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By Jonathan Crouch

Another premium Chinese brand, Skywell, offers us this BE11 mid-sized EV crossover. Jonathan Crouch takes a look.

Ten Second Reviewword count: 31

Skywell's BE11 offers yet another Chinese take on what a mid-sized SUV electric vehicle should be. Conservatively styled, luxuriously trimmed and competitively powered, it's an interesting addition to its over-crowded segment.

Backgroundword count: 182

Is there room for yet another Chinese EV brand in the British market? UK importer Innovation Automotive thinks there is and, having brought us Seres to compete at the affordable end of the electric segment, has also brought us the more up-market marque we look at here, Skywell. This brand was born back in 2017 as a joint venture between one of the world's largest consumer electronics groups, Skyworth, and electric bus maker Nanjing Golden Dragon. In this review, we'll look at Skywell's first UK offering, the mid-sized BE11 SUV. It'll be followed by a big, powerful super-luxury EV saloon, the Skyhome. The BE11's marketeers reckon that it 'sets a new standard for specification and pricing in the mid-sized e-SUV market'. That's quite a claim. The car has already been on sale in China for some time badged as the 'Skyworth EV6'. You can see why it's not badged 'EV6' here; the Kia of that name is one of the many well established existing mid-sized electric crossover contenders this BE11 must beat. Does it stand any sort of chance? Let's find out.

Driving Experienceword count: 299

There's a choice of two batteries, a base 72kWh unit or the longer-ranging 86kWh option you'll probably want. Both work only with a single front-mounted BYD-sourced electric motor; Skywell (disappointingly) has no plans for a dual motor AWD version of this car for our market. That would have hurt driving range of course, which even in the single motor model isn't exceptional, rated at 248 miles for the Standard Range 72kWh model and 304 miles for the Long Range 86kWh version. Either way, there's 201bhp and 320Nm of torque; and 62mph takes 9.6s en route to a very modest top speed of 93mph. Don't expect engaging handling, but few cars in this class offer that. Still, because the big batteries are mounted low down centrally in the chassis, there's a low centre of gravity, so the BE11 shouldn't lurch too much through the bends. Eco-moulded tyres won't do much for cornering traction, but of course you'll get the usual high standard of EV refinement, tempered only by wind and tyre roar. There are of course driving modes, with a 'Sport' setting that makes the steering heavier. You can separately configure the steering (via 'Standard', 'Comfort' and 'Sport' settings). And you can also separately configure the brake pedal, with 'Comfort' and 'Sport' options, the latter giving a more aggressive pedal with immediate braking force. Regenerative braking is offered - on a sliding scale from 0-100%, though you don't get steering wheel paddles to access the system. There's also a curiously named 'Worm' mode, which allows you to creep forward in heavy traffic without touching the accelerator. Despite the fact that this is theoretically an SUV, don't imagine that you could go anywhere very far on a rutted track in a BE11; just 159mm of ground clearance puts paid to that.

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