White seats. With children. During the festive season? In the village?
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White seats. With children. During the festive season? In the village?
The Geely E5 is, quite frankly, an exciting piece of engineering. It also represents a major milestone for the Chinese brand, as it’s the first vehicle in Geely’s history to be developed as a global, parallel product. That may not sound like a big deal at first, but if you’re familiar with Chinese electric cars, you’ll know they’re typically designed for the domestic market first and only adapted for export years later. The E5 breaks that trend completely.
First impressions indicate that Geely has a clear understanding of what markets like SA demand, and the E5 forms part of its growing range of plug-in hybrid and fully electric vehicles. Having already sampled the hybrid side of the line-up, the opportunity to spend the festive season with the fully electric E5 presented itself, and I jumped at it.
I’d previously lived with an EV far from the convenience of public chargers. My hometown is roughly 100km from the nearest charger, and as I’ve said before, the EV adventure isn’t just about the road but also about the charge. And there I was, committing to a full month with an EV. No pressure. Except this time I’d be doing it in a village. I’ve done the 440-kilometre Joburg-Bushbuckridge run before, and it’s always an experience. This time, the maths mattered more than ever. In Apex trim, the E5 claims a range of 410km on paper. Respectable, but as anyone who has lived with an EV knows, matching the figure in real driving scenarios is almost impossible. It becomes even more challenging when you’ve packed luggage for four people into the E5’s 461-litre boot. Weight, after all, is an EV’s greatest enemy.
Being away from public chargers meant relying entirely on home charging, with Geely thoughtfully supplying the necessary charging kit, neatly packed into the boot. A roughly 225km stint saw us topping up at Millys N4, followed by a brief stop in Mbombela before finally arriving in Agincourt. That leg of the trip was straightforward. And just like that, the festive EV adventure was underway.
Under the skin, the Geely E5 is a front-wheel-drive electric crossover SUV powered by a single electric motor producing 160kW and 320Nm. Energy comes from a 60.2kWh ‘Short Blade’ battery pack, which Geely claims is more compact, rigid and efficient than conventional battery designs. On the road, the experience is typical EV: quiet, smooth and brisk. It’s not what you’d call outright fast, but it’s brisk enough for a daily driver.
When it comes to living with an EV in the village, everything comes down to planning. My daily driving rarely exceeded a 10-15km radius, and when you do the calculations, even a realistic 380km of usable range from a full charge was more than enough to last several days. Still, range anxiety lingered.
Efficiency-wise, I averaged about 18.4kWh/100km on typical drives and could sometimes get it down to 14.5 kWh/100km when driving with eco and efficiency in mind. In practice, that meant charging the E5 almost every night using the onboard AC charger. Plug in, go to bed, and wake up to a full battery. Simple. Topping up from around 80% to 100% took roughly six hours, done overnight, without ever feeling inconvenient.
Over the festive period, the E5 tackled gravel roads, uneven village streets, and even a spontaneous trip to Injaka Dam towards Graskop, just for the joy of it. Through it all, comfort remained impressive, and road noise was well controlled. Yes, it can spin its front wheels if you’re heavy-footed from a stop (instant torque will do that), but overall, it handled the conditions with ease.
Visually, the E5 leaves an impression. Finished in black, my test unit had presence, and on more than one occasion at the car wash I was asked whether it was an SUV from Stuttgart or something built by Musk. From the rear, especially, the confusion is understandable.
The interior, however, initially caught me off guard. White seats. With children. During the festive season? In the village? It felt like a recipe for disaster. Add dust, mud and festive chaos into the equation, and the risk factor went up significantly. Still, I committed with strict ground rules in place: no eating, no drinking, no exceptions. Surprisingly, it worked.
True to modern Chinese design philosophy, the E5’s cabin is dominated by a split-level centre console and a massive infotainment screen that serves as the command hub for most of the vehicle’s functions. A compact digital instrument cluster sits ahead of the driver, while premium touches are plentiful. These include a Flyme sound system, a head-up display, massage and ventilated seats, and a large panoramic glass roof. The front passenger seat even features a powered leg rest, delivering unmistakable Emirates Business Class-like vibes, helped along by a genuinely generous amount of space throughout the cabin.
That sense of premium, however, was briefly disrupted when the sound system suddenly stopped working. Why? I have no idea. What I do know is that I lost all audio: music, turn signal clicks, warning sounds, everything. A quick WhatsApp message to a Geely engineer to attempt a system reboot didn’t resolve the issue, leaving me with little choice but to drive to the nearest Geely dealership in Nelspruit – about 100km away.
The technician there did his best, running diagnostics and updating the software, but to no avail. After roughly two hours of waiting, he returned with the news I wasn’t hoping for: the issue couldn’t be resolved on the spot. Geely SA would need to investigate further. And just like that, I was left with a mute car. In an EV that’s already near-silent, it made for an eerily quiet drive. Silence, it seemed, had officially become my companion.
At least it suppressed the beeps. Like many modern Chinese vehicles, the E5 is extremely vocal about driver-assistance systems. Lane-keep assist and speed-sign recognition mean well, but they’re relentless. Every drive began with the same ritual: start the car, dive into the menus, and switch them off. The catch? There’s no permanent off switch. It’s an inconvenience that I hope will be fixed in a future update.
At R759,999, the Geely E5 feels like a bit of a breakthrough. At a time when most EVs still cost an arm and a leg, this one comes across as genuinely within reach, a proper electric car that doesn’t feel out of touch with real-world budgets.
Spending the festive season with the Geely E5 wasn’t just about testing an electric car. It was about finding out whether an EV could realistically fit into a lifestyle outside the comfort of cities and charging networks. In a market like SA, hybrids arguably make the most sense right now. They offer the best of both worlds, and that balance is hard to ignore. But the E5 also proved that fully electric vehicles aren’t the inconvenience they’re often made out to be. With a bit of planning, some patience and a shift in mindset, it actually works.
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