailgate is a welcome convenience.

The Geely EX2 is offered in two trim levels, with the top-spec Inspire our test car for this review. Priced at $30,990 before on-road costs, it makes a strong first impression on price alone. Its closest electric hatch rivals include the MG4 EV Urban Essence at $34,990 driveaway and the BYD Dolphin Premium at $36,990 MSRP, giving the Geely a handy price advantage before we even get into the features.

Another option is the GAC Aion UT Premium at $31,990, although that is a bit larger, while the super affordable BYD Atto 1 is a fair bit smaller.

Standard equipment includes:

• Keyless entry/start
• Full suite of LED lights
• Coloured ambient lighting
• Vehicle-to-load (V2L) capable
• Powered tailgate
• Powered/heated side mirrors
• Rain-sensing windscreen wipers
• Tilt/telescopic adjustable steering wheel
• Heated steering wheel
• Powered and heated front seats
• Synthetic leather upholstery
• Dual-zone climate control
• Geely Connected Services (including voice assistant, 4G network connection, live traffic for satellite navigation, over-the-air updates (OTA), Geely application store, online media streaming, and remote vehicle functions)
• 2x USB-A ports
• 1x USB-C port
• 15W wireless charging pad
• 14.6-inch touchscreen multimedia display
• 8.8-inch digital instrument cluster
• Satellite navigation
• Bluetooth
• Wireless Apple CarPlay/Android Auto
• FM/digital radio

There’s the choice of two powertrains for the Dolphin. Both are single-motor front-wheel drive set-ups.

The base Dynamic can make use of 70kW/180Nm which sounds underpowered to me, but the car we tested for this launch review was the Premium which offers a much healthier 150kW/310Nm.

As well as the increase to battery capacity the Premium upgrades the suspension to a rear multi-link set-up.

While the base car seems like such a value buy, the increase in power, ride quality, and range seems to justify stretching to the Premium if your budget allows.

The Geely EX2 Inspire is powered by a single electric motor driving the rear wheels, producing 85kW of power and 150Nm of torque. Those figures are well down on its closest rivals, with the MG4 EV Urban Essence offering 118kW/250Nm and the BYD Dolphin Premium delivering 150kW/310Nm.

That difference shows up on paper, with the EX2 taking a leisurely 11.5 seconds to get from 0-100km/h. So, you won’t be drag racing anyone at the traffic lights, but there’s enough pep for zipping around town and keeping up with urban traffic. The rear-wheel-drive set-up is also a point of difference in this price bracket.

Ultimately, the EX2 has enough performance for its intended urban role, but it lacks the extra punch offered by its rivals. Which may be a factor if you regularly hit the open road.

As previously mentioned, each variant also gets its own battery capacity. The entry-level Dynamic offers a 44.9kWh battery and 340km of driving range, while the top-spec car offers a 60.5kWh unit with a driving range of 427km.

Charging on a fast DC unit maxes out on 60kW for the Dynamic or 80kW for the Premium.

This sounds slow, with many rivals offering in excess of 100kW charging at a minimum, but because the Dolphin’s battery sizes are so trim, it still means an 80 per cent charge will arrive in a little over half an hour.

On the slower AC charging standard, the max speed is a disappointing 7.0kW. For a fully electric car, we prefer to see at least 11kW as it makes it worthwhile to plug-in to an AC unit at a shopping centre to add roughly 70 - 100km of range an hour.

Because the Dophin is also quite efficient, though, you can still expect about 50km an hour to be added on this charging standard.

Official energy consumption for the Premium as-tested is 14.2kWh/100km, and we saw an impressive 14.1kWh/100km on our brief test program, making it one of the more efficient EVs I’ve ever driven.

The Geely EX2 Inspire has a relatively small 47.14kWh lithium iron phosphate (LFP) battery, delivering a claimed WLTP driving range of up to 345km. That should be plenty for everyday urban duties, but longer trips will require a little more planning.

Geely claims combined energy consumption of 15.5kWh/100km, but I managed to beat that with an average of 12.7kWh/100km during my week with the car. That’s an impressive result, particularly given I’ve done a fair amount of highway driving, and shows the EX2 can make good use of its modest battery.

When it comes time to recharge, the EX2 has a Type 2/CCS charging port supporting up to 6kW AC charging and 80kW DC fast charging. The latter is reasonable for a battery of this size, with a 10-80 per cent charge taking around 30 minutes.

The Dolphin is immediately impressive. From the get-go I was greeted with a feeling of quality from the car in ways I didn’t expect. The steering feels nicely balanced and not too artificial like it can be on some EVs, while the interior is refreshingly ergonomic.

The ride might be the Dolphin’s most impressive trait, with a feeling of balance across both axles, and a spritely feel to the whole car.

It is trim for an EV, with a kerb weight of 1658kg, which no doubt helps the steering feel, and the efficiency.

As it is, I didn’t experience the kind of crashing and wallowing many EVs suffer from on larger bumps, and smaller bumps seemed to be filtered out with ease.

It even feels nicely balanced in the corners, pairing nicely with the great steering feel which is not something we’ve come to expect from Chinese cars.

The motor is also willing, with software tuning keeping power delivery on the right side of overwhelming, although the warm-hatch equivalent's seven second 0-100km/h sprint time is a hint at what it’s capable of.

Unfortunately, it is let down by a pretty sub-standard factory tyre package. The LingLong Comfort Masters are designed for the Dolphin, complete with little Dolphin markings on them, but are hardly inspiring for traction when you plant the accelerator or tip it into a corner with enthusiasm.

They are better than the pretty much no-name Atlas Batman A51 tyres which came on the Atto 3, but even MG has wised up to putting tyres from renowned manufacturers on its Australian-delivered cars.

The Dolphin is also easy to park, thanks to its excellent surround camera suite and tight footprint, but visibility out of the tiny rear window is limited and made worse by the huge headrests for the outboard back seats.

In terms of electric driving characteristics the Dolphin offers two levels of regen braking, one which is virtually non-existent, and another mild tune.

Surprisingly, there’s no single-pedal mode, and the Dolphin leans on blended braking more than some of its rivals. It feels a lot more traditional to drive in this sense, so may be well suited to someone hopping out of a combustion car.

The drive modes are quite dramatic, with 'Eco' mode limiting motor torque and even switching off the climate control, while 'Sport' will make bouts of wheelspin a bit too easy by upping the response time from the motor. I found it best to stick to the nicely-balanced 'Normal' setting.

Tl;dr? The Dolphin is impressive. It’s responsive, relatively light, and has a sense of quality to it through its great ride and decent handling. Not bad for the cheapest EV in Australia.

Around town, the Geely EX2 Inspire feels sprightly enough, with sufficient punch for changing lanes and getting up to speed on a slip road. Its instant electric torque helps it feel more eager than its modest power figures suggest, although you do notice the limitations more once you leave the city. It’s capable enough at higher speeds, but the EX2 is clearly more at home on urban streets.

The suspension can feel bouncy, and that becomes more noticeable on the open road, where the ride can feel unsettled at higher speeds. It’s another reason the EX2 is better suited to the daily urban trawl than regular long-distance driving. Steering is responsive, though, and visibility from the driver’s seat is decent to the front and sides.

One thing you’ll notice around town is the electric motor whirring away in the background. It’s surprisingly prominent for an EV and difficult to ignore at times. Interestingly, road and wind noise are fairly well contained at higher speeds.

Where the EX2 really shines is manoeuvrability. Its tight 9.9-metre turning circle makes navigating narrow streets and squeezing into tight parking spots easier, while the clear 360-degree camera takes much of the guesswork out of parking. For city driving, those qualities go a long way towards making the EX2 easy to live with.

The Geely EX2 holds a maximum five-star ANCAP safety rating from testing conducted in 2026, although its individual assessment scores are a little more mixed than that headline result suggests. While it performed strongly in post-crash assessment, its scores for safe driving and crash avoidance were less impressive (79 and 72 per cent, respectively).

• Autonomous emergency braking (AEB)
• Intelligent seatbelt reminders
• Lane keeping aid
• Lane departure warning
• Driver attention monitoring
• Blind-spot monitoring
• Rear child door locks
• 360-camera system
• Rear parking sensors
• Adaptive cruise control (but still to discover how to turn this function on)
• Front and rear collision warning 
• Rear cross-traffic alert
• Traffic sign recognition
• Occupant detection alert
• 7x airbags

I found some of its driver assistance systems a little overzealous in everyday driving, particularly the lane-keeping aids around town and the intrusive driver attention monitoring. And despite having heavy loads on the rear seats, none of the seatbelt reminders alerted, which is concerning.

The Dolphin is covered by a six-year or 150,000km warranty, which beats a lot of mainstream rivals for its duration, but not its distance.

In the EV segment it plays in, though, things are a bit tougher, as its primary Chinese rivals, GWM and MG, are offering seven year and unlimited kilometre warranty promises.

Service pricing is available all the way out to 96 months or 160,000km, averaging $299 per year for the duration, which is pretty good.

Many rivals are offering free servicing for several years, and there are also many electric cars which only need to see a shop once every 24 months or 20,000km, compared to the Dolphin’s more traditional 12 month intervals.

The Geely EX2 is covered by a seven-year/unlimited-kilometre warranty and uses an Assured Servicing Pricing structure. Over seven years of ownership, servicing should cost no more than $2052, averaging around $293 per service. That’s reasonable, if not one of the cheapest EV servicing plans out there.

Service intervals are every 12 months or 20,000km, whichever comes first, and with around 100 Geely service centres across Australia, there should be plenty of options for keeping your EX2 maintained.