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What's the difference?
It’s about time for a change. Since the beginning of the EV era, Tesla has been the dominant name, and not without good reason.
Tesla made electric cars popular, cool, and above all, accessible. To this day, the Model 3 and Model Y remain excellent purchases in their respective categories.
And yet, the tide seems to be turning. Many buyers haven't been thrilled by Elon Musk's antics, how popular the Tesla brand has become or maybe they never liked the look and feel of Tesla to begin with.
For those prospective EV buyers, it looks like BYD is set to be the next big thing in electric cars.
Offered at a far more accessible price-point, the Chinese brand still stands out with its distinctively styled vehicles and innovative features.
And the new car we’re looking at for this review, the Dolphin hatchback, could be the one to elevate the brand to the levels of popularity and recognition Tesla currently enjoys.
At the time of writing, it was also the most affordable electric car you can buy in Australia. But is it more than that? Read on to find out.
Okay, this is getting crazy. It feels like barely a week of 2024 is going by without another value-focused, pure-electric SUV hitting the Australian new-car market.
And this is the latest, the Chery Omoda E5, a compact, five-seater with the performance and range to challenge some other relatively recent arrivals.
It joins the internal combustion Omoda 5, variations of which have proliferated in the roughly 18 months it’s been on sale here.
This is CarsGuide’s first look and we’ve assessed everything from value and practicality to safety and driving performance. So, stay with us to see if this EV could be your entree into the world of battery-electric SUVs.
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 Chery Omoda E5 gets solid ticks for value, practicality, performance, efficiency and a great ownership promise.
But its suspension compliance isn’t in line with class standards and some of its safety assist features aren’t as refined as they should be. Both of which matter in a car likely to be used by families day-to-day. Its price and specification are strong drawcards and that will get it over the line for many. But we think this Omoda E5 would still benefit from some judicious fine-tuning.
Note: CarsGuide attended this event as a guest of the manufacturer, with travel, accommodation and meals provided.
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.
While retaining the fundamental shape of its internal combustion siblings the Omoda E5 does away with the petrol-powered car’s huge, rear-sloping grille, replacing it with a wrap-around forward-pointing nose proudly branded with the model name and hiding a pop-out battery charging port door.
The rear is more or less unchanged save for some detail tweaks to the bumper design, with a more noticeable change being the addition of aero-inspired 18-inch rims which I for one like a lot.
Parts of the interior are markedly different to combustion Omoda models with the front of the cabin dominated by an enlarged twin-screen array, both 12.3-inch, one covering multimedia and another in front of the driver for instrumentation.
The gearshift has also been moved to a steering column stalk which frees up additional space in the centre console.
Soft touch materials on the dash and upper part of the doors is a high quality touch often missing in this part of the market and overall this Omoda E5 has a contemporary exterior design (without necessarily breaking new ground) while the interior exudes a suitably techy vibe.
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.
There’s plenty of space up front for the driver and co-pilot, the sleek, twin-screen dashtop array increasing the feeling of space and openness.
And when it comes to storage, there’s plenty with decent bins in the doors that have enough room for a medium-size bottle, a good-size glove box, two cupholders in the top of the centre console, a lidded (and cooled) storage box between the seats as well as a lower shelf under the upper ‘flying buttress’ part of the console unit.
For power and connectivity there are USB-A and -C inputs, located on the passenger side of the lower console, a USB-A plug in the mirror unit for a dashcam, a 12-volt socket and a wireless charging pad.
Move to the rear and at 183cm tall I have more than enough head and legroom behind the driver’s seat set to my position. That said, my legs sit up at a fairly steep angle, missing out on much support from the seat cushion.
Three full-size adults will be a short journey-only tight squeeze in the back, although a trio of up to mid-teenage kids will be fine.
For storage, again, there are bins in the doors with room for bottles, there’s a pair of cupholders in the fold-down centre armrest and map pockets in the front seat backs.
USB-A and -C jacks are onboard for power and adjustable ventilation for back-seaters is always a welcome addition.
Boot capacity with all seats up is 300 litres to the cargo cover which is appreciably less than its key competitors all of which hover around the 450-litre mark.
That number rises to 1079 litres with the 60/40 split-folding second row backrest lowered and there’s a 19-litre frunk in the nose. And Chery deserves a big pat on the back for including a full-sized spare wheel because the Omoda E5 is the only EV on the market that does.
And if you need to hook up that box trailer for a trip to the tip the E5 is rated to tow a 750kg unbraked trailer.
Yep. This is the new cheapest electric car you can buy in Australia. This title is a frequently moving target, but again, at the time of writing, the entry-level Dolphin variant, at $38,890, before on-road costs and state-based incentives, undercut the MG4 by just $100, and the GWM Ora by $1100.
Importantly, its starting price is now in the realm of relevant combustion rivals. For similar money, you can hop into a high-spec Corolla (ZR Hybrid $39,100) for example, so this is the first time electric cars have become so affordable for the average consumer.
There are two Dolphin variants for now. The entry-level Dynamic, and the top-spec Premium. Both share more or less the same standard equipment levels, although they are differentiated by having different battery sizes and electric motor outputs.
You can’t talk electric car value without talking range, but thankfully, despite its low price, the Dolphin delivers on this front.
The base car scores a 44.9kWh battery, granting it a 340km WLTP-certified driving range, while the top-spec Premium ups this to a 60.5kWh unit, delivering a more substantial 427km range.
The entry battery is more than enough for city commuters, while the larger battery is enough to suit intercity freeway drives.
There are also plenty of longer-range EVs on the market, the Polestar 2 and Tesla Model 3 being chief among them, but for a vehicle at this price and in this market segment, the Dolphin is a huge improvement on some mainstream offerings, like the Mazda MX-30 and Nissan Leaf which can’t offer the same price-to-value ratio.
A lot of BYD’s ability to provide such an appealing price and driving range is down to its battery technology.
Unlike other automakers which need to buy batteries from suppliers, BYD designs and builds its own batteries, using an LFP chemistry which is cheaper and uses fewer scarce materials while offering economies of scale as well as the exact right size and form factor for its vehicles.
If this leaves you thinking the Dolphin must be sub-par when it comes to standard inclusions, you can think again, because this car also delivers with 16-inch alloys, LED headlights and tail-lights, a massive 12.8-inch multimedia touchscreen with built-in nav as well as Apple CarPlay and Android Auto connectivity, a wireless phone charger, electrical adjust and heating for the front seats, keyless entry with push-start ignition, climate control, and a comprehensive suite of active safety items.
Not bad at all, and the interior blend of neoprene and synthetic leather feels a bit nicer than the base MG4's cabin, for example.
The Dolphin might be as cheap as it gets when it comes to an electric car, but the value on offer here speaks for itself.
The Omoda E5 is offered in two grades, the entry-level BX at $42,990 and the top-spec EX at $45,990, both prices before on-road costs.
That undercuts the BYD Atto 3 ($44,499 - $47,499), overlaps the MG ZS EV line-up ($39,990 - $49,990) and sits well under the (non-N Line) Hyundai Kona Electric range ($54,000 - $68,000).
And aside from the safety and performance tech we’ll get to shortly, the BX offers up a handy standard equipment list.
Highlights include fabric trim (with synthetic leather accents), dual-zone climate control air, twin 12.3-inch screens covering multimedia and instrumentation, built-in sat nav, six-speaker Sony audio (with digital radio), wireless (and wired) Android Auto and Apple CarPlay, a ‘Hello Omoda’ voice command function, wireless device charging, alloy wheels, all LED exterior lights, rain-sensing wipers plus keyless entry and start as well as power folding and heated exterior mirrors.
The EX adds more fruit including full synthetic leather trim, power front seats, ambient lighting, a heated synthetic leather trimmed steering wheel, eight-speaker Sony audio, a power sunroof, power tailgate, a 360-degree camera view, sequential rear indicators and puddle lamps.
Those included features stack up well for the category and the Omoda E5’s specific competitors.
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 Omoda E5 is powered by a single permanent magnet synchronous electric motor in the nose driving the front wheels through a single-speed reduction gear transmission.
Outputs of 150kW/340Nm are solid without being spectacular for a car of this size and close to 1.8-tonne weight.
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 Omoda E5 is powered by a 61kWh lithium iron phosphate battery and it can accept an 80kW DC charge which translates to a 30-80 per cent charge time of around 28 minutes.
And the Type 2 port in the centre of the nose makes charging a breeze, allowing you to park in front of a charger without having to think about which side of the car the plug has to go into.
Connect to AC at the E5’s maximum 9.9kW capacity and you’ll be looking at a 10-100 per cent charge time in excess of 30 hours.
Official energy consumption on the WLTP combined (urban/extra-urban) cycle is 15.5kWh/100km and claimed range is a handy 430km.
Over a mix of urban, suburban and freeway running on test we saw a real-world average of 16.8kWh/100km which is roughly what you’d expect for a reasonably rapid electric SUV of this size.
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.
Chery says the Omoda E5 will accelerate from 0-100km/h in 7.6 seconds which is pretty rapid and there’s plenty of thrust from a standing start and for dodgem car-style city manoeuvring. There’s also ample oomph for safe highway cruising and overtaking.
There are three powertrain modes - Eco / Normal / Sport - with the latter adding some extra urgency but there’s not a dramatic difference between the three.
The column-mounted gear selector is in the style of a Mercedes lever rather than a rotary controller and it initially takes conscious effort to avoid flicking it like an oversize indicator stalk.
Once settled in, though, it becomes second-nature and its location frees up extra space for storage in the console between the front seats.
Chery says it spent eight months on local testing and development of the suspension tune, powertrain integration and safety assistance systems and we believe the car could be better in aspects of all three.
The Omoda 5 rides on a platform designed to accommodate combustion and electric propulsion from day one and the front-wheel-drive E5 is suspended by struts at the front and multi-links at the rear.
It takes a lot to manage close to 1.8 tonnes of mass in a relatively small car. Walking the tightrope between body control and ride comfort is tricky with a beefy battery onboard and the E5’s around town ride is best described as jittery, upset by even moderately rough surfaces, although things improve as road speed rises.
The 18-inch rims are shod with 215/55 Kumho PS71 EV rubber and despite its relatively stubby sidewall we’ve driven this tyre on other cars without issue, so it’s likely not the culprit.
Steering weight can be adjusted but road feel is modest and quick cornering isn’t the E5’s forte. But it’s not that kind of car. Urban duties rather than slicing through a favourite set of corners will be its more likely primary purpose, and for that, the steering’s fine.
Then, no matter which drive mode you’ve selected, or the level of regen braking, it’s hard to be 100 per cent smooth with accelerator and brake inputs. They can be sharp on application and lift-off.
And when it comes to assist systems, lane-keeping intervention when using cruise control is abrupt and annoying. The centring function can be switched off but, ideally, you shouldn’t have to.
And likewise, the driver attention warning is intrusive. To the point where it fired an alert at times where I was looking directly at the road ahead. Again, it can be turned off (which is what I’d do 100 per cent of the time) but the calibration could be better.
Physical braking is by vented discs at the front and solid rotors at the rear and three levels of regen braking are available. Snag is you have to work through multiple screen options to get to the point where you can adjust it. Wheel-mounted paddles would be far more effective but the bean counters must have won the arm wrestle with engineering.
Once you apply the most aggressive regen level, even it is relatively low-key, so no i-Pedal-style single-pedal driving here.
In terms of miscellaneous observations, strategic inclusion of acoustic glass on the EX grade seems worthwhile as the mild highway wind noise we noticed on the BX wasn’t apparent in the top-spec model.
And the lack of a conventional dial for audio volume control is a miss. Far safer to quickly adjust a dial than sliders or buttons (even on the steering wheel).
Interesting to note Euro NCAP is lining up to make inclusion of physical controls for things like audio volume, turn signals, hazard lights, wipers and the horn mandatory for a maximum five-star safety assessment from 2026 onwards.
The Dolphin was recently awarded a maximum five-star ANCAP safety rating and is equipped with seven airbags and a robust list of active safety gear.
There’s auto emergency braking, lane keep assist, blind-spot monitoring, driver attention alert, rear cross-traffic alert, front cross-traffic alert, traffic sign recognition, and adaptive cruise control.
It’s one thing to have great active safety items, it’s quite another to calibrate them well so they don’t interfere with the driving experience.
The Dolphin does okay on this front. I found the lane keep system could occasionally be alarmingly heavy-handed, although it activates less than the very annoying system on my Haval Jolion long-termer.
The pre-collision alert also triggered several times due to parked cars on the side of the road, but turning down the sensitivity seemed to solve this problem.
Also included is an excellent 360-degree camera suite, ISOFIX points on the rear outboard seats, a ‘child presence detection’ system, which apparently sounds a warning if you leave a child in the back seat, and turns the air conditioning on if you ignore it, and there's even a tyre pressure monitoring system to top it off.
Petrol powered versions of the Omoda 5 received a maximum five-star ANCAP score from testing in 2023, but the E5 isn’t included in that assessment.
Chery expects an ANCAP rating for the E5 by the end of the year and is anticipating a five-star result.
Active (crash avoidance) tech highlights include auto emergency braking (AEB), lane keeping assist, adaptive cruise control, blind-spot monitoring, rear cross-traffic alert, rear AEB, driver monitoring, tyre pressure monitoring, front and rear proximity sensors and a range of other alerts, warnings and assists.
Those other features consist of forward collision warning, lane keeping assist, lane departure warning and prevention, ‘Traffic Jam Assist’, ‘Lane Change Assist’, ‘Door Opening Warning’, ‘Speed Control Assist’, ‘Intelligent Headlamp Control’ and ‘Smart High beam’.
Having said all that, there are the features, and then there’s how well they operate, and interestingly Chery has confirmed it has worked to evolve its ‘ADAS’ safety functions on the internal combustion Omoda 5 since its launch around 18 months ago.
And as hinted at in the driving section it could be a similar scenario with this car, especially when it comes to lane keeping and driver monitoring.
If a crash is unavoidable there are seven airbags onboard including a front centre bag to minimise head clash injuries in a side-on crash as well as multi-collision brake which lowers the chances of secondary collisions following an initial impact.
For baby capsules and child seats there are three top tethers and two ISOFIX anchors across the second row.
Overall, the Omoda E5’s safety report card gets more than a pass mark but there’s room for improvement.
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.
Chery covers the Omoda E5 with a seven-year/unlimited km warranty, which is ahead of the mainstream market norm, with a separate eight-year/unlimited km warranty for the drive battery; again, ahead of the pack.
You’ll also pick up seven years roadside assist (if you service the car at a Chery dealership) and the brand’s seven-year capped-price servicing program is super-competitive.
The scheduled service interval is 12 months/20,000km, which is shorter in terms of time than many EVs which stretch the interval to two years. But each workshop visit averages around $227 and that’s sharp.