BYD Dolphin is first Japan EV of the Year

With electric vehicles growing in numbers in many markets, it’s only natural that some organisations will start having ‘Car of the Year’ awards for this rapidly growing category of vehicles. In Japan, the annual Car of the Year awards which has been in existence since 1980 has so far not had a separate category for EVs though there are special awards for notable EV models.

In time, the Japan Car of the Year organisation will probably have an EV category, just as it used to have an Import Car category but another organisation has already started a Japan EV of the Year award program.

First such award in Japan
Organised by ENECHANGE Ltd in collaboration with EV blog EVsmart, the aim of the award is to honour the most outstanding EV sold in Japan over a period of 12 months, with the goal of promoting the future adoption of EVs and EV charging ports in Japan.

EV Grand Prix
Prior to this inaugural Japan EV of the Year, the two parties had a ‘Grand Prix’ in which a group of EV enthusiasts as well as the members of the public voted online, with the Nissan Sakura being the first winner of the award.

Last year, they started the Japan EV of the Year which is only for battery electric vehicles sold in Japan. Voting was done online by two groups – the public and ‘EVangelists’ from media outlets that disseminate information on EVs, key persons from EV-related companies, key persons from EV owners’ clubs, and others who have knowledge about new EVs.

The candidates
The models which qualified for voting were from Japanese and non-Japanese makes which were launched in the market during the qualification period. They were:
Abarth 500e
Audi Q4 e-tron
Audi Q8 e-tron
ASF 2.0
BMW iX1
BMW i5
BYD ATTO 3
BYD Dolphin
HW ELECTRO ELEMO-L
Hyundai KONA
Lexus RX450e
Mercedes-Benz EQE SUV
Mercedes-Benz EQS SUV
Mitsubishi Minicab MiEV
Tesla Model 3
Tesla Model S
Tesla Model X
Volkswagen ID.4

BYD Dolphin is overall winner
The overall winner was the BYD Dolphin, with a total of 241 points (97 points from public/144 points from EVangelists). The model was BYD’s second EV introduced to the Japanese market. It was considered well equipped with advanced driver assistance features for the price, as well as ‘thoughtful localization tailored to the Japanese market’. This referred to lowering the vehicle height from 1570 mm to 1550 mm for easier parking in Japanese multi-story carparks.

Other models which won awards were the Hyundai KONA (151 points) and BYD ATTO 3 (145 points). The BYD, like the Dolphin,  scored high points due to its many features and value for money, while the KONA was also seen as being good value for money.

Affordability the strong point
The organisers noted that all the top 3 EVs were in the affordable range (in the context of the Japanese market). All three models are presently priced between 3 to 4 million yen (RM95,570 – RM126,900). “They offer a balance of affordability and high performance as EVs, indicating the importance of both price and performance for buyers when selecting a model,” the organisers said.

Available in Malaysia too
All three EV models are also available in Malaysia. The BYD Dolphin is priced from RM99,900 and the ATTO 3 is priced from RM149,800 (prices duty-free, excluding insurance). Hyundai Sime Darby Motors offers the KONA from RM156,538.

BYD was top-selling EV brand in Malaysia in 2023