BYD Dolphin

true. even if the city mild weather figure dropped to 300km instead of 385km (which it won't, it would likely be higher) it would still probably cover a weeks commute for the average car driver in ireland - a mix of motorway and city driving lets say (44.8km per day - CSO figure from 2019 - petrol drivers only average 33.1km per day).

at around 30 cents per kWh (for example) to charge the battery at home would cost roughly €12 versus circa €40 for petrol to cover the same distance in my 1.0 litre ATECA.

I presume this is something you get a feel for after a few months of EV ownership but I have to admit I'm finding it quite difficult to gauge how far you can actually go on a single charge based on the vagueness of the range figures....there's quite the difference between the best and worst case scenarios of 180km and 385km!

If the 180km worst case range for motorway driving is also based on the assumption that you'll travel at lower than the speed limit of an Irish motorway, is it possible the quoted "worst case" is actually over-estimated for normal Irish driving conditions? Or would driving at 120km/h have less impact on battery performance than the temperature variance of -10°C  and a more normal Irish 5-15°C ?

TBH, I'm looking at this a few years early as it's unlikely I'd be in the market for a new car next year. Realistically I'm probably hoping to pick up a Seal / Dolphin or something similar second-hand in 2025/2026. I'm just trying to educate myself on how I should view range figures. The most common long journey I do (half a dozen times a year or so) is about 230km with probably 200k of that being motorway so that's kind of the minimum range I'd find acceptable for me to switch to an EV. Anything longer than that is going to be a 3 or 4 hour drive where a break to charge wouldn't be as annoying since I'd be stopping for a coffee or a bite to eat anyway....

the seal has significantly more range and could do that return journey in mild weather without stopping (if you didn't drive like a maniac)...but a short 15-20 minute stop to stick another 150km into the battery at 50kW would probably be needed for a good chunk of the year.

driving at 120kph will increase the rate the battery discharges...you will get there quicker but will arrive with less SOC.

As stated the Dolphin is a suburb city car. If you're traveling to Galway its not really that.

The vast majority of new 75kwh plus vehicles fit your bracket use case hence I said you should not be concentrating throughly on range more on driving vehicles that fit this battery size.

Range isn't a concern if driving a vehicle of that size to Galway the odd time and charging it there. You'll get hung up on that too much.

I've just travelled 43km on 100kph and 120kph roads this evening. I set cruise control to the respective speed limit and overtook 10 cars (3 on the 100kph and 7 cars on M8) and was overtaken by 2 (on M8). Those 10 were doing well below the speed limit...at least 10kph below it.

The point I'm trying to make is that the Dolphins estimated highway range as discussed earlier today is eminently possible given the majority of drivers do not drive to the limit.

I think €29k is lower of the two specs with larger battery available now.

The smaller battery ones are coming next year and lowest spec will be €25 (plus 2k MSL charges)

Probably because MSL are not very transparent with their pricing. This is from their brochure for the seal and no mention of delivery costs.

I recently got a written quote for the seal that doesn't mention delivery costs. Will I be hit with an extra 2k when I go back to them ?

Quotes me 54025 for AWD and then deducts the seai grant etc, no mention of delivery costs. Will be fairly pissed if they now charge me an extra 2k

Correct , that is made up from the subsidised retail price of 49836 (as quoted on their brochure I screenshot above) and the 1950 delivery charges. My problem or good luck is they quoted me the retail price of 54025 in that brochure and then took the deductions off and didn't add any delivery charge. Which brings me back to their lack of transparency in their pricing. If there are delivery charges they should be highlighted in their brochure, After a few months we are still discussing what the actual price is....it's crazy

And if you look at nialldinho snapshot higher up this page, from a brochure for Seal AWD it shows delivery charges of 1950 and VRT relief of 2689 giving total price of 51786 whereas the current brochure for the seal on the Irish BYD site makes no mention of delivery but gives the VRT relief of 689 compared to 2689 and ends up quoting 49836. Maybe it's just me but that does not seem like very transparent pricing to me . My own quote is even more confusing but I don't want to go into that here but it does not correlate to the 51786 mentioned or the 49836 on the seal brochure.

That must be new, as when I bought my atto 3 they ask if I wanted it when I was signing for the car