Geely EX5 vs Smart #5

The Smart #5 costs £5,810 more than the Geely EX5. For that premium it adds 33 miles more WLTP range, 50 kW faster peak rapid charging and 220 litres more boot space. The Geely EX5 is not just cheaper - it also offers lower energy use, 158 versus 185 Wh/km. On EVcarsguide's combined category scores, the Geely EX5 comes out ahead overall.

The Geely EX5 is £5,810 cheaper to buy. Running costs are almost identical - about £176 a year either way, at 8,000 miles on an off-peak home tariff. Add 5 years of charging and the Geely EX5 comes out roughly £5,930 cheaper overall. These figures cover list price and home charging only - insurance, servicing, tyres and depreciation will move the real total.

EVcarsguide estimates a real-world motorway range of about 198 miles for the Geely EX5 and 202 miles for the Smart #5 - effectively matched, and both well below their WLTP figures because sustained high speed is the hardest case for an EV. A rapid charge to 80% takes around 20 minutes in the Geely EX5 and 30 in the Smart #5, so the Geely EX5 loses less time at each stop.

The two are within 19 mm on width, so neither is meaningfully easier to thread into a tight space. In a standard 2,400 mm bay that leaves about 499 mm of total clearance for the Geely EX5 and about 480 mm of total clearance for the Smart #5.

Over a 8-year ownership window EVcarsguide's degradation model projects roughly 90% battery health for the Geely EX5 and 90% for the Smart #5. That is close enough that capacity loss should not decide between them. Both use LFP-type cells, which are happy charged to 100% every day. Both batteries carry a 8-year manufacturer warranty.