Proton eMas 7 : First Malaysia EV

Introduction

Electric Vehicles(EV) in Malaysia are nowadays no longer become an exclusive vehicles for the upper class income (Miinly T20). Now at the present day, with more than 3-4 EV manufacturers entered the Malaysia market for EV including Tesla, BYD, Chery and many more, we can see competitions among them becoming fierce and havoc from day to day. This competitions contributed the decrease in price for the EVs.

Once the price dropped, the (EV) Electric Vehicles in this country no longer becoming an exclusive for the rich peoples only, but now it becoming a normal cars that can be purchased by majority of us in Malaysia.

Proton eMas 7

Proton Malaysia officially launched the first EV made by local brand on 16th December 2024 in Kuala Lumpur.  Prime Minister of Malaysia, Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim said last night at the Proton eMas 7 launch that the vehicle would be the official car for Malaysia’s ASEAN Chairmanship in 2025. This will be one of the marketing strategy for this first EV when they will going to be utilize for ASEAN Chairmanship in 2025 which will be hosted by Malaysia in January 2025.

EV Competitor Companies in Malaysia

There are more than 4 EV companies already entered Malaysia market since 2020. During that time there are BMW i3, Mini Electric and Nissan Leaf was the pioneer in EV for the first time in Malaysia.

Two years later in 2022, Malaysia saw a significant increase in EX interest with introduction of vehicles like BYD Atto 3 and Tesla entering the market.

As time passed by, many more EV companies entered Malaysia market such as Mercedes Benz, Neta, Chery and many more. There are more than 10 choices of models we can choose as of now. Below are the top EV companies that already entered Malaysia market for EV segment

1. BYD
2. Tesla
3. BMW
4. Mercedes Benz
5. Hyundai
6. Geely
7. Chery
8. Neta
9. Proton

How Reliable EV in Malaysia?

When we talking about how reliable EV cars now in Malaysia, it will be my always personal point of view that once we are now getting familiar with EV cars. then in future the question about “reliability” seems will  no longer exist.

As the government of Malaysia also involved in investing in EV technology, we can see the drastic increase of EV in all over the states in Malaysia. Not only EV cars, we are now easily can find an electric scooter on the roads in Malaysia.

On top of that, the Malaysian government initiatives to increase EV charging station throughout all the states in Malaysia making this EV become more reliable to be use in the country.

EV Price Prediction in 2025

In 2024, there are significantly drop in prices of EV in Malaysia compared to 2020. With certain models now available at competitive prices, sometimes even matching or being lower than traditional internal combustion engine (ICE) vehicles.

This trend seems will continue for few years ahead. In other words, the prices in 2025 are expected to drop due to many factors. One of them driven by government support, advancements in battery technology, the entry or more affordable models and improvements by the local vehicle manufacturer like Proton and Perodua. Perhaps, Modenas (Motorbike) too.

Proton eMas 7 Price

The base Prime variant is priced at RM109,800. Top Premium is  RM123,800 on-the-road excluding insurance. The first 3,000 buyers will get a RM4,000 discount, making the RRP RM105,800 for the Prime and RM119,800 for the Premium.

There are two variants of the eMas 7. Base Prime and the top Premium. Both variant share a front-mounted electric motor that produces 218 PS (160 kW) and 320 Nm of torque, propelling the fastest-accelerating Proton ever to from 0-100 km/h in 6.9 seconds. Top speed is 175 km/h.

Conclusion

Having an EV in Malaysia is no longer become the exclusive vehicle for upper tier social class (mainly for T20) but now EV seems becoming a new  begin of vehicle revolution globally and Malaysia is not excluded from this revolution.

As many models entered Malaysia and this trend will increase from time to time, we will see more models with more reasonable and affordable prices offers by them in future. The game just begins. The green technology now becoming more interesting.