EV review: Geely’s Galaxy E5 is a good value and easy to live with – flirty AI aside

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Smart-looking and fully featured, the SUV is a solid package, despite some range concerns with the test car and small annoyances

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Mark Andrews

Published: 12:30pm, 24 Nov 2024

The Post has embarked on a six-part series of motoring reviews focusing on Chinese electric vehicles made for the export market. In the fourth installment, Mark Andrews spends a day with Geely’s Galaxy E5 SUV and comes away impressed with its overall value, albeit with some concerns. Read the previous reviews of Xpeng’s G6, Nio’s ET7 and BYD’s Dolphin.

“I was just dreaming of you,” the Geely Galaxy E5’s artificial intelligence (AI) assistant said in an alluring voice as I got into the car early one morning.

In China’s war for electric vehicle (EV) buyers, the AI assistants are getting personal.

Surprising confession aside, I found the E5, and its AI assistant, easy to live with during a recent 24-hour test, although some concerns about driving range surfaced.

Legacy carmaker Geely tried to pivot early on from petrol cars to new-energy vehicles – the term used in China to encompass both battery-powered EVs and hybrids. But the company struggled to gain momentum. Finally in October, its sales of NEVs broke the 100,000 level for a month, riding an 83 per cent year-on-year increase. The company is taking the fight to rival BYD with a raft of new models loaded with new technologies. The Galaxy E5, which went on sale in August, is one such car.

Externally, the 4.6 metre, five-seat SUV is certainly smart, if a little on the generic side. It has the usual design features for a Chinese EV, such as the enclosed front face, hidden door handles, and tail lights spanning the width of the car. For export markets, the car will be sold simply as the Geely EX5, and from the outset it was designed for global markets, with right-hand-drive versions reportedly tested simultaneously.