On one sunny Saturday in October, our roof put 22 kWh into a GWM Ora 5, and the house sent almost nothing to the grid. The car joined the house behind this channel in mid-July and has now done 3,000 km. This is a short-term review: what it's like to live with, what it really uses, how a home DC charger got past a 6 kW inverter limit, and where its energy actually came from. It's first impressions with real numbers, not a long-term verdict.
Nobody lent us the car, and nobody paid for this review. Our car and data are from New Zealand, from winter into spring. Prices shown are Australian drive-away prices (with NZ prices alongside).
The short version
- It's comfortable, well equipped and easy to live with. We'd buy it again.
- It uses 16 kWh per 100 km on the trip computer, close to the official 15.5, without driving for economy.
- 100% isn't really 100%: a dealer update made the range estimate more accurate.
- A DC home charger beats the inverter limit. From a 6 kW inverter, the car has charged at 9.8 kW from sun and house battery, with no grid import.
- On a sunny Saturday, 22 of the day's 38 kWh of solar went into the car, and 99% of the solar was used at home.
- Over two weeks in October, the car's energy was about half solar, a seventh house battery and a third grid, and summer is still ahead.
- Three things annoy us, none of them deal-breakers.
- Price: A$33,990 (Lux) or A$36,990 (Ultra) drive-away in Australia; in NZ, NZ$36,990 or NZ$39,990 plus on-road costs.
- Lux or Ultra? For A$3,000 more, the Ultra is hard to pass up.
- Against its rivals, it beat the MG4 Urban, Jaecoo J5 and BYD Atto 3 on comfort and interior, for us.
- No wall charger needed for many people: a normal power point puts back 40 km in about 3 hours.
- It isn't yet rated by ANCAP. The five-star rating you'll find online is for the older Ora hatch.
The car
The Ora 5 is a small electric SUV from Great Wall Motor (GWM). It went on sale in Australia and New Zealand in 2026, with deliveries from June. There are two grades: the Lux at A$33,990 drive-away and the Ultra at A$36,990 (in NZ: NZ$36,990 and NZ$39,990 plus on-road costs). Ours is an Ultra in Pepper White with the dark interior.
Both grades share:
- a 58.3 kWh LFP (lithium iron phosphate) battery;
- a single 150 kW front motor;
- an official range of 430–435 km (WLTC);
- DC fast charging at up to 120 kW, about 30 minutes for 10–80%;
- vehicle-to-load at up to 6 kW, so the car can run appliances (the adapter is extra).
What you get
- Size: about 4.5 m long, with a 2.72 m wheelbase, so there's more room inside than you'd expect.
- Screens: a 10.25-inch driver display and a 14.6-inch touchscreen. Most settings live in the touchscreen, which takes some learning.
- Back seat: fine for two adults or a couple of teenagers, with an air vent and a USB-C port.
- Boot: 362 L, on the small side, with a space-saver spare under the floor, which is rare in an EV.
- On the road:
- it's quiet, noticeably quieter at highway speed than petrol cars at this price; - the suspension was tuned in Australia. Some reviewers find the ride firm; we find it smooth and comfortable; - there are four drive modes (Eco, Normal, City, Sport), and a few regen levels set through the screen.
- Build quality: after 3,000 km, no squeaks, rattles or wear.
It has done 3,000 km since mid-July: about 40 km a day on weekdays, mixed highway and town, plus weekends and a few trips of around 120 km.
What we like
- The looks. Plenty of new EVs have the same flat nose and thin strip of headlight. The Ora has round lamps and curves over the wheels. It's a bit retro, and it's grown on us.
- Comfort. The ride is smooth, the driving position is good, and the Ultra's seats are heated and ventilated. With the battery low in the floor, it feels planted in strong crosswinds.
- Easy to drive. There's some go when you want it, and the regenerative braking slows the car when you lift off, so town driving needs very little brake.
- The tech that matters works. Wireless Android Auto has been reliable. The wireless phone pad has its own cooling airflow. There are physical buttons for the important things, and some steering-wheel buttons can be customised.
- The 360-degree camera makes parking easy.
- The sound system is better than we expected at this price.
- The safety alerts are about right: present, but not nagging.
- The app can warm the car and clear the windscreen and side mirrors before you leave. On cold mornings, that's fantastic.
- A spare wheel (a space-saver). A lot of EVs only come with a puncture kit, and outside the city a spare matters.
Three things that annoy us
- The 360-degree camera switches off too early when you drive forwards into a parking space, just when you want it. A steering-wheel button brings it back.
- The front wipers won't lift off the glass for cleaning until you put them in service mode from the screen. It's in the manual.
- The parcel shelf doesn't lift when you open the boot, which makes loading anything big a juggle.
What it really uses
The trip computer shows an average of 16 kWh per 100 km since new, close to the official 15.5. And that's without driving for economy:
- Learning the regen: a lot of those kilometres were spent getting used to it. Coming from petrol cars, it takes a while to lift off early and let the car slow itself, putting energy back into the battery.
- Enjoying the go: the 150 kW motor has been used a little more than strictly necessary.
We'd expect the figure to come down.
Range: 58 kWh ÷ 16 kWh × 100 km ≈ 360 km from full to empty. Nobody runs it to zero, so think of about 300 km of comfortable driving, more in town and less on the highway in winter.
Why 100% isn't really 100%. When the car was new, the range on the dash was optimistic, and a software update at the dealer fixed it. We don't know for sure, but we suspect the old estimate counted the whole battery, including the part you're never shown.
- Hidden reserves: EVs keep some capacity back at the top and the bottom to protect the battery, so the total battery is usually a bit bigger than the figure you're given.
- The 58 kWh: GWM doesn't say whether 58.3 kWh is usable or total. It's most likely what you get to use.
Do you need a wall charger?
For a lot of people, no. The Ora 5 comes with a portable charger that plugs into a normal power point.
- Power point (10 A, about 2.3 kW): slow, so empty to full takes around a day (AEVA quotes about 20 hours). But 40 km of driving uses about 6.4 kWh, which is about 3 hours. Plug in when you get home, and it's topped up long before morning.
- Wall charger: the Ora takes up to 6.6 kW on AC, so about 9 hours from nearly empty, or about an hour per 40 km.
Tips for the portable charger:
- Cable too short? Buy a longer portable charger; they're available up to about 15 m.
- Don't use an extension lead. Most aren't made to run at full load for hours, and that's how plugs and leads overheat.
- Outdoors, the plug and socket need to be rated for rain.
How a 6 kW inverter charged the car at nearly 10 kW
Solar panels make DC power, and a car battery stores DC. The house runs on AC, and the inverter is the bridge between them.
- Our inverter is a 6 kW Sigenergy hybrid. Its datasheet gives 6 kW nominal and 6.6 kVA maximum output, so anything passing through it is limited to about 6 kW, with short peaks a little higher.
- A normal home charger is AC. Its power has already come through the inverter, so it can't get more than about 6 kW here, minus whatever the house is using. And the Ora's own AC charger tops out at 6.6 kW anyway.
- A DC charger sits on the DC side, with the panels and the house battery. Ours is Sigenergy's 12.5 kW EV DC charging module. It connects on the other side of the inverter, so it can take everything the panels are making, even when that's more than the inverter could pass on (it's allowed up to 12 kW of panels, twice its AC rating). It can add the house battery on top, and grid power if wanted. It also skips the car's onboard AC charger. The only real limit is the charger's own 12.5 kW.
Our own data shows the difference:
- On a sunny Saturday (10 October), sun and house battery together pushed 9.8 kW into the car, with no grid import. We've seen about 11 kW on another day, close to the charger's own 12.5 kW limit.
- When the car charged from the grid overnight, that power had to come through the inverter. It averaged about 6.2 kW (19.3 kWh in just over three hours).
Two catches:
- A DC home charger costs more than a normal AC wall charger, and it only makes sense with a matching solar and battery system.
- Battery boost only helps when the house battery has charge to spare. Otherwise, you're just moving tonight's power into the car, with a little loss on the way.
For how long a normal charger takes, see how long it takes to charge an EV at home. And if kW and kWh blur together, start with kW vs kWh.
Where the energy came from
One sunny Saturday (17 October). The car was plugged in from 9:43 am to 3:48 pm.
- Solar: the panels made 38.0 kWh, and 22.0 kWh went into the car.
- Self-use: the house used 99% of its solar and exported just 0.29 kWh.
- Grid: 97% of everything the house and the car needed came without it.
That's the usual routine: one big charge on a sunny weekend, and the odd small top-up in the evening.
It isn't all sunshine. Over two weeks in October (5–18 October, 85 kWh), the car's energy was:
- 52% solar, straight from the panels;
- 14% house battery;
- 33% grid. That was two overnight charges, topping up before longer trips.
And it's only spring. The solar forecast for the week after that Saturday was 47–48 kWh a day, against 38 kWh on the day itself. Heading into summer, the sun's share should grow, and the long-term review will show whether it does.
The screens on this page come from a free app being built by the creators of this channel. It reads a Sigenergy system over Modbus, and it will be on GitHub for anyone to use.
If you're weighing up a home battery, see whether a home battery is worth it.
Software, safety and the rest
- Software: GWM's own Coffee OS.
- In three months: one update over the air, and one at the dealer (the range-accuracy fix). - Both were painless, but on a new model, expect a few updates in the first year.
- Fast charging: so far, only quick top-ups, like ten minutes while nipping into a service station for a drink. We've seen it go above 100 kW, close to the official 120 kW.
- Safety: seven airbags, autonomous emergency braking, adaptive cruise, lane-keeping and blind-spot monitoring.
- As of October 2026, the Ora 5 hasn't been rated by ANCAP. - The 2023 five-star rating covers the earlier Ora hatch, not this car. Check ANCAP for updates.
- Warranty and servicing: 7 years on the car and 8 on the battery, both with unlimited kilometres. In Australia, servicing is capped at A$195 a visit, every 12 months or 15,000 km.
- Dealers and resale: GWM had 127 dealers in Australia as of June 2026. Resale value is the real unknown: it's a new model from a newer brand.
- Vehicle-to-load: up to 6 kW. We haven't bought the adapter yet, so that's for the long-term review.
What else we test drove
Before buying, we test drove three rivals:
- MG4 Urban (from A$31,990 drive-away, 43 or 54 kWh). It's good, and there's a lot to like for the money, but it just didn't feel as nice to drive.
- Jaecoo J5 EV (A$36,990 drive-away as a launch offer, 58.9 kWh, 402 km). Close on price and battery, but to our eyes the front end looks like flat, cheap plastic trim, and the bonnet didn't look right. Looks are personal, but you see it every day.
- BYD Atto 3 (the new Evo is from A$41,990 plus on-road costs). We preferred the Ora's interior and found the Ora more comfortable.
The Ora won on comfort, the interior and how it drives. The one thing we'd change: we'd have loved it in green, but there were none in stock without a wait.
Verdict
After three months, we'd buy it again.
- The car: for about A$37,000 (NZ$39,990 plus on-road costs in NZ), the Ultra is comfortable, well equipped, quiet and easy to live with.
- Charging: it's efficient, and if you can charge at home, especially from solar, it fits easily around a normal week.
- Longer trips are fine. With about 300 km of comfortable range, you might plan a coffee stop and a top-up on the way. A fast charger takes about 30 minutes for 10–80%, and a top-up is usually less.
- Think twice if you:
- need a crash-test rating today; - need a big boot.
- Lux or Ultra? For A$3,000 more (NZ$3,000 in NZ), the Ultra's extras are hard to pass up. Even though we rarely open the sunroof ourselves, we'd find it hard to recommend the Lux over the Ultra.
We'll be back at around 10,000 km with efficiency through summer, the charging data and anything that's gone wrong. For a shorter, EV-focused take, see the Ora 5 review on Sweet Commute.
Sources
- GWM Australia: Ora 5 pricing, specifications, warranty and servicing.
- GWM New Zealand pricing, via Ingham Driven (13 April 2026) and Autofile (June 2026): Lux NZ$36,990, Ultra NZ$39,990, plus on-road costs.
- The Driven, GWM Ora 5 first drive, 9 July 2026: battery, motor, DC charging, V2L.
- Chasing Cars, GWM Ora 5 unveiled: 120 kW DC peak.
- CarExpert, 2026 GWM Ora 5 quick drive review: screens, cabin, drive modes, Lux vs Ultra equipment.
- Chasing Cars, GWM Ora 5 2026 review: rear seat, spare wheel, 6.6 kW AC charging.
- CarExpert, 2027 GWM Ora 5 Ultra long-term review introduction, October 2026: specs, servicing, ANCAP status.
- ANCAP, 2023 rating for the GWM Ora (the earlier hatch, not the Ora 5).
- Rivals: The Beep, MG4 Urban pricing; Zecar, Jaecoo J5 EV; RACV, BYD Atto 3 Evo.
- AEVA Ora 5 fact sheet: home charging times.
- Sigenergy, Sigen Energy Controller 3–12 kW single-phase datasheet: 6 kW nominal, 6.6 kVA maximum, up to 12 kW of PV.
- Sigenergy, EV DC Charging Module datasheet.
- Solar forecast: Solcast, via our app.
- Our own data: trip computer and our app, New Zealand, mid-July to mid-October 2026.
Photos of our car, diagrams and app screenshots: The Electric Shed. Other photos: Wikimedia Commons, credited under each image.