Budget-themed products’ integrity remind that choosing a more affordable electric vehicle doesn’t have to mean compromising on safety, ANCAP says.

STRONG safety ratings have been provided by the national auditor to two budget buyer-aimed electric cars from China selling here.

ANCAP, full name Australasian New Car Assessment Programme, has determined the Geely EX2 (top) and Leapmotor B05 (directly above) are worthy of five star scores.

The NZ-funded organisation, which crash tests in Australia and also adopts results from sister assessor European NCAP, says in offering consumers a broad range of standard safety features, good levels of crash protection, and well-rounded crash avoidance, the models put established manufacturers on notice in a rapidly expanding new car market.

What’s also relevant is that the cars were put through ANCAP’s more comprehensive Stages of Safety assessment criteria, introduced this year to keep pace with changing vehicle technology and the evolving safety challenges faced by drivers and other road users.

Aside from these cars, the only other product to be assessed this year to that newest criteria is the BMW iX3, which also came out well.

In comment shared to media, ANCAP chief executive officer Carla Hoorweg said: “These results show that choosing a more affordable electric vehicle doesn’t have to mean compromising on safety.

“The Leapmotor B05 and Geely EX2 have got the fundamentals right, delivering good crash protection, effective crash avoidance technology and important safety features as standard.”

The Leapmotor, which sells in $43,990 Life and $47,990 Design formats, delivered a strong 'crash avoidance’ performance, with its lane departure collision prevention system scoring close to full points and its autonomous emergency braking system performing well across a broad range of scenarios.

Some of ANCAP’s new low-speed ‘start-from-stop’ scenarios – including those designed to address pedal misapplication and driveway run-over risks – remain areas for further development, it said.

ANCAP also pointed to impressive results for the foundational assessment area of ‘crash protection’, where it achieved a 92 percent outcome.

ANCAP assessments from 2026 factor in the level of protection a vehicle provides to occupants of a broader range of sizes and statures, with the B05 showing the benefits of a well-designed vehicle structure and restraints in minimising injury to large, small and mid-sized occupants across a range of test impact speeds, it said.

The car also did well in the 'post crash’ assessment.

“One of the post-crash features being encouraged by ANCAP is eCall, which allows a vehicle to automatically notify emergency responders of the location and severity of a crash.

“Through ANCAP’s encouragement, all B05 vehicles entering the AUS/NZ markets are equipped with eCall hardware which will support a fully-operational eCall function expected to be rolled out by Leapmotor in coming months. At that time, all existing and new B05 owners will gain access to this important emergency feature.”

In the ‘safe driving’ assessment area, the B05 demonstrated capability across a number of the new features now being assessed by ANCAP, while also highlighting opportunities for further development as these technologies mature.”

ANCAP said the EX2, which kicks in from $32,990, showed it can punch above its weight, achieving 79 percent for ‘safe driving.’

“Its occupant monitoring system can recognise incorrect seatbelt use – such as a driver using only the lap portion of the belt – and also can adjust restraints according to the stature of front-seat occupants. Its driver monitoring system performed strongly in detecting common forms of distraction.”

The EX2 demonstrated capable ‘crash avoidance’ performance, with its autonomous emergency braking and lane support systems performing well across the majority of tested scenarios.

Its lane support system was particularly effective in helping prevent collisions with oncoming and overtaking vehicles and motorcycles. Some of ANCAP’s newer low-speed scenarios proved more challenging, including turning across the path of another vehicle or motorcycle, reversing toward a pedestrian, and pedal misapplication, the organisation noted.

In respect to ‘crash protection’, the EX2 provided generally good protection across ANCAP’s frontal and side impact tests.

An elevated risk of leg injury was recorded for the driver in the frontal offset test and Geely was encouraged by ANCAP to identify improvements for future model upgrades.

“Importantly for other road users, the crash compatibility of the EX2 was impressive - likely owing to its smaller size and available frontal crush space due to the absence of a traditional internal combustion engine.”

In ‘post crash’ it demonstrated effective battery voltage isolation and post-crash fire risk management, while doors, seatbelt buckles and the tailgate remained operable following crash impact.

As is the case with the Leapmotor B05, eCall hardware is present in all EX2 vehicles from launch, with Geely expected to activate eCall functionality to all existing and newly-purchased vehicles within 12 months.

ANCAP safety ratings are now available for three models within the Geely stable – the EX2, EX5 and Starray EM-i.

It is assumed the score for the Starry includes a long-range flagship that has just become available in a single Inspire spec, priced at $52,990. It replaces the outgoing Inspire variant, with the existing $45,990 Complete grade to remain as the nameplate’s entry-level model.

The Inspire Extended Range drops the standard 18.4kWh battery pack for a larger 29.8kWh unit, which helps boost the mid-size SUV’s pure electric range by 53km to a cited 136km on the WLTP cycle.