Skywell BE11 review: An electric SUV with lots of space, but little else

Another new car brand that might need some explaining, Skywell comes from the Chinese city of Nanjing and is the automotive offshoot of consumer electronics giant Skyworth, which you might have heard of.

The all-electric BE11 is its first offering in the UK, set to be followed by the Q hatchback and a van some time in 2025. And currently it’s selling through seven UK dealers, although that’s expected to grow rapidly.

As for the car, it’s a 4,720mm long SUV – that’s Audi Q5 size – with interior quality not a million miles away from Audi. But where the Audi starts at over £50,000, this Skywell starts at £36,995.

There’s more space inside the Skywell than you’d get in the Audi Q5 – or something else electric like a Skoda Enyaq – and you get some luxury kit like a panoramic sunroof, powered seats and tailgate, and standard metallic paint.

Efficiency wasn’t great on our trips, but even more of an issue was the fidgety ride, lifeless steering, lack of grip from the Giti tyres and the dreadful infotainment system that promised (but didn’t deliver) Apple CarPlay connectivity. There’s also some safety systems found on rivals that are missing on the Skywell.

We spent a week in the Skywell BE11 driving around the south of England and the Midlands. We covered long motorway journeys, family drop-offs and used it as our main family car.

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Independent rating: 5/10

There are only two models of Skyworth BE11 to choose from with the same level of kit on both. For £36,995 you can have the Standard Range with a 72kWh battery for a claimed maximum of 248 miles’ range, while for £39,995 you get an 86kWh battery with a claimed maximum range of 304 miles.

We weren’t hugely impressed by the efficiency of the car on the motorway, with the claimed range dropping much quicker than the miles passed on a 200-mile journey from the outskirts of London to the Midlands – we got home with a few miles to spare. Things were better around town, though.

Thankfully, we didn’t need to stop on the motorway for a fast charge because fast charging in the Skywell isn’t very fast – it maxes out at 80kW on a fast DC charger, meaning a 20 to 70 per cent charge would take either 36 or 45 minutes depending on which battery you went for.

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Performance isn’t especially swift either with 0-62mph taking 9.6 seconds. More of a problem on slightly cold or damp roads is getting the power down if you’re trying to nip out of a junction – the Giti tyres will struggle for grip bringing a surprising amount of old-school wheelspin before the traction control eventually cuts in.

Compared with a Skoda Enyaq, the ride is constantly fidgeting and will jolt you over the worst surfaces. There’s also more road noise – much of it due to those Giti tyres – than you’d get in the Skoda. The steering is overly light, too, even at parking speeds; you might as well have a joystick as a wheel for all the feedback the steering gives you.

You’ll struggle to get more space in a car for this money than you will in a Skywell – it’s truly cavernous inside. Cabbies (and their passengers) will love it. Even the tallest of people will be able to sit behind the tallest of drivers, while there’s plenty of headroom despite the full-length panoramic roof. The doors open nice and wide if you’re fitting kids into child seats in the back, while the view out (and up) is good, too.

The boot’s big, offering 467 litres of room – enough for a few cases on the airport run – and it’s all hidden behind a powered tailgate. The front seats are also powered, although there’s no heating – a bit surprising at this price, highlighting a strange mix of generous and surprisingly absent on the kit list.

There’s reasonable stowage space around the cabin, too, with decent-sized door bins, a couple of cup holders and some space under the centre console.

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Step into the Skywell BE11 and you’ll be greeted by a lovely-looking 12.8-inch touchscreen and a smart 12.3-inch driver display. Hit the start button (there’s keyless entry and start), the infotainment screen fires into life, and your problems start.

Despite claiming to have Apple CarPlay when you delve into the menus, it’s not there. Android Auto is, but not Apple CarPlay. Apparently, it’s a £200 dealer-fit option. Surely not?

If you’re an Apple user, there’s not even an on-board navigation system to rely on, while trying to listen to the radio via DAB is patchy and you keep getting asked to connect to a dongle that’s obviously hidden away somewhere. We struggled to get decent heat into the car with the air-con on, and the whole system is nowhere near as intuitive to use as rivals’ infotainment systems. It’s a surprise and a disappointment for a firm that also makes consumer electronics.

The standard kit list has some welcome features – like the panoramic sunroof and LED headlights – but there are no heated seats. We couldn’t find many of the safety systems you get in other EVs, either. It’ll be interesting to see what safety organisation Euro NCAP makes of that.

There’s no denying that the Skywell BE11 offers excellent space and decent quality for the cash, but the more expensive Long Range model costs five pounds more than a Tesla Model 3 and doesn’t go as far on a charge.

We weren’t that impressed by the motorway efficiency of the BE11, although it did seem much better around town. On the plus side, Skywell folk have told us that initial residual values are as strong as those of rivals, so we’d expect to see competitive finance deals on offer.

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The Skywell BE11 has a maximum charging speed of 80kW on a fast DC charger, so a 20 to 70 per cent charge would take either 36 or 45 minutes depending on battery.

The Standard Range BE11 costs £36,995 while the Long Range model costs £5 more than a Tesla Model 3 at £39,995. Unless you really need the space on offer – which is class leading – we’d look elsewhere.

The BE11 comes with an impressive seven-year, 100,000-mile warranty, matching what Kia offers. On the battery, Skywell offers cover for eight years or 155,000 miles.

You’ll struggle to get as much space and such a quality look and feel for this sort of money elsewhere. But the ride is fidgety, the steering overly light, the infotainment just plain poor and key safety kit is missing.