This $25,000 Chinese EV Is Bigger Than A Camry, Goes 341 Miles On A Charge

Chinese brands are crushing the EV race right now, and Geely just unveiled a 197-inch-long sedan with a claimed 341 miles of electric range for the equivalent of $24,720 (were it coming to the States, which it isn’t). It’s called the Galaxy E8, and while it seems like a relatively understated bargain at first glance, there are a handful of other things to consider.

Right off the rip, this isn’t a particularly good-looking car, but it doesn’t matter. Buying one of these for its looks is like reading Playboy for the articles, or watching Michael Bay films for the product placement. Aside from a handful of small details, this isn’t a substantially more irritating car to look at than, say, a Nissan Altima. However, you already know I’m going to talk about some of those styling nitpicks.

While the upward-sweeping character line on the lower doors does echo the rising greenhouse, it doesn’t flow into anything else. Meanwhile, the hockey stick-like crease in each front door doesn’t harmonize with other exterior elements, instead blending into the upward-sweeping lower character line in a manner suggesting the lead designer knows what surfacing is but hasn’t quite nailed how to go about it. The bottom line? This thing is perfectly inoffensive to look at, like a McDonald’s hash brown. You don’t buy into the styling, but you still get the car for other reasons.

Perhaps the interior’s a good reason. A gargantuan 45-inch OLED display dominates the entire dashboard, which will make some of you readers check out and some of you drool uncontrollably. Although the relative lack of redundant physical controls is definitely a turn-off, just remember that this is a $25,000 large sedan. While a lot can be said about how tech ages, on a cheaper car like this, how much do you really care?

Despite its tiny price tag, the Galaxy E8 is based on the same SEA platform that’s underneath the Polestar 4 and Zeekr 001. Keep in mind, the handsome Volvo EX30 and the so-ugly-you’ll-want-to-squash-it Zeekr X ride on a substantially shorter SEA-E platform variant, so don’t think of those cars as direct next-of-kin to the Galaxy E8. Still, this Geely platform means that even the base model runs on a 400-volt architecture, can allegedly dash from zero-to-60 mph in a pube-width under six seconds, and is claimed to have a total range of 341 miles of roadway before needing a charge.

There are just two problems: The name and the price. Customers know the name “Galaxy” well, but not from cars. Sure, Ford had the Galaxie in North America and the Galaxy people carrier in Europe, but the immediate association is with Samsung’s Galaxy family of smartphones and tablets. Yeah, that’s an uphill battle if ever I’ve seen one. Then there’s the price tag. Don’t get me wrong, a sub-$25,000 starting price sounds amazing, but it might be due to some heavy subsidization.

According to Energy Storage News, the average battery pack price in China clocked in at $126 per kWh late last year. That should mean this electric sedan includes roughly $7,800 worth of battery pack aboard its base model. Take that number away, and Geely should have $16,960 per car to cover bodywork, tooling, lighting, suspension, brakes, wheels, tires, airbags, electronics, seating and upholstery, styling, engineering, software development, homologation, branding, and some level of profit margin. In a car of this size and position, that sounds relatively tough, doesn’t it? Well, it’s easier to understand when you look at what’s been propping up cheap Chinese EVs.

It’s no secret that the Chinese EV industry has benefitted from billions of yuan in subsidies, and Nikkei Asia reports that companies like BYD, SAIC, and battery manufacturer CATL received benefits in the first half of 2023 worth hundreds of millions of U.S. dollars. What for? Well, it’s rather vague. As Nikkei Asia reports, some companies claim auto-related costs, but out of SAIC, BYD, and Chongqing Changan Automobile, “None of the three automakers responded to Nikkei Asia’s queries regarding the subsidies.”

Unsurprisingly, these subsidies have raised some eyebrows, with the European Union investigating several Chinese automakers including Geely, maker of the Galaxy E8, for potential dumping. Back in October, Geely issued a statement, and a relatively thin one at that:

Geely Holdings follows all laws, regulations and supports fair market competition globally.

Geely has been a careful guardian of iconic European automotive brands for over a decade, its continued investments have enhanced European and Chinese industrial capacity, creating substantial industrial synergies.

Geely Holdings regards free trade, including for EVs, as beneficial for all consumers and in helping to combat global climate change.”

Hmm. There doesn’t seem to be any explicit denying going on here. Or much implicit denying. Either way, those headline-earning cheap EV prices you see coming out of China aren’t apples to apples. Sure, the cost of manufacturing is lower there, but manufacturing costs are a relatively small piece of the EV development process, and extensive subsidies are a way of potentially passing savings onto consumers. Those astonishing price tags, like the sub-$25,000 figure for the Galaxy E8, might not be organic or sustainable in the face of anti-dumping laws, so don’t feel too bad that they aren’t here yet.

(Photo credits: Geely)

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