Forthing EV: First Drive of Australia's next affordable electric SUV

Forthing, a new EV brand backed by Chinese automotive giant Dongfeng, in June announced pricing and specs of its first model in Australia, the Forthing EV, starting at a driveaway price of under $39,000.

Forthing, one of a number of new brands entering Australia’s surging EV market, and its first offering is set to compete with existing popular models such as the Jaecoo J5 and the Geely EX5.

The Forthing EV comes in two variants – $38,990 for the BEV Luxury versions and $42,490 for the top-spec BEV Exclusive, which offers panoramic opening glass roof, 360‑degree camera, wireless phone charger, electric tailgate and an upgraded 6-speaker sound system.

Both variants of the Forthing Electric are rated with 427 km of range, thanks to a common 64.4 kWh battery pack which can be charged from 30-80% in around 30 minutes.

My first impression of the car from the outside was its sharp front and mid-sized SUV styling. The sandstone paint was a bit of a standout as not too many cars in this pricepoint offer that.

The car has conventional door handles and a good ride height, and one thing that caught my eye early on was the build quality of the Forthing EV. It looked and felt solid, and had a reasonable amount of legroom in the driver and passenger seats, and in the rear.

Boot space was reasonable too, given the segment and this model coming in at 4.6 metres in length. We had a couple of bags in the back, and they fitted just fine.

Surprisingly, it also comes with a temporary spare tyre in the Exclusive variant, making it one of the only new EVs on the market to offer this. This will give owners a lot of confidence when taking it on road trips but as mentioned, will be $3,500 over the base variant.

There is a button to get the car started, and you can put the car into drive using the centre console gear shifter, which could be ideal for those moving into their first EV from a traditional ICE car.

From there, the car had good all-around visibility. Driving on Sydney’s roads was easy, and the car felt fairly well planted on the roads during peak-hour traffic and in suburban driving we did later in the day. The regenerative braking was also set a bit lower than expected but many moving from an ICE vehicle would feel it similar to an automatic transmission.

On outer-suburban roads, the Forthing Electric felt quite composed, with good suspension, although the exit from some corners did produce a slight wobble. The ADAS system wasn’t intrusive, as is the case in some other cars. The Wireless Apple CarPlay worked seamlessly without any disconnections.

After driving the car for just under 2 hours, the Forthing Electric’s average consumption was 17.2 kWh/100 km. This is expected given the sweepy, moderate-to-high-speed city and suburban roads we spent quite a bit of time on during the drive program.

A 7-years/200,000 km warranty on the car is offered while the battery is backed by 8-years/200,000 km warranty. Servicing intervals are set at 12 months/20,000 km for the EV models in the range.