Author: Xiaodong

Editor: Chris

On May 20th, the pre-sale price of BYD Dolphin was officially announced.

• Standard RWD Elite Edition: 212,800 yuan, 61.4 kWh battery, range of 550 km.
• Standard RWD Prestige Edition: 225,800 yuan, 61.4 kWh battery, range of 550 km.
• Long-range RWD Edition: 262,800 yuan, 82.5 kWh battery, range of 700 km.
• 4WD Performance Edition: 289,800 yuan, 82.5 kWh battery, range of 650 km.

As the first B-class sedan of BYD e3.0 platform, the changes of Dolphin are significant.

Brand New Design

When BYD e3.0 platform was released, a brand new concept car, Ocean-X, also debuted. As the name implies, the Ocean-X appearance also adopts the “ocean aesthetics” design concept, and then the Ocean series follows. From the steady monthly sales of over 10,000 vehicles, the first car model of the Ocean series, Dolphin, is undoubtedly a successful one.

Of course, as a small car with a price of around 100,000 yuan, Dolphin is not enough to make a big difference to the e3.0 platform. What consumers are looking forward to is the production version of Ocean-X, which is today’s protagonist, Dolphin.

On March 14, 2022, the “ID photo” of Dolphin was officially exposed by the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology. The length, width, and height of the vehicle body are 4800 * 1875 * 1460 mm, respectively. Compared with BYD Han, the overall size of the vehicle is smaller, but the wheelbase is the same, both of which are 2920 mm. The aerodynamic design makes the wind resistance coefficient of Dolphin only 0.219, which is already first-class. Of course, the active air intake grille also helped a lot.

The closed front face, the sleek design, and the hidden door handles, combined with the brand new design language, make Dolphin much more refreshing compared to the appearance of the Dynasty series. The vehicle height of 1460 mm makes the overall body lower, and the sporty style is more intense. However, this vehicle height of 1460 mm is hard-won.

# English Version

Pure electric vehicles are limited by the bottom battery. In order to guarantee the interior space and riding experience, the height of the vehicle body is generally higher than that of gasoline vehicles in the same level. Various car companies have also made a lot of efforts in the interior space, such as the popular panoramic sunroof, low-cell layout, and flat-cell layout in recent years, all aiming at effectively improving the interior space. Especially in sedans, if the body height is too low and the ground clearance is slightly higher, the driving experience will be greatly affected. If the sedan body is too high, it will appear abnormally bulky and the proportion of the styling will be unbalanced.

BYD’s solution is the Cell to Body (CTB) battery-body integrated technology.

CTB, also the focus of this press conference, simply put, the battery is no longer a burden, but is integrated with the body to become a structural component. Compared with BYD’s CTP scheme, CTB integrates the vehicle body floor and battery upper cover into one unit. BYD officially stated that the CTB solution increases the power battery system’s volume utilization rate to 66%.

At the same time, CTB solution improves the rigidity of the vehicle body. The body torsional stiffness of Sea Lion reached 40500 Nm/°, for reference, the body torsional stiffness of a level-higher NIO ET7 is 37100 Nm/°. The improvement of torsional rigidity, the 50:50 axle load ratio of the whole vehicle, and the low center of gravity brought by the battery pack all effectively improve the handling of Sea Lion. In terms of data, the Moose test score of Sea Lion reached 83.5 km/h, compared to the same sporty pure electric sports car Porsche Taycan, whose score is 78 km/h.

BYD has also upgraded the safety of blade batteries this time, with the overall structure becoming a honeycomb structure, effectively improving the overall rigidity of the battery pack. As the battery is fused with the body, the battery, as a structural component, participates in the transmission of the vehicle and the forces acting on it, and the safety of the whole vehicle is also improved.

CTB technology effectively reduces the height of the battery, thereby reducing the height of the vehicle body, which is one of the reasons why we can see that Sea Lion is lower.

However, although Sea Lion’s appearance is stunning compared to the previous Dynasty series, in terms of interior design language, some details seem too strong and lack the delicacy or luxury feeling expected from the same level of competitors.

Earthshaking interior and steady intelligence

Sea Lion’s interior design language has also changed dramatically compared to before. The lines on the decorative panel, steering wheel shape, central control, and seat design seem to highlight the oceanic attributes everywhere. However, it seems that it still lacks the delicacy or luxury feeling expected from the same level of competitors.## Sea Lion’s Infotainment System

Sea Lion’s central touch screen display still uses BYD’s 15.6-inch suspended adaptive Pad with Dlink 5G version and familiar UI interface. In comparison, the UI design of the DENZA Link is much better, and it is hoped that Dlink can also have significant improvement in the future. The gear area does not adopt the dolphin-like design but returns to the design concept of the Dynasty series, replacing the T-shape with an O-shape, and the small crystal gear lever looks exquisite.

Configuration

Sea Lion is equipped with dual wireless charging boards with a maximum charging power of 15W. Except for the base model, the other three models are equipped with a 12-speaker Denon sound system, driver and passenger seat ventilation and heating, and in-car karaoke microphone.

The four-wheel-drive performance version can be equipped with suede sports seats, suede roof, light-sensing panoramic sunroof, sporty tail wing, special color exterior trim, and brake calipers. Both the long-range version and the four-wheel-drive version are equipped with a W-HUD, 220V AC socket in the car, rear privacy glass, and 19-inch wheels.

Intelligent Driving System

However, Sea Lion did not have significant updates on the intelligent driving system and still uses standard L2-level advanced driver assistance system (ADAS). This is a bit disappointing, but the ADAS is standard configuration for all models. The Sea Lion launch event did not reveal much information about the ADAS hardware, and it is unknown whether the hardware is the same as the latest BYD Han. If it is the same, it may be possible to provide OTA updates for lane change and other features in the future. However, it appears that it will be difficult to achieve higher-level intelligent driving features, based on the hardware of the new Han.

First Rear-Wheel Drive Model

Sea Lion is the first pure electric vehicle model of BYD to adopt rear-wheel drive. The standard model uses a 150 kW rear permanent magnet motor, with a 0-100 km/h (0-62 mph) acceleration time of 7.5 seconds. The long-range version uses a 230 kW rear permanent magnet motor, with a 0-100 km/h (0-62 mph) acceleration time of 5.9 seconds. The four-wheel-drive version uses a front induction and rear permanent magnet motor power combination, with a peak power of 390 kW and a 0-100 km/h (0-62 mph) acceleration time of 3.8 seconds.

For fast charging, the peak power supported by Sea Lion’s standard version is 110 kW, and the long-range and four-wheel-drive versions support 150 kW. As BYD has not yet established its own charging network, a peak power of 110 kW is already fully sufficient, as the peak power of the mainstream third-party public charging piles is difficult to reach 90 kW. BYD indicated at the launch event that Sea Lion can be fully compatible with all current public charging piles. The actual effect of wide-range constant power charging has to be tested.

In addition, in order to enhance its sports positioning, the Sea Lion is also BYD’s first model with front double-wishbone and rear five-link suspension, which will further improve the vehicle’s handling compared to the HAN, which is equipped with front MacPherson and rear multi-link suspensions. The four-wheel drive performance version model is also equipped with FSD variable damping shock absorbers. It is believed that it will also perform well in terms of comfort. In addition, the latest ITAC intelligent torque control system will also provide support for the handling of the four-wheel drive Sea Lion. What is the function of iTAC?

It can be understood as the umbrella of ESP.

The biggest function of the ESP system is to prevent the vehicle from losing control and to maintain vehicle stability. The ESP system is composed of sensors such as steering sensors, wheel sensors, slip sensors, lateral acceleration sensors, steering wheel gas and brake pedal sensors, etc. For example, through the wheel speed sensor, it detects the vehicle’s dynamics, and when there is a sudden increase in wheel speed, there may be a situation of wheel slip. At this time, the ESP system intervenes and maintains the stability of the vehicle by braking or restricting power.

So why is iTAC called the umbrella of ESP? The function of iTAC is to reduce the chance of triggering ESP by predicting in advance. iTAC predicts the change rate of wheel speed by using a motor rotation sensor. Compared with the identification accuracy of the wheel speed sensor, the identification accuracy of the motor rotation sensor is higher. By predicting the trend of wheel speed change in advance and suppressing wheel slip by transferring torque, reducing torque, and outputting negative torque, etc.

Especially on icy and snowy roads in the north, the iTAC system can significantly improve the situation of tire slip and help with handling in extreme situations. However, iTAC can only be “selected and installed” on the Sea Lion four-wheel drive performance version.

Based on the BYD e3.0 platform, the Sea Lion is equipped with an eight-in-one electric drive and a wide-temperature range heat pump system, which can work in a wide temperature range of -30 ℃ – 60 ℃. The addition of the heat pump air conditioning system also makes it easier for the iron-lithium battery to handle winter conditions. According to the official introduction of BYD, the low-temperature range mileage can be increased by 20%.

Final WordsSea lion is more like a new era opening. In addition to technological innovation and iteration, the pure electric platform also makes the Marine series more pure. At the same time, the positioning of the sea lion is more accurate, and it caters to both the younger generation and family car scenarios. It is a pity that there are not too many updates in smart driving and smart cockpit, which are more sensitive to young users.

In short, if you are more concerned about the mechanical quality and have low demand for intelligence, the sea lion is undoubtedly worth considering.

This article is a translation by ChatGPT of a Chinese report from 42HOW. If you have any questions about it, please email bd@42how.com.