“This is the future” – New Geely EX5 makes its grand entrance into the PH
Today we witnessed the reveal and debut of the Geely EX5, the China brand’s newest model to join its Philippine lineup. For much of its existence in the local market, Geely has made great leaps with the sales of the Coolray and the Emgrand – even the Okavango – but their new stable staple will push them into the electrified revolution and take aim at its competitors. What does it have to offer, and is it enough to pose a challenge?
Geely EX5 makes a strong case for the brand’s strides towards electrification
One look at the Geely EX5 and you know that it truly is quite special. It takes none of its stablemates’ design cues and instead takes on a look and feel of its own. As expected with most if not all EVs, there is no traditional front grill; what you get instead is a more solid design. Solid, but not at all boxy, as the EX5 gave a good mix of rounded panels and sharp edges on the front, sides, and rear of the new crossover. It’s not just penned on a whim, though as Geely declared its aerodynamic efficiency to be “lower than the (a) bullet” at only a 0.269 Cd drag coefficient.
Sitting on the GEEA3.0 Electrical and Electronic Architecture platform, the futuristic look of the Geely EX5 is further highlighted by its sharp headlights, pop-out door handles, high beltline, and angled character lines. Despite their size, though, the alloy wheels are large and highly visible with their two-tone design, but going the wide-spoke route might take a little bit away from the modern motif, but that’s just us. Its dimensions are 1.67m high, 1.901m wide, and 4.615m long with a 2.75m wheelbase.
The interior of the Geely EX5 is an absolute treat, too. Marketed as a C-Class offering, it proudly boasts of D-Class space, enough for more and even larger-sized individuals both in the front and the back. Premium materials have been used for the upholstery, and making an absolute statement to its being dubbed as “the future”, the Geely EX5 has a 10.2″ digital instrument cluster (screen), a 13.8″ HUD that displays a lot of pertinent information, and a 15.4″ infotainment touchscreen. Overkill? No, not at all.
Some creature comforts that can be found in the Geely EX5 include the proprietary Hi Geely Intelligent Online Voice Interaction system – much like Siri, in fact – that gives you voice control over various vehicle functions, a 15W wireless charging pad, 13 speakers with 1 subwoofer included in the FLYME SOUND premium audio system, a multi-function intelligent knob, a power-lift tailgate, a class-leading 1,877 liters worth of cargo space, a (sort of) bi-level center console cubby, fold-flat front seats, and a neat 14-liter storage box under the rear seats.
Safety features, on the other hand, include enhanced forward visibility by way of thinner and narrower (but no less durable) A-pillars, the “largest” windshield in its vehicle class, a 7.15-degree forward vision angle, 7 airbags, and a strong-structure chassis, and a multitude of features from the Geely Advanced Driver-Assistance Systems. If those are not enough, the Geely EX5 got 5-star ratings in the Euro and Australian NCAP.
Of course, we cannot stray from the fact that the Geely EX5 is a pure electric vehicle, a BEV, and the brand takes pride in the great advancement of its battery’s efficiency and durability. Geely has openly declared that charging time for the EX5 is 30% faster than the industry average. The Geely Short Blade Battery is shorter, stronger, has 5.5% less battery internal resistance, 6.7% more battery energy density, operates at 8.7% lower than average temperatures, and has 52% more of the average charge rate.
Perhaps the most interesting is the durability of the Geely EX5’s power cells. In continuous runs of six extreme serial tests that include Dynamic Seawater Corrosion Immersion, extreme cold, high-frequency under-body scraping, “single package” side pillar collision, actual and open flame roasting (yes, “roasting”, that’s Geely’s word for it!), and getting rolled on and over back and forth by a 26-ton steam roller, there was no smoke, no fire, no explosion, and all parameters were found to be normal after resting!
To add to that, a series of metal rods were used to intentionally puncture the power cells to their core, and again, no smoke, no fire, and no explosion. According to Geely, this exceeded industry standards by eight times.
The high-performance Intelligent Electric Drive motor of the Geely EX5 is both the lightest and smallest in its class, measuring only 79.8 kg and 0.079 cubic meters, respectively. It puts out a healthy and impressive 215 HP and 320 Nm of torque. Its maximum speed goes up to 175 km/h and can go from 0-100 km/h in only 6.9 seconds. On a full charge, the maximum range declared for the EX5 is close to 400 kilometers.
The Geely EX5’s price is still under wraps, but as of today, a PHP 10,000USD 170INR 14,748EUR 164CNY 1,241 reservation fee can give buyers a discount of up to PHP 110,000USD 1,874INR 162,228EUR 1,801CNY 13,651; it will presumably be available in all Geely dealerships across the Philippines. Now we wonder if, following the release of an electrified crossover, the brand will consider or (very) soon follow up with a local release of its EV pickup, the Geely Radar RD6.
Going back to our question, asking if the Geely EX5 has enough to challenge the rapidly increasing-in-number EV staples on our roads (read BYD and Jetour), we think it does. But you (and we) will just have to wait for our official review for our definitive answer to that query.
