Earlier known for its home appliances, Skyworth has become the first Chinese company to sell electric passenger cars in the United States market, according to Car News China. Using the Skywell brand and entering the US market as the Imperium Motor Company, the vehicle is known as the Skywell Imperium ET5.
In Europe, the Imperium ET5 is also present in the German market as the Elaris Beo, where specifications include a 72 kWh lithium-ion battery supplying a drive motor output of 204 PS. In European terms, the Elaris Beo is rated to have a range of 460 km on the WLTP testing cycle, and measures 4,698 mm long, 1,908 mm wide, 1,696 mm tall and a wheelbase of 2,800 mm.
European specifications for the Elaris Beo – and therefore the ET5 – state that DC charging from 20% to 80% takes 30 minutes, or seven hours via 11 kW AC charging. The charging cable used is a Type 2 to Type 2 connection.
According to the Skyworth website, active safety equipment the ET5 SUV includes full-speed range adaptive cruise control, automatic emergency braking, lane departure warning, lane keeping assist, integrated cruise assist, hill start assist, speed limit recognition, an automatic parking function, reversing camera, 360-degree view camera and adaptive high beam.
In Elaris Beo form, rolling stock includes 19-inch light-alloy wheels shod in 235/50 tyres, further equipped with laser headlights, LED daytime running lights, LED tail lights, fog lights, auto folding and heated adjustable exterior mirrors, powered windows with anti-pinch function, central locking and smart entry with keyless start.
Interior conveniences include four-zone automatic climate control, a 12.3-inch LCD driver instrument display, a 12.8-inch infotainment touchscreen with voice command, an eight-speaker surround sound system, four USB ports, Bluetooth connectivity and a leather multifunction steering wheel.
Interior upholstery comes in leather while the driver’s seat features electric height adjustment, with heating for both driver and front passenger seats. The rear seats are comprised of a 60:40 split-folding bench, and the outer rea seats have Isofix child seats anchor points.
Other features include inductive mobile phone charging, ambient lighting, a 220-volt power supply, PM2.5 air filtration, privacy glass for the rear windows, self-dimming mirrors and a panoramic glass roof.
In May, the ET5 was shown on the Imperium Motor Company’s Facebook page as available for reservation from US$29,990 (RM124,617) for the LV0 variant with 406 km of range, and US$39,990 (RM166,150) for the LV2 variant with 517 km of range; pricing is now “to be announced” on the Imperium website. In Europe, the equivalent Elaris Beo in on sale from 41,330 euros (RM203,905) after local incentives.
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the front looks very much like Honda CRV ….
517km of range is only So-so
you mean…new civiv?
You mean the new Civic is it?
When Skywalker sides with the Empire, out comes Skywell Imperium. The Emperor has given his approval.
Would you buy if Khind or Pensonic built cars?
Many didn’t expect a Korean microwave & CRT TV maker to totally change their business model into selling Galaxy phones, but hey, stranger things have happen.
A very good try. There is no perfect preparation. If the preparation is good enough, launch to market and collect data for improvement. Much better than useless Proton and Perodua, after being years in automotive industry but still depend on others for technology. Yes, definitely we can use other technology to make improvement but not rebadging the cars. What can we learn?
Main battery does not have active cooling ( no thermal regulator!!!!) what this mean is that you will have hard time traveling long distance roadtrip 1000 km+ trip.
On your first DC fast charging it will heatup your battery. one the second DC fast charging it will overheat the battery. The battery management will slow down charging to avoid overheating. So you will have to wait hours and hours to recharge the third charge. If you have not reach destination. you will need to find an hotel because you may not be able to DC fast charge a fourth time in a row.
You need an active cooling Thermal regulator to do multiple DC fast charging. (like tesla, bolt, ioniq, id4)
This skywell use old battery technology similar found in the nissan leaf. Not got for long roadtrip. Also each time battery heat up it degrade the cells faster. in 8 years the battery will not have a very bad energy retention.
The battery on the skywell is also expensive $10000 USD to replace.