At just under 1,000 kilometres, the Sydney to Brisbane run is the kind of drive that separates a genuinely capable highway-friendly EV from one that merely looks the part on a spec sheet. To find out which camp the top-spec Geely EX5 Inspire falls into, I picked it up in Sydney and headed north…in peak-hour traffic, naturally.
The Highway Cruiser Experience
Geely might be a new name to some Australians, but their pedigree is undeniable, boasting parent-company ties to Volvo, Lotus, Zeekr, and Mercedes-Benz. That premium DNA is blindingly obvious the moment you hit the Pacific Motorway. The cabin is impressively hushed on the Pacific Motorway, and the car sits with genuine planted confidence under most situations, rather than the nervous, darty quality that afflicts some EV SUVs on Australian roads.
The Intelligent Cruise Control which combines adaptive speed with lane-centring assist, is the headline feature for road-trippers and it largely earns its place. On long, open highway stretches it keeps you accurately centred with minimal intervention required. Where it struggles is worth knowing: tighter city roads with pronounced lane markings or complex geometry can cause the system to make continuous small corrections but not to the extent of other Chinese competitors, and the driver assistance warnings (speed limit warnings and driver attention warnings) arrive with a frequency that will irritate many drivers before they discover how to turn them off. To Geely’s credit, multiple OTA updates have addressed this since the Australian launch, and the dismissal process is now considerably quicker.
Suspension is the EX5’s main shortfall on Australian roads but for most drivers, being on the softer side will be appreciated. The ride is composed and pleasant on smooth road surfaces, but the car can be caught out by hidden undulations and patchy bitumen, the kind of road condition that is entirely unremarkable in a Toyota RAV4 but slightly unsettled here. It does not ruin the drive, but it is the clearest gap between the EX5’s interior ambience and its chassis sophistication.
That interior, however, is a genuine strength. The Inspire trim brings GeeLuxe synthetic leather seats with heating, ventilation, and a six-mode massage function, a feature set you would normally associate with vehicles costing considerably more. The panoramic roof keeps the cabin feeling open on long days behind the wheel, and the 15.4-inch Meizu-powered infotainment screen now includes wireless Apple CarPlay and Android Auto, which addressed one of the more frustrating omissions at launch.
Geely delivers a vehicle at a sharp price, without compromise. One of its biggest strengths against competing Chinese brands, perhaps due to its European experience for over decade.
The Real-World Charging & Cost Breakdown
The 2025/Early 2026 EX5 Inspire uses a 60.22 kWh Lithium Iron Phosphate battery , an LFP chemistry worth understanding as a road-tripper. LFP can be charged to 100% regularly without the battery degradation concerns associated with NMC chemistry, which means there is no practical reason to leave the charger early. The EX5 is rated for 100 kW DC fast-charging.
What the spec sheet does not tell you is how it behaves at the top end of the charge curve, which is where most EVs slow dramatically. The EX5 charged from 70% to 100% in exactly 30 minutes, the most consistent high-state-of-charge performance I have experienced in a vehicle of this battery capacity. For drivers who want to arrive at their next stop with genuine buffer rather than anxiously watching the percentage tick down from 80%, that matters.
Here is the complete charging log from the Sydney to Brisbane run:
| Leg | Distance | Efficiency |
|---|---|---|
| Sydney to Cameron Park | 143 km | 16.1 kWh/100km |
| Cameron Park to Port Macquarie | 236 km | 15.5 kWh/100km |
| Port Macquarie to New Italy (2 legs combined) | 309 km | 18.2 kWh/100km |
| New Italy to Brisbane (heavy rain) | 226 km | 13.4 kWh/100km |
Geely’s WLTP claimed consumption is 16.6 kWh/100km. The EX5 beat that figure on three of the four legs. The outlier, Legs 3 and 4 at 18.2 kWh/100km, likely reflects a combination of road gradient, evening driving and speed variation in that stretch. The rain-affected final leg, at 13.4 kWh/100km, suggests a maximum highway range in the right conditions of around 449 km, which comfortably exceeds Geely’s official range claim of 410 km.
Total public charging cost for the trip was $105.56.
Should You Buy a Geely EX5?
The EX5 Inspire makes a compelling case in a segment that has become genuinely competitive. Under $50,000, it offers a cabin that punches well above its price point, an LFP battery that is well-suited to road-trip use, and real-world efficiency that consistently meets or beats its rated figures. The suspension and driver assistance calibration are the areas where the engineering does not quite match the interior promise, and both are worth experiencing on a test drive before committing as I feel the average driver will not be as critical of the suspension softness as us in the car review space.
For a complete breakdown of its everyday drivability, tech features, servicing costs, and market value, read the full Geely EX5 review on our sister site, DriveWise.