This £36K, 300+ Mile EV Has a WHAT?!

TL;DR

The £36K GAC Aion V surprises with a built-in fridge/freezer/heater in its center console, alongside 317-mile range and 180kW DC charging.

Key Points

• 1.The GAC Aion V starts at £36,450 in the UK and offers exceptional value. Ion Auto UK spent a year British-proofing it, recalibrating the suspension for UK roads — a setup GAC is now adopting as the European standard.
• 2.Its 75.26 kWh LFP battery delivers 510 km (317 miles) of WLTP range. It supports 11 kW AC charging and 180 kW DC fast charging, which the reviewers note is ahead of competitors at this price point.
• 3.The headline feature is a built-in fridge, freezer, AND heater in the rear center console. Only available on the top luxury spec, it kept ice cream frozen on a 2-hour Sydney trip — though it cannot fit a standard wine bottle.
• 4.The GAC Aion V is made by Guangzhou Automobile Company, a major Chinese state-owned brand. Known as the 'Chinese Toyota,' GAC builds Toyota's EVs for the domestic market and regularly appears in China's top-five best-selling car rankings.
• 5.The ADAS system is the car's biggest weakness, with loud, frequent and intrusive voice warnings. Alerts trigger for 1 km/h over the speed limit, school zones, and merging traffic, with no quick shortcut to disable them — requiring menu navigation while driving.
• 6.Practical highlights include space for a spare tyre under the boot floor and a powered tailgate. However, negatives include excessive piano black trim, a single USB-A rear port, no frunk, no glovebox, and a tray table behind only one rear seat.