How often does an Aiways U5 need servicing?

The manufacturer service schedule for European cars is built around two layers. The inspection layer runs every 12 months or 20,000 km, continuing at 24/40,000, 36/60,000, 48/80,000 and 60/100,000. The mandatory replacement layer is short: brake fluid, coolant and reducer oil, each at 3 years or 100,000 km, whichever comes first. Almost everything else on the schedule is an inspection rather than a replacement.

What coolant does an Aiways U5 use in Europe?

For the European market the manual specifies BASF G30, with a freezing point of -35 degrees C; the Chinese-market cars use BASF 6580. The whole cooling system holds 12 litres, of which the motor and motor heater circuit is 6.1 litres plus or minus 0.1, and the expansion tank relief valve opens at 100 kPa gauge. The important part is not the number but the method: the manual requires the system to be vacuum filled with dedicated equipment and bled using a diagnostic tester, so this is not a drain-and-refill job.

Do Aiways U5 rear brake pads need a diagnostic tool?

Yes. The rear calipers are the electronic parking brake units, and the documented procedure starts by putting the caliper into pad-replacement service mode with a diagnostic tester, and finishes by setting the caliper again with the same tester after the new pads are in. The procedure also says to draw some brake fluid out of the reservoir before the piston is pushed back, because the displaced fluid can otherwise overflow. A workshop that cannot drive the parking brake on this car cannot change the rear pads the documented way.

Is there a service or maintenance light to reset on an Aiways U5?

Not in the manufacturer documentation. The instrument cluster section sets out the warning and indicator lamps and none of them is a service-due reminder, and the manual contains no service reset procedure anywhere. The schedule closes instead with a diagnostic tester reading of fault codes and software version plus a road test of the functions. So if a workshop asks how to reset the service indicator on this car, the honest answer is that there is nothing documented to reset.

What oil does the Aiways U5 drive unit use?

The single-speed reducer uses Castrol BOT 352 B1 BEV, 0.8 litres, with a viscosity of 4.6 mm2/s at 100 degrees C, changed at 3 years or 100,000 km whichever comes first. It is filled and drained through plugs on the unit itself after the front underbody panel is removed, and the manual gives no torque figures for those plugs.

Aiways U5: service schedule, fluids and wear limits

The short version, because it surprises people: an Aiways U5 has almost nothing that has to be replaced on a mileage clock. For European cars the mandatory list is three fluids — brake fluid, coolant and the drive unit oil — all at 3 years or 100,000 km, whichever comes first. Everything else in the schedule is an inspection. The catch is in the method, not the interval: two of those three jobs and the rear brakes cannot be done on this car with a generic garage's usual tools, and the European workshop that has never seen a U5 will not know that. This page gives the numbers, and the three points where a local shop will go wrong.

1. The mandatory list: three fluids, one filter

The European service information for the U5 sets out a mandatory programme and a voluntary (inspection) programme separately. The mandatory one is genuinely short:

Item	Interval	Work
Brake fluid	3 years or 100,000 km, whichever comes first	Drain and refill
Coolant	3 years or 100,000 km, whichever comes first	Cooling system drain and refill
Drive unit oil (reducer oil)	3 years or 100,000 km, whichever comes first	Drain and refill
Cabin filter	3 years in the mandatory table — and the manual states that entry applies to vehicles built for the Israel market. See the note below.	Replace

On the cabin filter, read the two tables together rather than one alone. The inspection schedule for retail cars lists the cabin filter and the wiper blades at every service and marks them for replacement at the 24-month and 48-month services — that is the plan that applies to a normal European car. A 3-year filter interval taken out of the mandatory table without that context will under-service the car.

2. Fluid specifications and capacities

This is the part a workshop actually needs before it can order anything, and it is the part that is hardest to find outside the manufacturer's own documentation.

Fluid	Specification	Quantity
Coolant	BASF G30 for European market cars (BASF 6580 for China-market cars), freezing point -35 °C	12 L system total; 6.1 ± 0.1 L for the motor and motor heater circuit
Drive unit oil	Castrol BOT 352 B1 BEV, kinematic viscosity 4.6 mm²/s at 100 °C	0.8 L
Brake fluid	DOT 4	1.2 L
A/C refrigerant	R1234yf for European market cars (R134a for China-market cars)	645 g ± 20 g (China-market cars 675 g ± 20 g)
Washer fluid	Winter mix rated to -25 °C	Top up when low

The expansion tank relief valve is documented as opening at 100 kPa gauge. That number matters because it tells you what not to do: never open the cooling system hot. The manual's own instruction for a hot system is to wrap the cap in a thick cloth, turn it a quarter turn to release the stored pressure, and only then open it fully. Scalding coolant is the most common way a routine service turns into an injury.

3. Wear limits you can measure yourself

Brakes are the one area where an owner can produce a useful measurement instead of an opinion. These are the manufacturer's own figures, and they are worth writing down before a garage tells you what the car needs.

Component	New	Replace when
Front brake pads	11 mm friction material	Pad thickness reaches 3 mm, measured excluding the backing plate
Rear brake pads	11 mm friction material	Pad thickness reaches 3 mm, measured excluding the backing plate
Front brake discs	314 ± 0.25 mm diameter, 30 ± 0.1 mm thick	Wear of more than 1 mm on one side of the disc
Rear brake discs	314 ± 0.25 mm diameter, 12 ± 0.1 mm thick	Wear of more than 1 mm on one side of the disc
Brake fluid	DOT 4	Level outside MAX-MIN, or a leak found around the reservoir or the calipers

Two practical notes from the same documentation. The pad figure is the friction material only — a shop that measures the whole assembly including the steel back plate and reports "still 8 mm left" is measuring the wrong thing. And the disc limit is expressed as wear from the original thickness on one side, so it is a measurement with a micrometer at several points around the face, not a visual judgement.

4. The inspection schedule, and what it is really for

The voluntary programme carries everything else, and its interval set depends on how the car was used. Retail cars: 12 months or 20,000 km, then 24/40,000, 36/60,000, 48/80,000 and 60/100,000. Cars used in rental service: six-monthly or 10,000 km intervals, running to 30 months or 50,000 km.

Across those visits the retail programme covers: parking brake function; lights, horn and warning lamps; air conditioning function; 12 V battery cabling; high-voltage cable connections and connector wear; washer fluid, brake fluid and coolant levels; motor mount; underbody high-voltage connectors for security and surface damage; underbody high-voltage harness for chafing; vent valve surfaces and mounting points; coolant hose and clamp installation; the torque marks on the underbody fasteners; high-voltage battery pack ground wire; brake pads and discs; suspension and steering for leaks and wear; tyres, four-wheel alignment, tyre rotation and the winter tyre change; cabin filter; wiper blades. The last item on the list, at every interval, is a diagnostic tester reading fault codes and software version plus a road test of the functions.

Two things stand out for a European owner. First, a large part of the schedule is high-voltage inspection that a general garage is not equipped or insured to do — that is a real constraint on where the car can be serviced, not a sales pitch. Second, the last item means the service on this car includes plugging a tester in, which is the point at which an Aiways-aware tool matters most. If a workshop cannot read this car, it cannot complete the schedule as written.

One item only appears in the rental table and is worth knowing anyway: tyre rotation in an X pattern every 5,000 km. On an EV that is a cheap way to even out wear.

5. The three jobs a local garage will get wrong

This is the section to hand to a workshop that has never seen a U5. None of these are difficult; all three are easy to do the ordinary way and end up with a car that is worse off.

a) Coolant is a vacuum-fill job. The manufacturer lists a dedicated vacuum fill-and-bleed unit as the required tool for this system, and bleeding is done through a diagnostic tester routine (service and calibration, learning routines, CCM VCU, coolant bleed). Drain-and-refill at atmospheric pressure is not the documented method, and on a system that also cools the battery pack, air pockets are not a theoretical worry. Use BASF G30 on a European car, and never open the system hot.

b) Brake fluid replacement begins and ends with a tester check. The documented procedure starts with a diagnostic tester confirmation that the brake system has no stored fault codes, and finishes with the same check. While bleeding, the reservoir level has to be watched; the drained fluid must never be reused; and the manual is blunt about brake fluid on paint — wipe it off immediately and rinse with water, and never wash the brake components themselves with water. DOT 4, 1.2 litres.

c) The rear pads need the parking brake driven by a tester. The rear calipers are the electronic parking brake units. The procedure starts by putting the caliper into pad-replacement service mode with a diagnostic tester, and finishes by setting the caliper again with the tester. Before the piston is pushed back, fluid must be drawn out of the reservoir, or the displaced fluid overflows. After the job the pedal is pressed firmly several times with the car stationary, and the fluid level is rechecked. On the rear discs the manual adds a hard rule: new fasteners must be used, the originals are not to be reused.

A workshop that cannot communicate with the parking brake on this car cannot replace the rear pads the documented way — that is the honest test of whether a garage should be doing the job at all.

6. Wiper blades, and the service mode nobody knows about

The blades are not lifted off the screen by hand. The documented route is through the car's own screen: with the bonnet fully closed, go to the Vehicle Control menu on the centre screen, tap Power off, select Safety & Comfort, then choose wiper service mode. The wipers move to a service position. Press the retaining clip on the blade assembly and lift it off; fit the new blade so the clip seats properly in its slot; then press the brake pedal to leave service mode.

One warning from the manual that is easy to ignore: once the blade is off, wrap the tip of the wiper arm in a cloth before lowering it. The arm is spring-loaded and will snap onto the glass, and a cracked windscreen costs far more than the blades.

The manual gives no blade length, so this is a part you genuinely can buy locally.

7. The cabin filter: a 15-minute job you can watch

The filter sits behind the trim under the right-hand side of the dashboard. The documented sequence is: remove the right-hand lower instrument panel trim; remove the driver monitoring system controller if the car is fitted with the driver monitoring system (most are not, and the manual marks that step as conditional); remove the filter cover, which is held by four screws; slide the filter out. Refitting is the reverse.

The manual gives no part number, no dimensions and no airflow direction note for the filter, which is consistent with the owner community's experience: it is a standard-size filter that a motor factor can match on dimensions and fitting type. Expect to replace it at the 24-month and 48-month services if you follow the schedule, and more often if you drive in a lot of pollen or city traffic.

8. Is there a service light to reset?

No — and this is a genuinely useful answer rather than a dodge. The instrument cluster documentation lists the car's warning and indicator lamps in detail, including the brake fluid and brake system lamp, the parking brake lamps and the tyre pressure lamp. None of them is a service-due reminder. The manual contains no reset procedure for a service indicator anywhere in it.

So the schedule is closed the way item 19 of the retail programme describes: at each interval the car is read with a diagnostic tester for fault codes and software version, and the functions are road tested. Keep your own record of the fluid changes, because there is no counter in the car to tell the next owner what has been done.

9. Buying the consumables

Filters, wipers, pads, discs and fluids are all better bought near the car — they are heavy, cheap, and any motor factor can supply them, which is exactly why shipping them across Europe makes no sense. What the owner community reports on sourcing:

If a particular consumable proves hard to find, send us the reference or part number you have and we will help you check it — no obligation, and no guesswork on a fitment where the variant matters.

Wipers and cabin filter are standard sizes matched by length and fitting type. Follow the service-mode procedure above for the wipers and simply measure the filter.
Brake pads: owners report two caliper variants depending on build date, so measure before ordering rather than ordering from the model year alone.
Fluids: the specifications above are ordinary, widely stocked products — the difficulty is the method, not the fluid.
Floor mats and boot liners are the one genuinely Aiways-specific part of this picture: U5-specific mat sets are made by onlinefussmatten.de, with Kleinmetall as the premium option, and Starliner boot liners are the common choice among German owners.

The Aiways-specific hardware around these consumables — brackets, covers, cabling, the drive unit and brake components themselves — is what we do supply. See the Aiways U5 and U6 parts we carry.

One honest note on numbers. The workshop manual identifies components with its own internal document numbers, not with orderable OE part numbers. For this topic neither the manual nor the owner community yields orderable references for the consumables themselves, so we have not invented a list. If you need an Aiways-specific brake or driveline part, send us the VIN and we will confirm the actual reference and version for your car.

10. Short answers

How often is a U5 serviced?: Every 12 months or 20,000 km for the inspection programme, with the three mandatory fluid changes at 3 years or 100,000 km. Rental-use cars follow a six-monthly, 10,000 km pattern.
Do I need a special coolant?: BASF G30 on a European car. More importantly, the system is documented as vacuum filled and tester bled, so this is a job to specify rather than assume.
Can any garage change my rear brake pads?: Only one that can drive the electronic parking brake with a diagnostic tool. If they cannot put the rear caliper into service mode, they cannot do it the documented way.
What should I keep records of?: The brake fluid, coolant and drive unit oil changes, with dates and mileage. There is no service counter in the car, so your record is the only history the next owner will see.
Where do I find out which variant my car is?: From the VIN. Send it to us and we will confirm what applies to your build and market, which is also the only reliable way to avoid ordering the wrong brake components.

Where this comes from. The intervals, capacities, specifications and wear limits above are taken from the Aiways U5 workshop manual for the European market — the European service information, the working-fluid capacity and specification tables, the brake system parameter tables, and the individual procedures for the cabin filter, wiper blades, brake fluid, brake pads and discs, drive unit oil and cooling system. Those documents are identified inside the manual by internal numbers (2579651, 1920711, 391261, 389291, 390171, 394411, 392121, 366371, 391701, 366191, 391661, 384381, 1748311, 1748391 and 1749171 among them) — those are manual document references and are not orderable part numbers. Owner-community experience is used for sourcing notes only, and is labelled as such. Wording is our own; we do not reproduce manual pages or figures.

Important — please read before you act on anything here

This page is general information only. It is not a repair instruction, not a diagnosis of your particular vehicle, and not a substitute for professional advice. Have any work carried out by a qualified workshop or an authorised service centre. Do not attempt a repair yourself unless you are trained and equipped to do it.

High-voltage safety. This is an electric vehicle. Its high-voltage system can cause fatal injury. Never open, disconnect, cut or work on high-voltage components, cables or connectors unless you are qualified to do so, and always follow the manufacturer's own safety procedure.

Vehicles differ. Equipment, hardware versions and part numbers change between model years, markets and individual VINs. Confirm what applies to your vehicle before ordering or repairing anything. The manufacturer's documentation is the authoritative source for your car — where anything here differs from it, follow the manufacturer.

Consumables and specifications change without notice. Torque figures, fluids and procedures given here are for orientation only.

No liability. This information is published in good faith and to the best of our knowledge, but we accept no liability for any loss, damage or injury arising from reliance on it. Use it at your own risk, and verify anything safety-critical before you rely on it.

Who we are. GNSGO is an independent supplier of parts. We are not affiliated with, endorsed by, sponsored by or acting as an authorised agent of any vehicle manufacturer. References to a vehicle or model describe compatibility only.

11. Related

Need the Aiways-specific part behind a service job? Send the VIN and we will confirm the version that fits your car — get in touch.