You know about the Geely E2, the Chinese automaker’s ‘budget’ EV. But what about an EV that could eat those for breakfast and still have a little juice left in the metaphorical tank? That’s where the new Geely E5 Apex Plus SUV EV comes in, demanding a pretty specific R788,888 from your bank account before it’ll allow you to sit in it.
Apex legend
If that’s a bit too much to bear in the present climate, Geely also has two other E5 variants in SA — the E5 Aspire and the E5 Apex. The Aspire is the cheapest of the bunch, followed by the Apex (non-plus), costing R700,000 and R760,000, respectively. Geely hopes to tempt you with the Apex Plus, however, with a larger battery and thus, a greater range.
Costing nearly R30,000 more than Geely’s former flagship, we bloody well hope so. The E5 Apex Plus shares a lot of DNA with the regular Apex, namely the front-mounted electric motor, outputting 160kW and 320Nm. Despite this, the Apex Plus is actually a tad slower than its brethren by about .5 seconds, hitting 100km/h in 7.6 seconds.
That’s the price consumers must pay for a bigger battery (on top of the additional R30,000, of course). Underneath all the ‘leather-appointed’ seating sits that bigger battery, now a 68.39kWh lithium iron phosphate instead of a 60.22kWh one you’d find in the base Apex. That’ll take 450km to deplete it on the WLTP scale. When it comes time to charge, it’ll cap out at 11kW on AC and 100kW with DC fast-charging. Not bad.
Read More: The Geely E2 hopes to put a hatchback EV in your hands for R340,000
If you needed another reminder that this is a ‘Plus’ variant, the EV looks almost identical to the E5 Apex, inside and out. That’s not a bad thing. The Geely range sports a pretty spacious 461-litre boot, and the dimensions you’d expect of an SUV. It’s the tech that interests us most, with a 15.4in touchscreen infotainment dominating the centre console, while a smaller 10.2in screen for displaying the electronic gauge cluster sits in front of the driver.
Type-C and -A ports are included, as well as a panoramic sunroof. It’s not exactly what we’d call “fun”, but the E5 Apex Plus is also equipped with a series of Advanced Driver Assistance Systems (ADAS). We’re talking adaptive cruise control, blind spot detection, hill descent control, lane-keeping assist, and electronic stability control.
The Geely E5 Apex Plus is available now for R788,888. Each purchase nets its owner a new wall box charger, emergency charging cable, and a R12,000 charging voucher — though only if you first go through Geely Finance.
