Geely EX2 Review Australia 2026: The Cheap Small EV That Gets the Basics Right

The Geely EX2 is one of the cheapest new EVs in Australia, at $26,490 for the Complete and $30,990 for the Inspire before on-roads. This Geely EX2 review for Australia comes down to one verdict: the Inspire is a well-equipped, five-star city car with a generous warranty, and it’s a strong buy if most of your driving is in the suburbs. The Complete is cheaper, but its 252 km range makes it a second car rather than the only one.

Buyers are clearly paying attention. The EX2 sold 1,279 cars in August 2026, its second month on sale, and ranked 20th in the whole new-car market (CarExpert, September 2026). The questions people ask before signing are practical ones. What does the cheap finance actually cost? How does it compare with a Hyundai Inster? And can a car this small handle the occasional highway run?

This review answers those with Australian pricing, specs from Geely’s local spec sheet and results from Australian road tests. For the wider market, start at our electric vehicles hub.

Geely EX2 review Australia: prices and specs

Two grades are on sale, both rear-wheel drive with a lithium iron phosphate (LFP) battery. LFP is a lithium-ion chemistry that tolerates daily charging to 100 percent and lasts many cycles, at the cost of storing a bit less energy per kilogram.

Spec	Complete	Inspire
Price (before on-roads)	$26,490	$30,990
Battery	35.35 kWh LFP	47.14 kWh LFP
WLTP range	252 km	345 km
WLTP consumption	15.9 kWh/100 km	15.5 kWh/100 km
Motor	60 kW / 150 Nm	85 kW / 150 Nm
0 to 100 km/h	14.2 s	11.5 s
Top speed (limited)	130 km/h	130 km/h
DC charging peak	60 kW	80 kW
AC charging	6.6 kW	6.6 kW
Vehicle-to-load	3.3 kW	3.3 kW
Boot / frunk	375 L / 70 L	375 L / 70 L
Boot with seats folded	1,320 L	1,320 L
Length / wheelbase	4,135 / 2,645 mm	4,135 / 2,645 mm
Spare	Tyre repair kit	Tyre repair kit
ANCAP	5 stars (2026)	5 stars (2026)

Sources: Geely Australia EX2 specification guide, July 2026; CarExpert, 26 July 2026; ANCAP, September 2026. Prices as of October 2026.

The Inspire adds a lot for its $4,500 premium. You get 16-inch alloys instead of steel wheels, a surround-view camera, a power tailgate, heated front seats and steering wheel, a 15 W wireless phone charger, six speakers instead of four, rain-sensing wipers and ambient lighting. More importantly, it gets the bigger battery and faster DC charging. For most buyers, that’s the grade to get.

Both grades share a 14.6-inch touchscreen, wireless Apple CarPlay and Android Auto, seven airbags including a front-centre airbag, and the full driver-assist suite with adaptive cruise and blind-spot monitoring.

What the finance offer really costs

Geely’s 0.09 percent comparison-rate finance is a genuine deal, but read the fine print. The current offer needs $0 deposit on a fixed 36-month term, with approval by 31 October 2026 and settlement by 13 November 2026. A dealer origination fee of up to $1,495 may apply, and the comparison rate excludes it. Balloon payments aren’t allowed.

Buyers who’ve been through the process report the same things: an establishment fee of about $1,500 that can be rolled into the loan, a monthly account fee, and an early exit fee if you pay the loan off before the three years are up. Some also say dealers offered a few thousand dollars off the price as an alternative to taking the cheap finance.

That trade-off is worth doing the maths on. On a $30,000 loan, the difference between 0.09 percent and a typical car loan rate over three years is a few thousand dollars in interest. If a dealer offers a bigger cash discount than that, paying cash or using your own finance can come out ahead. Ask for the full fee schedule in writing before you commit.

Real-world range and running costs

The Inspire is efficient around town and ordinary on the motorway. Australian testers recorded:

• CarExpert: 13.8 kWh/100 km over a week of mixed driving, calculated from charging (August 2026).
• Chasing Cars: 11.9 kWh/100 km in town and 15.3 kWh/100 km on the motorway.

At 15.3 kWh/100 km, the Inspire’s 47.14 kWh battery gives roughly 300 km of highway driving. Around town at 12 kWh/100 km, close to 400 km is realistic. The Complete’s smaller battery gives roughly 230 km on the highway, which is why we’d only recommend it as a city car.

Running costs are tiny. At 13.8 kWh/100 km and 30c/kWh on grid power, you pay about $4.10 per 100 km. A driver doing 12,000 km a year spends around $500 on home charging, less with solar or an EV tariff. Plug your own numbers into our EV charging cost calculator.

The 130 km/h electronic speed limit won’t matter on Australian roads, where 110 km/h is the usual maximum. CarsGuide still counted it against the car for highway use (August 2026).

Charging the EX2

DC charging is slow by 2026 standards but fine for a car this size. The Inspire peaks at 80 kW, and Chasing Cars measured about 30 minutes for a 10 to 80 percent top-up. The Driven called that rate unremarkable (August 2026). The Complete peaks at 60 kW. On a road trip you’ll stop more often than in a bigger-battery car, but each stop is short.

At home, a 7 kW wallbox charges at the car’s 6.6 kW limit and fills the Inspire from empty in about seven hours. Both grades also come with a 2 kW portable cable that plugs into a normal 10 amp powerpoint. That adds roughly 13 km of range per hour, so a 12-hour overnight session covers about 150 km. Our granny charger vs wall charger guide explains when the portable cable is enough.

Vehicle-to-load (V2L) lets the car’s battery power appliances. The EX2’s 3.3 kW V2L is enough for a camp fridge, kettle or power tools.

What reviewers liked and disliked

The EX2 gets the basics right: it’s quiet for its class, roomy up front, well equipped and genuinely cheap. EV Central gave it four stars and praised the refinement. Chasing Cars scored the Inspire 7 out of 10. The 70-litre frunk is a rare feature at this price and a handy spot for charging cables.

The complaints are consistent across Australian reviews:

• Steering and ride. CarExpert found the ride bobbly even on smooth roads and the steering slow. EV Central called the steering wooden.
• Buried controls. Heated seats and the heated wheel sit three taps deep in the touchscreen (CarExpert, August 2026). RACQ also found the touchscreen controls distracting.
• Over-eager driver aids. The driver-monitoring camera interrupts music, and lane-keeping nibbles at the wheel. Chasing Cars found the assistance systems patchy enough that it switched them off by hand.
• Highway manners. Hard cabin plastics become noisy at highway speeds, and several reviewers said the EX2 isn’t suited to long road trips.

One review reported a fault. carsales said its test car briefly lost power in light rain with an unclear warning message (August 2026). We found no other reports of this, and no EX2 recall. Check the vehicle recalls register with your VIN before buying, as with any new model.

Safety

ANCAP awarded the EX2 five stars in September 2026 under its 2026 test protocols. The rating covers all variants built from June 2026. Scores were 86 percent for crash protection, 79 percent for safe driving, 72 percent for crash avoidance and 95 percent for post-crash.

ANCAP still noted weaknesses. Autonomous emergency braking was less capable at higher speeds. The car didn’t intervene when turning across the path of an oncoming vehicle or motorcycle, and reversing detection missed stationary pedestrians. The frontal offset test showed an elevated risk of leg injury for the driver. A five-star rating at this price is still a strong result, beating the four-star Hyundai Inster.

Warranty and servicing

Geely’s warranty is among the best at this price. Private buyers get seven years with unlimited kilometres on the car, and eight years with unlimited kilometres on the battery down to 70 percent health, according to Geely’s warranty page.

Servicing is every 12 months or 20,000 km, at a capped price:

Service	Cost
12 months / 20,000 km	$171
24 months / 40,000 km	$303
36 months / 60,000 km	$171
48 months / 80,000 km	$671
60 months / 100,000 km	$171
72 months / 120,000 km	$303
84 months / 140,000 km	$262
Seven-year total	$2,052

Source: Geely Australia servicing page, October 2026.

Prepaid plans cut that to $517 for three years, $1,190 for five or $1,642 for seven, if bought with the car. Those prices are locked until 31 December 2026.

Geely EX2 vs the competition

The EX2 Inspire gives you more battery and a fifth seat for less than the Hyundai Inster, and a bigger battery than the BYD Atto 1. Here’s how the main rivals compare as of October 2026:

Model	Price	Battery	WLTP range	Seats
Geely EX2 Inspire	$30,990 before on-roads	47.14 kWh LFP	345 km	5
Geely EX2 Complete	$26,490 before on-roads	35.35 kWh LFP	252 km	5
BYD Atto 1 Essential	$19,990 drive-away (offer to 15 Dec)	30 kWh LFP	220 km	5
BYD Dolphin Essential	$28,888 drive-away (offer to 15 Dec)	44.9 kWh LFP	about 340 km	5
MG4 Urban Essence 54	$34,990 drive-away	54 kWh LFP	405 km	5
Hyundai Inster Standard Range	$39,000 before on-roads	42 kWh NMC	327 km	4

Sources: Geely Australia, July 2026; CarExpert, April and July 2026; The Driven, September 2026; Drive, September 2026.

People who cross-shop the EX2 and Inster tend to split the same way. The EX2 wins on space, equipment and value. The Inster wins on driving feel, simple physical controls and Hyundai’s dealer network. Our Hyundai Inster review covers the Hyundai side.

If price is everything, the BYD Atto 1 is cheaper still under its current offer, but it has much less range. The MG4 Urban gives you the most range for the money. For a three-way head-to-head with the GAC Aion UT and MG4 Urban, see our Geely EX2 vs Aion UT vs MG4 Urban comparison.

Is the Geely EX2 good on a novated lease?

Yes. Both grades sit far below the 2026 to 2027 luxury car tax threshold of $91,661, so they qualify for the full EV fringe benefits tax exemption (ATO). They’re also well under the proposed $75,000 cap announced for leases starting from April 2027, so the EX2 keeps its full tax benefit either way.

Geely also offers 6 percent off the vehicle price for EX2s delivered in October 2026 through a Geely-approved fleet management company. On a low-cost car, though, the dollar savings from a lease are smaller than on a $60,000 SUV. Run your numbers through our novated lease calculator and compare them with the cash or 0.09 percent finance option.

The broader market is moving fast. The Electric Vehicle Council reported more than 157,000 EVs sold in Australia in 2025, a 13.1 percent share of new cars (EVC, January 2026). Cheap small EVs like the EX2 are a big part of why that share keeps climbing.

Who should buy the Geely EX2

Buy the Inspire if you want a five-seat EV under $35,000 on the road, mostly drive in the suburbs and want a long warranty. It’s the better car and the better value of the two grades.

Buy the Complete if it’s a second car for local trips and you can charge at home. At $26,490 before on-roads it’s one of the cheapest five-star EVs available.

Look elsewhere if you regularly drive long highway stretches or you want polished steering and ride. The MG4 Urban has more range, and our best small electric cars guide ranks every option in the segment. You can also line them up in our EV compare tool.