Here is En. Izwan Ta’s ownership report after taking delivery of his Proton e.MAS 7 on 27-January 2025
It is a 5-Days Ownership Report and it is over the long Chinese New Year weekend break.
Proton eMas 7 Premium – mostly highway miles
Total distance driven: ~1300km
Highway miles: ~80%
Charging stops: 6 – ~RM220 total (~RM0.166/km)
As a first-time EV owner, I wanted to share my experience after a week of ownership, covering a long-distance trip from Ipoh → Putrajaya → Kuala Terengganu → Putrajaya.
Day 1: Ipoh → Putrajaya (~250km) First long drive, collected my car from GB Auto Ipoh. Didn’t pay much attention to efficiency, just getting used to the car.
Cruised at ~110km/h, felt smooth and refined. First charge at IOI City Mall: 38kW @ RM35 on a 50kW charger (CCS2). Range covered: Ipoh town → Bangsar → IOI City Mall before charging.
Day 2: Putrajaya → Kuala Terengganu (~463km) ICC set to 110km/h, occasional overtakes at 120-130km/h.
First charge: Gambang R&R (42kW @ RM44 on a 180kW Gentari charger). Range anxiety kicked in as I would have had only 70km of range left upon reaching KT.
Second charge: Paka R&R (15.55kW @ RM34 on a 180kW Shell charger). Shell’s pricing is much higher than Gentari.
Reached Kuala Terengganu with ~160km range left.
Total journey: 6h 21m (vs. ~5h ICE car, 130-140km/h avg speed, without stopping). Efficiency: 17-18kWh/100km (high due to speed).
Day 3: Charging in KT Not many chargers around KT. Closest option was Mayang Mall, but LG floor was inaccessible before mall opening hours.
Had to drive to Mydin Gong Badak for a charge: 43kWh @ RM46. Minimal driving today—used my parents’ ICE car for CNY visiting.
Day 4: Minimal driving (~30km) Received my granny charger I ordered from Shopee. Charged overnight at ~2kW/h, reaching full charge in 8 hours.
Day 5: Kuala Terengganu → Putrajaya (~463km) Only 1 charging stop at Gambang R&R: 38kWh @ RM57.
ICC set to 105km/h from KT to Karak highway (occasional overtakes at 120km/h). Took over on the twisty roads of Karak Highway. Way better efficiency: ~16kWh/100km (could be due to the traffic jam on the Karak highway) Reached Putrajaya with ~110km range left.
Total journey: 7h – traffic was really heavy at the Karak Highway.
His Thoughts After 1 Week With The e.MAS 7
What I Liked
1. Range Anxiety Improves Over Time Once you understand the car, it’s easier to plan charging stops and maximise efficiency. Highway sweet spot: 105km/h balances speed and efficiency.
2. ICC (Intelligent Cruise Control) is awesome First time using this tech—makes long-distance driving much less tiring. Even with longer trip times (~20% longer vs ICE), I felt way less fatigued.
3. City Driving is Where the Car Shines Awesome torque, smooth acceleration, and low energy consumption. City efficiency: 12.5kWh/100km (feels like it could exceed 410km WLTP range in urban settings).
What Annoys Me
1. “Ice Cream Van” Noise Can’t be disabled (yet). Slowly getting used to it.
2. Speed Limit Alarm Extremely annoying. Proton, please give us an option to turn it off and not reconfigure it every time!
3. Radio App is Trash Have to rescan every time I start the car. Doesn’t remember previous station settings.
4. Navigation System is Utter Garbage Missing locations everywhere. After 8+ years with Apple CarPlay / Android Auto on both my cars, having to use a phone holder again is frustrating. CarPlay / Android Auto support can’t come soon enough.
5. Queuing at Charging Stations Will Be an Issue Gambang R&R Westbound: I arrived 2 minutes before a Tesla Model 3. Only 1 CCS2 charger, so Tesla driver had to wait ~45 mins for me to finish. If that was me, it’d add ~2 hours to my journey!
Final Verdict So far, I love the car for city driving, and in a pinch, long range driving is fine too. Range anxiety is real at first, but it gets easier with experience. Proton needs to fix the software issues (speed alarm, radio, map, AA/Carplay), but otherwise, I’m really happy with the purchase.
Charging costs currently is higher than with my ICE car (gets 600km/RM85) which comes up to RM0.142/km compared to the eMas’ RM0.166/km.
However bear in mind that the current cost is with Proton’s 30% discount on charging this week, vast majority with DC charging, and with lower efficiency as I was driving at highway speeds. So it may balance out. Looking forward to more miles with the car!
