The Jaecoo E5 Electric Car Lease is live - should you (or the business) be maintaining it?

Should you opt for maintenance for our new live Jaecoo electric car lease deal?

We have perhaps already covered quite comprehensively the enthusiasm of Chinese and Far-East car manufacturers for the UK’s EV leasing market. While the new Jaecoo will be covered shortly, we wanted to discuss an ongoing topic surrounding the maintenance of BEVs, especially when you consider there are new and unfamiliar brands.

This will become even more topical as the percentage of electric vehicles continues to increase. With more public and political power pushing this transition, the increase is expected to be a rapid one. Whether it gets to the 80% ambitions by 2030 is another story.

However, that hasn’t curbed Government funding, with their latest innovative fund now coming to fruition. In an effort to boost R&D in the UK, the Government will match the £15 million investment by Toyota into cutting-edge projects which will boost zero-emission strategies.

The funding will include a series of innovation projects, like the integration of a solar roof in EVs, advanced connectivity for smart urban integration and for lightweight (but sustainable) building materials.

Working with Universities and other private enterprises, the project will include a number of different types of electric vehicles which only serves to improve the quality and variety of solutions coming to UK customers. For more information on the new £30 million UK Government investment .

On the topic of vehicle and building improvements, we have questions around vehicle servicing and maintenance which links with this. When you lease a new car (at this point we separate our amazing Used electric car scheme -  the vehicle will either be brand-new or nearly new.

On the latter, this is because the vehicle has been pre-registered. This shouldn’t cause any concern or issue; nobody has been driving the vehicle, it has simply been at the port or dealership awaiting delivery.

This is common in the contract hire industry, as many of the bigger discounts and deals arise in cases where bigger numbers of vehicles are registered at the same time. So long as the vehicle is no more than 90 days old, it can be delivered to a lease customer on a personal or business contract.

Reviewing our new Jaecoo E5 Electric Car Lease

In either case, the vehicle will arrive with a manufacturer warranty (or the balance thereof) and will only need an MOT on its 3rd anniversary of the registration. Taking the new Jaecoo E5 as the example, the vehicle will come with a 7 year / 100,000 mile warranty (whichever arrives first) and an unlimited mileage warranty in the first 3 years. For the battery, the vehicle arrives with an 8 year / 100,000 mile warranty. So, does this cover you for everything?

Well, not quite. A warranty is very much about issues or defects on the EV through no fault of your own being covered by the manufacturer. In actual practice, if this did arise you would speak to your local Jaecoo dealership and arrange for an inspection and resolution.

So long as this is not a driver error or abuse, the issue will be rectified by the service centre. However, for your regular servicing, maintenance and tyre obligations, this is where the concept of maintenance arises. For the new E5 you must service the vehicle every 12 months or 10,000 miles (whichever lands sooner).

This would necessitate taking the vehicle to a franchised dealership, or service centre using genuine parts, at the right intervals. This is not only ensuring the car will operate properly but this also ensures your warranty is sustained. While it is true that EVs are cheaper to service and maintain, there is a corresponding cost to consider within your Whole of Cost appraisal.

When you land on e-car lease you will see this is a question we ask you - do you want to receive a quote for this provision to be included? In simple terms, you either undertake to service and maintain the vehicle yourself (driver-maintained) or have this cost included within the terms of the contract (funder-maintained).

If you choose the former, then you arrange the servicing in conjunction with the stipulations of the manufacturer and the finance company. For the latter, some of our finance companies expect you to go to a franchised dealership for every service whereas others allow you to service outside the network. In the latter, when you include the package, you or the employee (driver) will contact the finance company to arrange this obligation and they administrate the next steps.

All costs except for a replacement windscreen are included too. In addition, for a package which includes tyres, the finance company will replace any worn tyres and fix / replace any tyres impacted by a puncture. A maintenance package in a lease agreement is different to the service package offered by a dealership. In most cases, breakdown recovery is included within the maintenance package.

While this is a question of cost, you do have to factor into this the obvious - whether you include the maintenance element within the provisions of the lease or not, you are still going to be paying for it.

For personal and business lease customers, the considerations are the same. Where we ask our customers to consider it more deeply is for those more risk-averse customers, who do not want hidden costs or who need the support of the finance company.

With newer brands, like Jaecoo, still relatively unknown having the support and comfort of the finance company is important. Even more so if there is a smaller dealer network. Also, if you run over the warranty for the time or the mileage, do you really want to operate a vehicle without the underpinning of the funder?

For the brand-new Jaecoo 5 electric SUV this is now on the e-car lease website at - The new electric SUV will launch in 2 specifications including:

•  Pure- from £27,505 this includes 18” alloys, silent glass, driver/passenger 6-way adjustable seat, 13.2” centre LCD display, wireless CarPlay, 540-degree panoramic camera, 6-speaker audio system, adaptive cruise control, front/rear parking sensors, lane departure warning, rear view camera, front collision warning, 8” driver LCD cluster, sat nav, OTA functionality, electrically adjustable/heated/folding door mirrors, dual zone air conditioning and keyless start; and

•  Luxury- from £30,505 this adds LED headlights, powered trunk door, electric driver and passenger seats, heated and ventilated driver/passenger seats, panoramic sun glass roof, SONY 8 speaker system and multi-coloured ambient lighting.

How will the new electric Jaecoo 5 electric perform?

As per below:

• 5 EV - this FWD car has a usable battery of 61.0 kWh which offers 150 kW (201hp), top speeds of 108 mph and 0-62 times of 7.7 seconds. Real-world ranges suggest a combined 175 miles in colder weather with warmer temperatures to allow for 235 miles (on a full charge) - combined overall at 205 miles. The 11kW AC allows for 0-100% charging times of 6 hours and 45 minutes with the 80 kW DC enabling 10-80% in 45 minutes. It has a 136 mpg equivalent, 480L cargo volume but cannot tow. There is no heat pump on this EV. There is no Bidirectional charging

Need more help and advice on your new Jaecoo EV or maintaining your vehicles?

Just get in touch with our expert team on 01942 910 001 or by emailing us at [email protected]

Browse our Jaecoo 5 Deals