Record fuel prices over the last two months have seen interest in cars with lower running costs spike and Geely has jumped on the bandwagon by expanding its local range of new energy vehicles.
The Chinese carmaker returned to South Africa six months ago with the all-electric E5 and plug-in hybrid E5 EM-i, offering both in a choice of Aspire and Apex trim. Now the manufacturer has bolstered the E5 line-up with the addition of the E5 Apex Plus derivative.
At a R28 889 premium over the Apex, the R788 888 E5 Apex Plus features a bigger battery that ensures a longer range. The downside being that the Plus is slightly slower due to its additional battery weight and that it takes slightly longer to charge.
Bigger battery
The rest of the impressive spec sheet, which includes all the technology and safety systems you can ever want in a car, is carried over from the Apex.
The 60.22kWh flat-floor lithium iron phosphate battery from the Apex makes way for a 68.39kWh battery still hooked up to single front-mounted electric motor. Power and torque stay unchanged at 160kW and 320Nm respectively. The three driving modes; Normal, Eco and Sport, stay unchanged.
Geely claims that the upsize battery will result in the range going up from 410km to 450km. Because of the weight going up from 1 765kg to 1 815kg, the claimed consumption goes up from 16.0kWh per 100km to 16.2kWh/100km.
Geely E5 Apex Plus cheap to run
These numbers turned out to be fairly accurate as The Citizen Motoring averaged 17.4kWh/100km after spending a week in the Geely E5 Apex Plus recently. While this won’t give the claimed range of 450km, 400km is very much on. And it will be cheaper to get there compared to cars with internal combustion engines or hybrid powertrains.
Using our real-world consumption, the Apex Plus will only cost R70 per 100km at a domestic prepaid electricity rate of R4/kW. R70 isn’t enough for three litres of petrol and hardly enough for two litres of diesel after the May fuel price hike, so you do the math.
Geely says the bigger battery will take seven in stead of just over six hours to charge from 10 to 100% using AC charging at home. As this is done overnight at the E5’s owner home, we doubt it will make any difference.
DC charging is so fast, the bigger battery won’t make much of a difference. Our test car charged from 18 to 92% in just 42 minutes at a 100kW DC public charger.
Smooth power
Geely says that the added weight will see the Plus’ 0 to 100km/h acceleration time go up from 7.1 to 7.6 seconds. To be honest, the lighter E5 Apex never felt like a rocket anyway. Anyone who samples the two model derivatives will struggle to tell the difference.
While the SUV is no slouch, it accelerates nothing like the balls-to-the-wall instant power on tap kind of way electric cars are traditionally know for. But as much battery power is wasted in overzealous sprinting from red light to red light anyway, it makes perfect sense to rein in what is on tap to prolong the range.
While the Geely E5 Apex Plus’ exterior is sleek and modern, especially the retractable door handles, it is still a tad conservative and in stark contrast from the interior. Once inside, there is no doubting the SUV’s impressive credentials. The plush and minimalistic finishing creates a very luxurious and roomy cabin, complemented by a 461-litre boot with electric tailgate.
A 15.4-inch infotainment system with 16-speaker Flyme sound system takes centre stage alongside a 10.4-inch digital instrument cluster, head-up display, massaging front seats, ambient lighting and panoramic sunroof.
Geely E5 Apex Plus makes sense
The Geely E5 Apex Plus comes standard with a comprehensive suite of Advanced Driver Assistance Systems. What we did not enjoy all that much was having to manually switch off the very annoying lane keep assist and speed limit warning on every trip, only for the systems to reactivate themselves the next time around.
The 10% or so additional range the Plus offers compared to the standard Apex model might not seem like a lot, but it should go a long way in convincing buyers still struggling with serious electric range anxiety. Like its Aspire and Apex siblings, the Plus offers serious value for money and will only become more and more relevant the higher the fuel prices rise.
Included in its R788 888 price is a wall box charger for your home, an emergency charging cable and R12 000 charging voucher when financed through Geely Finance. This is over and above a six-year/150 000km warranty, six-year/120 000km service plan and eight-year/200 000km battery warranty.
