Forthing, a new EV brand backed by Chinese automotive giant Dongfeng, in June announced pricing and specs of its first model in Australia, the Forthing EV, starting at a driveaway price of under $39,000.
Forthing, one of a number of new brands entering Australia’s surging EV market, and its first offering is set to compete with existing popular models such as the Jaecoo J5 and the Geely EX5.
The Forthing EV comes in two variants – $38,990 for the BEV Luxury versions and $42,490 for the top-spec BEV Exclusive, which offers panoramic opening glass roof, 360‑degree camera, wireless phone charger, electric tailgate and an upgraded 6-speaker sound system.
Both variants of the Forthing Electric are rated with 427 km of range, thanks to a common 64.4 kWh battery pack which can be charged from 30-80% in around 30 minutes.
Image: Riz Akhtar
My first impression of the car from the outside was its sharp front and mid-sized SUV styling. The sandstone paint was a bit of a standout as not too many cars in this pricepoint offer that.
The car has conventional door handles and a good ride height, and one thing that caught my eye early on was the build quality of the Forthing EV. It looked and felt solid, and had a reasonable amount of legroom in the driver and passenger seats, and in the rear.
Boot space was reasonable too, given the segment and this model coming in at 4.6 metres in length. We had a couple of bags in the back, and they fitted just fine.
Image: Riz Akhtar
Surprisingly, it also comes with a temporary spare tyre in the Exclusive variant, making it one of the only new EVs on the market to offer this. This will give owners a lot of confidence when taking it on road trips but as mentioned, will be $3,500 over the base variant.
There is a button to get the car started, and you can put the car into drive using the centre console gear shifter, which could be ideal for those moving into their first EV from a traditional ICE car.
From there, the car had good all-around visibility. Driving on Sydney’s roads was easy, and the car felt fairly well planted on the roads during peak-hour traffic and in suburban driving we did later in the day. The regenerative braking was also set a bit lower than expected but many moving from an ICE vehicle would feel it similar to an automatic transmission.
On outer-suburban roads, the Forthing Electric felt quite composed, with good suspension, although the exit from some corners did produce a slight wobble. The ADAS system wasn’t intrusive, as is the case in some other cars. The Wireless Apple CarPlay worked seamlessly without any disconnections.
After driving the car for just under 2 hours, the Forthing Electric’s average consumption was 17.2 kWh/100 km. This is expected given the sweepy, moderate-to-high-speed city and suburban roads we spent quite a bit of time on during the drive program.
A 7-years/200,000 km warranty on the car is offered while the battery is backed by 8-years/200,000 km warranty. Servicing intervals are set at 12 months/20,000 km for the EV models in the range.
Image: Riz Akhtar
Servicing prices also come in at $935 across 3-years while 5 year total woud be set at $1,815 if maintaining the servicing interval frequency.
All in all, the time I spent in the car gave me a solid impression of a family SUV that is well-built and comes in at an affordable price.
MY26 Forthing EV Luxury standard equipment includes:
Autonomous emergency braking
Lane departure warning
Lane keep assist
Front and rear collision warning
Rear cross-traffic alert
Blind zone warning
Door exit warning
Adaptive cruise control
Traffic sign recognition
Six airbags (front, side and ‘curtain’)
Bi-LED headlights
Rear parking sensors
Tyre pressure monitors
Height and reach adjustable steering wheel
Illuminated steering wheel controls
Four one-touch auto-up and auto-down power windows
FM/AM and digital radio
Wireless Apple CarPlay and Android Auto
14.6-inch infotainment screen
8.8-inch driver information display
10-way electric adjustment for the driver seat
Ventilation and massage functions for the driver seat
4-way electric adjustment for front passenger seat
Electric park brake
Crystal-style gear selector
Remote central locking
Rear-view camera
Dusk-sensing ‘automatic’ headlights
Scrolling rear indicators
Rear window wiper
Heated side mirrors
Imitation leather upholstery
MY26 Forthing EV Exclusive adds as standard:
Power tailgate
Front parking sensors
Rear privacy glass
Power folding side mirrors
Wireless phone charger
Leather steering wheel
360-degree ‘panorama’ view camera
Panoramic glass sunroof above both rows of seats
Sunroof opens above front seats
Six-speaker audio (instead of four)
MY26 Forthing EV technical information:
Propulsion: Permanent magnet synchronous electric motor
Output: 150kW/340Nm
Driven wheels: Front
Driving range (WLTP): Up to 427km
Battery type: Lithium-ion phosphate
Battery capacity: 64kWh
Vehicle-to-load (V2L) capacity: 3.5kW
DC peak charging capacity: 80kW
DC fast-charging time (30 per cent to 80 per cent): Approximately 30 minutes
Steering: Electric power steering
Park brake: Electric, with hill-hold assist
Wheels: 19-inch alloys
Tyres: 235/55/R19
Spare tyre: Space saver (Exclusive only)
Vehicle length: 4600mm
Vehicle height: 1680mm
Vehicle width (body only): 1860mm
Wheelbase: 2715mm
Kerb weight: 1920kg
Riz is the founder of carloop based in Melbourne, specialising in Australian EV data, insight reports and trends. He is a mechanical engineer who spent the first 7 years of his career building transport infrastructure before starting carloop. He has a passion for cars, particularly EVs and wants to help reduce transport emissions in Australia. He currently drives a red Tesla Model 3.