Skywell BE11 Review 2025

Yes, another Chinese brand you probably hadn't heard of before, tasked with tempting you away from more established marques thanks to a generous kit list and a low-ish price. Do those savings make this entrant worth having over the Skoda Enyaq? We don't think so. Find out why in our full Skywell BE11 review. 

If you're struggling to keep track of all the Chinese car brands emerging in the UK, we can empathise. After all, considering the splash Chery alone has made by bringing three to the table — so far — including its umbrella brand plus Jaecoo and Omoda, smaller players such as Skywell risk going unnoticed.

Skywho? Exactly. It started in 2017 as a joint venture between consumer electronics giant Skyworth and Nanjing Golden Dragon Bus, a manufacturer of electric public transport and other vehicles. Calling the resulting entity Nanjing Golden Dragon Car might have helped it stand out, but instead we have Skywell. 

Its first car launched in the UK is the Skywell BE11 is also perplexing. Does 'BE' stand for battery electric? And why the 11? Answers on a postcard to... 

The name is the least of this electric SUV's worries, though. Its driving range is underwhelming even with the larger of the two battery sizes available, while its disappointingly slow rapid-charging maximum speed is the sort of thing we usually associate with cheap city cars. Its boot capacity is nothing special, either. 

Not off to the best start on paper, but unfortunately it only gets worse when the Skywell BE11 is experienced in real life. Build quality isn't brilliant, the onboard technology is dated and it's not great to drive, counting a chronic lack of traction and a choppy ride among numerous issues. 

Its safety credentials are also unknown, with no Euro NCAP rating available. How well it could perform is open to debate but various driver assistance systems many new car buyers take for granted are conspicuous by their absence. 

You might expect the Skywell BE11 to claw back some ground when it comes to pricing and, in some ways, it does. Although its list price is only a little lower than where the likes of the Peugeot E-3008 and Skoda Enyaq start from, its standard level of equipment is higher, making those established rivals seem basic. What's more, due to very sluggish sales, Skywell is offering substantial discounts on the BE11 for those willing to overlook its shortcomings. 

Even with those discounts in mind, as it is the Skywell BE11 isn't a car we can recommend over other relative newcomers such as the Leapmotor C10, let alone the excellent Renault Scenic E-Tech. It might, should significant improvements be in the pipeline, be one to keep an eye on. Other Chinese car manufacturers have been quick to improve their models, so there's some hope of a better BE11 emerging. Skywell has other cars on the way — they need to be leaps and bounds ahead of its debut model's benchmark. 

Skywell BE11: Range and charging times

The Skywell BE11 Standard Range has a not particularly impressive official range of 248 miles. For comparison, with a similar-sized battery, the Peugeot E-3008 manages 327 miles. The BE11 Long Range manages 304 miles, which considering the size of the battery, is sub-par. During our testing of a Long Range model, we averaged 3.2mi/kWh, which would equate to a range of more like 275 miles. 

The numbers get even more disappointing when you look at the DC rapid charging rate, which is just 80kW. That's half what the E-3008 can do and a fraction of the 350kW the Hyundai Ioniq 5 is capable of. Sneakily, Skywell's quoted rapid charging times of 36 minutes for the Standard Range and 45 minutes for the Long Range version aren't for the industry norm of a 20-80% charge, but from 20-70%, making them seem better than they actually are if you haven't read the small print in the brochure. 

A modern car having numb steering is something you're probably bored of reading about at this point, but the Skywell BE11 feels especially vague in the corners. Although there are three selectable modes for the steering weight, none of them feels remotely right.

The suspension could also do with further work. The ride quality is firm and choppy and never seems to settle, although we wouldn't go so far as calling it harsh. Considering this feeling of stiffness, it's odd to then corner boisterously in the BE11 and find that it still leans over quite a bit. 

The brakes are effective enough but the calibration of the pedal is poor. There's a sharpness to its response that makes it hard to be smooth, especially when manoeuvring at slow speeds. 

Tyre noise is suppressed to an acceptably low level but wind is all too audible at cruising speeds. Also, opening the panoramic sunroof results in a nasty buffeting sound similar to what you hear when opening a rear window on a car. We've not experienced this with similar equipment on any other cars in recent years, so we can only assume it's an issue with the way air is poorly managed when the Skywell's roof is opened.

Regardless of battery size, the Skywell BE11 is powered by a single, front-mounted electric motor producing 204PS and 320Nm of torque. The 0-62mph time is a respectable if not particularly scorching 9.6 seconds, while its top speed is electronically governed to 93mph.

Despite this modest performance, the BE11 struggles to rein it in. Its front wheels spin-up with little provocation, especially with the steering pointing other than straight ahead, accompanied by embarrassingly loud tyre squealing. And that's with the electronic stability control fully on. 

What's most disconcerting is the feeling of the accelerator still being applied for a moment or two when you've lifted off the pedal. Even when forward momentum does finally bleed off, it does so in a jerky, unpleasant manner.

Neither is it great when you're accelerating from botha standstill or at speed, with a noticeable delay between putting your foot down and anything actually happening. Pulling onto roundabouts and out of side turnings is a frustrating experience, even ignoring the unintended wheelspin that comes after the pause. 

Oddly, it's possible to change the level of regeneration by individual percentage points, meaning, yes, there are 100 to choose from. Even 100% does give anywhere close to one-pedal driving, though.

The Skywell BE11 is yet to be crash-tested by Euro NCAP. Regardless of how well the structure might perform if it is ever assessed by the safety body, we suspect the BE11 wouldn't be rated highly thanks to its eyebrow-raising lack of various driver assistance systems beyond a 360-degree parking camera.

There's no adaptive cruise control, lane-keeping assistance, blind-spot detection or traffic sign recognition technology fitted to it. There is a speed limit warning, but rather than determining speed from road signs or navigation data, it's set manually by the driver.

If you hoped to tow using a Skywell BE11 then prepare for disappointment — it hasn't been homologated to tow a trailer of any capacity.

The Skywell BE11's 467-litre load space is nothing to write home about when the Skoda Enyaq offers 118 litres more and the Peugeot E-3008 has an additional three litres over that total at 588 litres. Yes, you can fold the 60/40-split rear bench down to open up more space, but it doesn't sit anywhere near flat. Adding further complexity to the operation, it's necessary to first lift the rear seat base up to access and unplug an electrical connection when maximising the cargo area. 

Once you've gone through all that rigmarole, the total space available in the BE11 is 1608 litres when loaded to the ceiling — you may see a figure of 1141 litres elsewhere, but that's just to the window line. A similarly configured E-3008 offers 1663 litres, while the Enyaq provides 1710 litres with its rear seats down.

Rear headroom is supplied in abundance and the legroom back there is incredible, which might explain why the boot space is on the low side.

There's also an okay-sized compartment under the from central armrest, which is cooled as part of the air conditioning circuit. 

The first thing we noticed when climbing aboard the Skywell BE11 was that the glovebox didn't shut properly, leaving a noticeable gap all the way around. There was also inconsistency between the shutlines of the two rear doors, with the passenger side one sitting proud of the other bodywork around it to the point of not looking like it was properly closed. 

Inside, the wood trim looks decent enough but there's a cheap-looking and unpleasant-feeling textured vinyl material cladding much of the cabin. It's also loose in places, rippling as you firmly run a finger along it. Parts of the dashboard creak when pressed and there was a persistent rattling coming from somewhere in the back of the car when driving.

While the Skywell BE11's 12.8-inch multimedia touchscreen sounds competitive enough, the system used is very poor. It has the feeling of an aftermarket setup and not a particularly good or recent one at that.

Responsiveness from the touch screen isn't great and the integral navigation is basic both in terms of its aesthetics and its operation. Getting it to recognise an address is a struggle, the offering of points of interest is patchy, plus several newer roads are completely absent from the map. The TurboDog 9 loading screen that appears when the nav boots up might also cause a smirk or two. 

Wireless Android Auto and Apple CarPlay are both standard but we didn't manage to get this working and the Bluetooth tech is a struggle as well — we had to delete and re-pair our phone with every drive. The most laughable tech element, has to be the DAB radio. It isn't integrated into the main system, with Skywell instead fitting a USB dongle with an ugly stick-on windscreen antenna. The audio quality is poor and the signal woeful. It doesn't show the logos of most BBC stations and has to be turned back on each time you start the car. 

The USB assortment is odd, with two sockets for rear seat passengers and only one for those in the front. Also, they're all the older style USB-A, rather than the now common USB-C and the charge rate of the socket in the front was very slow. There is a wireless phone charging pad which needs to be switched on via the infotainment screen. 

The navigation screen is extremely bright by default and doesn't dim in dark conditions automatically — you have to change the settings manually. The same is true of the instrument cluster if set to the predominantly white theme, although we found the darker, alternative theme worked fine regardless of the time of day. 

The Skywell BE11 Standard Range costs £36,995, while the Long Range range version comes in at £39,995. Considering the high specification levels — poor standard safety equipment aside — that seems like reasonable value when the most basic Skoda Enyaq with the smaller battery starts from nearly £37,510 and goes all the way up to £52,000 in its most expensive form. 

The Skywell doesn't undercut the likes of the Enyaq anywhere near enough to make up for its deficiencies at its regular price. Just as well that you can pick up one for substantially less. Having already been offering a £6000 deposit contribution, Skywell decided to match the government's Band 1 Electric Car Grant (ECG) of £3,750, bringing the total discount to nearly £10,000 — not far off a third off.

We've also seen pre-registered examples with as much as £14,000 off the brand new price. Whether these deals are enough to get more customers in the door remains to be seen, with sales for the fledgling brand proving slow thus far. If price is that much of an issue, we'd recommend spending the same money on a used electric car.

Buying an EV no longer gets you out of paying Vehicle Excise Duty (VED), so it's the same flat rate of £195 a year for the Skywell BE11 as it is any other car. All versions cost under £40,000, though, so you won't have to worry about the Expensive Car Supplement — the so-called luxury car tax — of £425 annually from years two to six.

Insurance is likely to be a good chunk more expensive than rivals, with the BE11 sitting in a conspicuously high 43, a place which we'd normally associate more with much faster, more premium vehicles. The Skoda Enyaq, for example, starts from group 23 for the entry-level models, while even the vRS performance model is a good few groups lower than the BE11 in group 39.

The Skywell BE11 is offered in a single, unnamed trim level, regardless of the battery capacity fitted.

Standard equipment for the Skywell BE11 includes:

• LED headlights
• Dark-tinted rear side windows 
• Panoramic roof
• Electrically adjustable, folding and heated door mirrors
• Keyless entry/start
• 19-inch diamond-cut wheels
• 12.8-inch touchscreen infotainment system
• 12.3-inch digital instrument cluster
• Wireless Apple CarPlay/Android Auto
• Electrically adjustable front seats
• Interior ambient lighting
• Wireless smartphone charger
• Front and rear parking sensors
• 360-degree parking camera
• Cruise control