Key Insights

The electric Jaecoo E5 offers up to 248 miles of WLTP range from a 61.1kWh battery, with prices starting at £27,505 on the road.
Pure-electric Benefit-in-Kind sits at 4% for the 2026/27 tax year, which keeps the net monthly cost of an E5 on salary sacrifice well below a comparable petrol SUV.
The Jaecoo E5 was one of the most-ordered cars on The Electric Car Scheme in Q4 2025, within months of its UK launch.
The Electric Car Scheme funds new and used EVs through a salary sacrifice scheme that saves UK employees 20-50%, and is rated 4.9/5 on Trustpilot from more than 1,000 verified reviews.

The Jaecoo 5 is one of the new Chinese SUVs the UK has started Googling in large numbers, and most searchers arrive with the same question: is it electric, and what does it cost to run? The short answer is that the fully electric version, badged the Jaecoo E5, offers around 248 miles of range, starts at £27,505 on the road, and is available through an electric car salary sacrifice scheme from roughly £323 a month at a 4% Benefit-in-Kind rate for 2026/27. That tax treatment is what turns a budget electric SUV into one of the cheapest ways to drive a brand-new car in Britain.

There is one naming point to clear up first, because it trips up almost everyone. The “Jaecoo 5” name covers a petrol and hybrid SUV in some markets, while the car that matters for salary sacrifice is the all-electric Jaecoo E5. This review focuses on the electric E5: its range, its specification, what it costs per month, and how it stacks up against rivals like the Omoda E5, the MG4 and the BYD Dolphin.

Who makes the Jaecoo 5?

Jaecoo is one of two newer brands from Chery, the largest car exporter in China, sold in the UK alongside its sibling marque under the combined “Omoda & Jaecoo” retail network. Where Omoda aims at style-led buyers, Jaecoo is pitched as the more rugged, SUV-focused badge. The E5 is the brand’s first fully electric model in Britain and shares much of its underlying engineering with Jaecoo’s sibling brand Omoda, whose own E5 has already become a fixture on UK salary sacrifice schemes. Both sit within the wider wave of value-focused models covered in our guide to the best Chinese electric cars in the UK.

Specs and design

The Jaecoo E5 is a compact family SUV that majors on space and equipment for the money. It uses a 61.1kWh lithium-iron-phosphate (LFP) battery feeding a single front-mounted motor that produces 207PS and 288Nm of torque, enough for a 0-62mph time of 7.7 seconds. That is brisk rather than fast, which suits the car’s brief as a practical everyday SUV rather than a performance EV.

Practicality is the strong suit. The boot holds 480 litres with the rear seats up and expands to 1,180 litres folded, and Jaecoo quotes more than 35 interior storage spaces around the cabin. The car comes generously equipped even in entry trim, and ownership is backed by a 7-year/100,000-mile vehicle warranty plus a separate 8-year/100,000-mile battery warranty, which is reassuring on a brand still establishing itself in the UK.

Range and charging

The official WLTP range is up to 248 miles, which is competitive for the price and enough for the great majority of UK commutes and weekend trips. As with every EV, plan around a lower real-world figure: expect closer to 200 miles in mixed driving and less in cold weather or at sustained motorway speeds. For a household charging at home overnight, 248 miles of headline range comfortably covers a typical week between top-ups.

Charging is solid for the segment without leading it. The E5 accepts up to 80kW on a DC rapid charger, taking the battery from 30% to 80% in around 27 minutes, and supports 11kW AC charging for faster top-ups on a home or workplace charger. If you run an E5 on salary sacrifice, you can fold your electricity costs into the same arrangement through The Charge Scheme, cutting the cost of home, work and public charging by the same 20-50% that applies to the car.

Price and value

The Jaecoo E5 starts at £27,505 on the road in Pure trim and £30,505 in Luxury trim, which undercuts most established rivals while offering more standard kit. That low list price is the foundation of the salary sacrifice case, because the cheaper the car, the smaller the slice of gross salary you give up each month.

On The Electric Car Scheme the E5 is available from around £323 a month, with the exact figure depending on your salary, term and mileage. The reason it costs so much less than the equivalent personal lease is the tax treatment. When you salary sacrifice the Jaecoo E5, you give up an agreed amount of gross pay in exchange for the car, so Income Tax and National Insurance are calculated on your reduced salary. That is what produces the 20-50% saving UK employees see against funding the same car privately.

Take the Luxury model at a £30,505 list value as a worked example for the 2026/27 tax year. The only company-car tax you pay is Benefit-in-Kind at 4%, which is £1,220 of taxable value a year. For a basic-rate employee that is about £244 a year, or roughly £20 a month; for a higher-rate employee it is around £488 a year, or about £41 a month. Set that tiny tax bill against a comparable petrol SUV, where company-car tax can run to a third of a higher list price, and the gap is obvious. Anyone quoting a saving above 50% is folding employer National Insurance savings into the headline, which is money the employer keeps rather than the driver. The honest figure on a UK payslip is 20-50%, and you can see the exact monthly cost by running a quote for your own salary.

Can you salary sacrifice the Jaecoo E5?

Yes. The E5 is a pure-electric car, so it qualifies in full for salary sacrifice at the 4% Benefit-in-Kind rate for 2026/27. The monthly payment is all-inclusive: it wraps in insurance, servicing, maintenance, tyres and breakdown cover, so the figure you agree is close to the only motoring cost you carry beyond charging.

The bigger reassurance for both employees and employers is Complete Employer Protection from Day 1. Most providers in the UK market exclude the first three months of a lease from their risk cover, which leaves an employer exposed if a driver resigns, is made redundant or goes on long-term sick leave early in the term. The Electric Car Scheme covers resignation, redundancy, dismissal, long-term illness, parental leave and vehicle damage from the day the car arrives, with no excess and no exclusion period. Cars are available new or used, and the scheme costs the employer nothing to set up.

The grant question

A common question on cheaper EVs is whether they qualify for the UK Electric Car Grant, and for the Jaecoo E5 the answer is no. The grant excludes cars built in China, which rules out the E5 and its Chinese-built rivals. That sounds like a drawback, but it matters less than it first appears: the grant is worth a fixed amount off the purchase price, whereas salary sacrifice saves a percentage of the whole cost of running the car for the entire term. For a full breakdown of why Chinese EVs don’t qualify for the Electric Car Grant and why salary sacrifice is the better route to a saving, see our dedicated guide.

How the Jaecoo E5 compares

The E5 lands in a crowded part of the market, up against its own sibling and the established value benchmarks from MG and BYD. The table below sets out the headline numbers; all prices are manufacturer on-the-road figures and range is official WLTP.

Model	Battery	WLTP range	Price from
Jaecoo E5	61.1kWh	Up to 248 miles	£27,505
Omoda E5	61kWh	Up to 257 miles	£33,055
MG4	51kWh	Up to 218 miles	£26,995
BYD Dolphin	60kWh	Up to 265 miles	£26,195

The MG4 and BYD Dolphin remain the value yardsticks of the segment and both have longer-range versions for buyers who cover bigger miles. The Omoda E5 is the closest match on size and feel, but it carries a noticeably higher entry price than its Jaecoo sibling. The Jaecoo E5’s pitch is space and equipment at the lowest entry price of the four, which is exactly what makes it work so well on salary sacrifice, where a low list price keeps the monthly cost down.

Verdict

The Jaecoo E5 is not the most exciting EV on sale, and it does not need to be. It is a roomy, well-equipped electric SUV with a sensible 248-mile range and a list price that undercuts almost everything in its class. The lack of an Electric Car Grant is a footnote rather than a flaw, because salary sacrifice delivers a far larger saving over the life of the car. For anyone who wants a brand-new electric family SUV for the lowest realistic monthly cost, the E5 is one of the strongest cases on the market right now.

Thom Groot, Co-founder and CEO of The Electric Car Scheme, puts it this way: “The Jaecoo E5 went from unknown to one of our most-ordered cars in a single quarter, which tells you everything about how fast the value end of the market is moving. It won’t get the UK Electric Car Grant because it’s built in China, but that misses the point. Through salary sacrifice, the 4% benefit-in-kind rate for 2026/27 delivers a far bigger saving than the grant ever would, on a well-equipped electric SUV most people hadn’t heard of a year ago.”

That demand is borne out in the numbers. The Electric Car Scheme is rated 4.9/5 on Trustpilot from more than 1,000 verified reviews, with 97% of customers recommending it, as set out in its EV salary sacrifice statistics report. It was named EV Salary Sacrifice Provider of the Year 2026 by SME News, is a certified B Corp, and funds any UK EV, new or used, through a multi-funder pricing engine that sources quotes from several leasing partners to keep the monthly figure competitive.

The bottom line

The Jaecoo E5 brings a genuinely affordable, practical electric SUV to a market that needed one, and salary sacrifice is the route that makes it cheapest of all. At 4% Benefit-in-Kind for 2026/27, a basic-rate driver pays around £20 a month in company-car tax on the Luxury model, and the all-inclusive payment covers insurance, maintenance and breakdown. To see the exact monthly cost for your salary, run an instant salary sacrifice quote, or browse the current EV deals to compare the E5 against other models on the scheme. A used electric car salary sacrifice can bring the figure down further again.

Frequently asked questions

Is the Jaecoo 5 electric? The Jaecoo 5 name covers petrol and hybrid versions in some markets, but the model sold on salary sacrifice in the UK is the fully electric Jaecoo E5, which has a 61.1kWh battery and up to 248 miles of range.

What’s the difference between the Jaecoo 5 and the E5? The “5” badge is used for the combustion-engined car, while the “E5” badge denotes the all-electric version. For salary sacrifice and the 4% Benefit-in-Kind rate, the relevant car is the electric Jaecoo E5.

What is the Jaecoo E5’s range? The Jaecoo E5 has an official WLTP range of up to 248 miles from its 61.1kWh battery. Expect closer to 200 miles in real-world mixed driving.

Can you salary sacrifice a Jaecoo E5? Yes. As a pure-electric car it qualifies in full at 4% Benefit-in-Kind for 2026/27. The Electric Car Scheme funds new and used examples from any UK funder, with Complete Employer Protection from Day 1.

Does the Jaecoo 5 qualify for the UK Electric Car Grant? No. The grant excludes cars built in China, so the Jaecoo E5 is not eligible. Salary sacrifice saves a percentage of the car’s whole running cost over the term, which works out as a larger saving than the grant.

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