First EV from Geely spotted in Australia, to offer new low priced electric option

Geely Holdings has stakes in multiple brands such as Volvo cars, Polestar, Zeekr, and Lotus, and has been rapidly rolling out EVs under its own Geely brand into many markets around the world.

Now it has turned its attention to Australia and its first EV – which promises to be one of the lowest cost EV offerings in Australia – has been spotted on the streets of Melbourne.

The new sighting of Geely E5 electric SUV was first spotted and posted on reddit by user coolguyjenson and reshared by an avid reader of The Driven Roland from ZappedAU on X.

Geely e5 spotto In Melbourne with trade plates. Guess it’s coming soon! 😬

Credit: Reddit user coolguyjenson pic.twitter.com/WPdnVuCsBE

— Zapped 🇦🇺 🚗⚡ (@ZappedAU) August 6, 2024

This sighting shows the car driving on Bolte Bridge only a short distance away from the heart of Melbourne. 

From the shots, the silver mid-sized SUV looks quite stylish with a curved front and a sloping rear of the car. The charge port is also seen at the front right-hand side of the car.

Geely Auto, the mainstream passenger vehicle brand under Geely Holding officially launched its newest electric SUV developed for the global market, the E5 this weekend.

The technologically packed model comes with Geely's latest innovations like its Short Blade battery, 11-in-1… pic.twitter.com/wqwchp2hNi

— Geely Group (@GeelyGroup) August 6, 2024

Geely E5 is the brand’s latest EV and was formally unveiled over the weekend in China as the brand looks at expanding its lineup of electric vehicles at a global level.

Underneath the skin, there are various innovations not seen in this class of vehicle which has a starting price in China of under $A25,000, although it is yet to be seen how this translates into the Australian market.

The new E5 packs some innovative technologies including 11 in 1 powertrain system and cell-to-body (CTB) technology including plans of building it in right-hand-drive for markets like ours in Australia.

Coming in multiple variants, the powertrain features a reasonably powerful 160 kW motor with 320 Nm of torque. This allows us 0-100 km/h in under 7 seconds, outpacing the BYD Atto 3.

It will offer two different battery packs with the first 49.52 kWh pack to deliver of 440 km of CLTC range. A bigger pack with 60.22 kWh delivers 530 km of NEDC range, which is expected to be in the mid-400 km of real-world WLTP range.

The new packs are lithium-iron-phosphate (LFP) in chemistry and contain Geely’s short Blade batteries with an energy density of 192 Wh/km, which is above BYD’s current Blade battery found in the Dolphin, Atto 3 and the Seal.

With the first sighting of the new Geely E5 testing on Australian roads, it’s looking likely that this car will be launching in the Australian market within the next 12 months, delivering more options for buyers looking at getting behind the wheel of a cleaner, more efficient car.

Riz Akhtar

Riz is the founder of carloop based in Melbourne, specialising in Australian EV data, insight reports and trends. He is a mechanical engineer who spent the first 7 years of his career building transport infrastructure before starting carloop. He has a passion for cars, particularly EVs and wants to help reduce transport emissions in Australia. He currently drives a red Tesla Model 3.