Fleetpoint journalist, Ian Campbell, was given the opportunity to spend a week behind the wheel of Geely’s affordable electric SUV, the Geely EX5 Max:
Image: Geely
I was handed the keys to a Geely EX5 Max for a full week — not for a polished press launch on immaculate European tarmac, but for the real deal: a proper daily driver test across Lancashire. The brief was simple: could this car cut it as a fleet vehicle while still being something you’d actually want to come home to? After seven days and a fair few miles, I can tell you the answer is a pretty resounding yes.
Let’s put things into context first. The Geely EX5 Max sits at the top of the EX5 range with a list price of £36,990, although Geely has been running a £3,750 launch grant that brings it down to £33,240. For that money, you are getting a level of standard equipment that would have been unthinkable at this price point even a couple of years ago. We’re talking ventilated and heated front seats with massage and memory functions, a front passenger leg rest, a panoramic sunroof, a power tailgate, a 13.8-inch head-up display, and standard metallic paint. There was a time when this sort of kit list meant you were spending north of fifty grand. Not anymore.
Design and Interior
I’ll be upfront about the exterior: it’s not going to set anyone’s pulse racing. The EX5 is a handsome enough car in the metal, but it plays things safe — think clean, inoffensive, and quietly modern rather than head-turning. Other reviewers have called it “anonymous” and I wouldn’t argue with that. But for fleet use, anonymous isn’t necessarily a bad thing. Nobody is going to question your company car choice when it looks this sensible.
Image: Geely
Step inside, though, and the EX5 Max starts to really impress. The cabin makes a genuinely strong first impression, with an attractive design and plenty of plush materials that put some similarly priced EVs to shame. Fit and finish is high quality throughout, and you get the sense that Geely — Volvo’s parent company, remember — has applied some of that Scandinavian attention to detail here. There’s a massive 15.4-inch tablet-style touchscreen running Geely’s Flyme OS infotainment system, flanked by a 10.2-inch LCD instrument cluster. Apple CarPlay integration makes the front panel easy to use for media, communication, and maps, which is a genuine relief.
Space inside is excellent. Even if you and your passenger are both over six feet, you’ll have no trouble getting comfortable up front, with generous head, leg, and shoulder room. The back seats tell the same story — Geely claims limo-like rear legroom, and they’re not far wrong. I comfortably fitted four adults in this car without any complaints, and there’s more rear space here than you’d find in a Kia EV3, Skoda Elroq, or VW ID.4. Boot space comes in at 461 litres, which is perfectly adequate for family duties or slinging in a few boxes of gear.
Image: Geely
I have to mention the steering wheel shape — it’s a flat-bottomed design and it just seems to work. Comfortable in your hands, sporty enough to feel purposeful. Small detail, but it stood out to me.
Oh, and the wife test? Passed with flying colours. Centre console was the perfect size for throwing her bag, she found it easy to drive, and — interestingly — didn’t seem to have any issue with the various warning chimes that drove me round the bend. Make of that what you will.
The Flyme Sound System
One of the genuine surprises on the Max trim is the audio setup. You get a 16-speaker, 1,000-watt Flyme sound system with an independent amplifier and a standalone subwoofer. That’s four woofers, four tweeters, five mid-range speakers, and a sub. There are also four immersive sound modes to choose from: Opera House, Recording Studio, Music Hall, and Concert. For a car at this price, the sound quality is genuinely excellent — rich, detailed, and with real depth. Long motorway runs were made considerably more enjoyable because of it.
On the Road
Under the bonnet — or more accurately, under the floor — sits a single electric motor driving the front wheels, producing 215bhp and 236lb ft of torque. The Max trim tips the scales a touch heavier than the SE, so 0–62mph comes in at 7.1 seconds rather than 6.9. It’s not going to pin you back in your seat, but it’s more than sufficient for daily driving. Pulling out onto dual carriageways and overtaking slower traffic is done with the quiet, effortless shove that EVs do so well.
Image: Geely
Urban driving is where this car really shines. The EX5 Max is serene around town — smooth, silent, and completely hassle-free at low speeds. The suspension has been tuned on the softer side (with input from Lotus, no less) and it deals remarkably well with broken city streets. I spent a good chunk of my week navigating the current state of Lancashire’s roads, which as anyone local will tell you, resemble something between a war zone and an archaeological dig. The EX5 handled the worst of the potholes with impressive composure. It’s not a magic carpet ride — you do feel the bigger hits — but for a car in this class and at this price, the ride quality is a genuine highlight.
Where it’s less convincing is in the fun department. The steering is rather lifeless, particularly around the straight-ahead, and you never really feel engaged with the car through the bends. It’s stable, the braking is good, and it’s a tidy handler, but it’s not what you’d call entertaining. This is a car that wants to waft you from A to B in comfort rather than take the scenic route for the thrill of it. For the vast majority of fleet drivers, that’s absolutely fine.
Battery, Range and Charging
The EX5 Max packs a 60.2kWh usable lithium iron phosphate (LFP) battery, giving a WLTP-quoted range of 255 miles. That’s slightly less than the lighter SE trim’s 267 miles, owing to the extra weight of all that additional kit. In real-world driving — a mix of urban pottering, A-roads, and the odd motorway stretch — I found the range held up well, though like any EV you’ll see that figure drop noticeably if you spend a lot of time at motorway speeds.
Charging was straightforward and caused me no dramas whatsoever. At home on my Pod Point charger, the EX5 Max charged comfortably overnight. The car supports up to 11kW AC charging, so on a standard 7kW home wallbox you’re looking at roughly ten hours from flat to full — plug in when you get home, wake up to a full battery. On DC rapid chargers, the EX5 supports up to 160kW, which translates to a 10–80% charge in around 30 minutes. That’s competitive with anything in the class and means a quick coffee stop on a longer journey gets you back on the road with plenty of juice.
Image: Geely
It’s worth noting that Geely is using LFP battery chemistry here, which is becoming increasingly common in this segment. The advantages are good longevity and thermal stability, and it’s cheaper to produce, which helps keep the sticker price down. The trade-off is slightly lower energy density compared to NMC batteries, but for a daily driver that’s charging overnight, it’s a sensible choice.
The Niggles
No car is perfect, and I’d be doing you a disservice if I didn’t flag a couple of things that got under my skin during my week with the EX5 Max.
First: the driver alerts. The speed warning, the “keep your eyes on the road” nagging, the lane departure chimes — I was being binged at constantly. It drove me absolutely insane at times. Now, is this more a reflection of my driving than I’d care to admit? Possibly. But the real frustration is that while you can switch these off, the settings don’t save when you restart the car. Every ignition cycle, you’re back to square one, tapping through menus to silence the nanny. This is a regulatory issue as much as a Geely one — EU and UK rules now mandate many of these alerts — but a persistent settings option would go a long way.
Second, and this is a gripe that extends well beyond Geely to this entire minimalist generation of cars: everything is done through the one screen. Want to switch off the heated seats? That’s four taps on the touchscreen. Climate adjustment? Same story. Every function that used to live on a dedicated button now requires you to navigate through menus while driving. The irony of a car that tells you off for not watching the road while simultaneously requiring you to look at a screen to turn the fan down is not lost on me. Physical buttons for the essentials would be a welcome addition.
Safety and Warranty
Credit where it’s due: the Geely EX5 scored a full five-star Euro NCAP safety rating in 2025, which is exactly what you want to see for a car being considered for fleet use. The suite of driver assistance technology is comprehensive, even if some of it is a little overzealous, as I’ve mentioned.
The warranty package is impressive too. Geely offers an eight-year, 125,000-mile warranty that also covers the battery — that’s one of the best in the business and should give fleet managers genuine peace of mind. You also get two years’ free servicing thrown in, which sweetens the deal further and helps keep those whole-life running costs down.
Image: Geely
The Fleet Case
Now let’s talk numbers, because this is where it gets really interesting for fleet operators. As a fully electric vehicle, the EX5 Max attracts a Benefit-in-Kind tax rate of just 2%, making it incredibly affordable as a company car. A 20% taxpayer would be looking at roughly £18.50 per month in BiK tax. That’s pocket change.
Running costs are impressively low too, with Cap HPI quoting just 34p per mile over a four-year, 80,000-mile cycle. Residual values sit at around 32% — not class-leading, but reasonable for a brand that’s still establishing itself in the UK market. As Geely’s presence grows and the dealer network expands, those residuals should strengthen.
At the time of writing (March 2026), a business lease from a reputable contract hire company comes in at £300 plus VAT per month on a three-year deal with six months upfront and 15,000 miles per year. Boom. That’s a seriously competitive monthly rate for a car this well-equipped.
Affordable for the fleet and brilliant for home use too. That’s the sweet spot right there.
The Verdict
The Geely EX5 Max is exactly what a good fleet car should be: comfortable, well-equipped, cheap to run, and easy to live with day-to-day. It’s not the most exciting car in the world to drive, and the touchscreen-for-everything approach will frustrate those of us who like a physical button, but these are minor gripes in the context of what you’re getting for the money.
Geely needed to come out swinging with its first UK offering, and the EX5 does exactly that. It rides beautifully, charges quickly, and undercuts the established competition on price while matching or exceeding them on standard equipment. The eight-year warranty gives fleet managers confidence, and the BiK rates make it a no-brainer for company car drivers.
Is it perfect? No. But at this price, with this much kit, and running costs this low? It’s a seriously compelling package.
Key Specifications — Geely EX5 Max
