The Elight electric sedan is not a try-hard at being outrageously high-tech. It knows perfectly what it is – an easy, no-frills ride that sits at a cut-throat price for anyone looking for an easier transition into electric mobility
In recent times, automotive brands find themselves thrust into multiple races:
- The race to go electric faster (usually among legacy brands),
- The race to flaunt more competitive prices (generally among new Chinese automakers),
- Or the race to boast whatever new funky gimmicks they can think of (among anyone who can think of anything, at this point).
The JMEV Elight joins the second race to unleash more competitive prices, as a budget-friendly electric sedan that offers a taste of how it feels to go electric without having to deal with overly-flashy tech that screams in your face too loudly, it creates a bigger transition jump between petrol power and battery brawn.
Easy Looks, Easy Functions
At first glance, the Elight looks straightforward, which sometimes is a pretty good indication of what the rest of the car would be like, which we’ll touch on in the rest of this article. That same playbook can be said for the Aion ES.
Matrix LED headlights, flushed door handles, a panoramic moon-roof, and clean lines stretching over a sport coupe-style body. We’ve heard all this before so nothing here is exactly ground-breaking, but that means familiarity becomes a friend. The car presents itself as easy on the eyes, because it is.
There are two options on the Elight’s interior colour: Sandstone Dual or Midnight Black. The unit I test-drove came in Sandstone Dual, which was a fresh change from the usual black we see in most cars today.
Similarly to the exterior, the interior isn’t a try-hard at presenting anything new or fancy. It’s okay with giving us what we’re familiar with, so we ourselves settle in comfortably, especially since seating space in both the front and back seats is generous with leg and headroom.
The driver’s cabin is intuitive enough with a good amount of physical buttons for you to get acquainted with the car within minutes of starting it up and driving off. The absence of any steep learning curve, especially with new cars these days.
The 14.6-inch infotainment and 7-inch driver instrument cluster screens are simple to navigate your way around too. However, a stumbling block here is the need to pair your phone to two different bluetooth systems – one for the screen, one for the speakers… Wait what?
Driving Easy
Powered by a 63kWh battery, the Elight sends out 145hp (108kW) of power and 224Nm of torque to the front wheels. The century sprint is completed in 8.9 seconds and it claims a combined WLTP range of 460km. Again, nothing revolutionary here, but the Elight doesn’t try to be.
In fact, it just wants to do its job as a people-ferrier, which is the main thing I’ll get to.
There is a little bit of play with the accelerator, where you do not get that full surge of torque in one lump. But when needed, you’ll find the Elight responsive, and willing to chirp its front wheels.
As far as driving dynamics go, the Elight fulfills its basic functions apart from some lacking aspects that I would have preferred to create a more cohesive driving feel. Steering weight is very much on the lighter side, prompting me to have it perpetually switched to “Sport” mode. The floatier suspension may not do it much favours, but overall, the car does not feel overly vague.
The sedan’s regenerative braking intensity, which can be set from 0 to 3 is strangely mild across the board. But for this, I am not complaining since it translates to a smoother drive.
Even with different drive modes available (Eco, Normal, Sport), I didn’t do much venturing into the Sport mode, because it feels that capabilities aside, the car doesn’t feel comfortable to do much spirited drives. It’s very much more of an easy coaster to get you to your destination. Once you reach your destination safe and sound, that counts as the car doing its job adequately. Nothing to send home about, nor is there anything to really gripe about.
But Altogether,
There’s a couple of catches that come with the JMEV Elight. Its driving experience is not as inspiring, the gear selector needs a bit of convincing to click itself out of neutral, and the cabin as a whole, is a mishmash of inspiration taken from the likes of Volkswagen, Mercedes-Benz and Peugeot… but interpreted with cheap scratchy plastics. Another thing that might need work is slightly poorer cabin insulation that dampens the ride experience a little.
But with its price tag that is as competitive as it is in today’s market, having sky-high expectations would be unfair towards the Elight, and you wouldn’t be doing yourself any favours.
If you asked me about the JMEV Elight, I would summarise for you, ‘it’s an electric car’. That’s essentially what it is, without much to add whether for better or worse. Credits to the Elight – it knows exactly what it is, and doesn’t try to be what it’s not.
While downsides are that there isn’t anything fancy or particularly awesome about it, the upside that could balance things out is that the car perfectly fulfills its functions as an A-to-B people mover. So for anyone looking around the electric market for a straightforward, honest and accessible way to get around, the Elight sedan might be an option for you.
Text: Titus Tang
Edits: Clifford Chow
Photos: Clifford Chow
| Pros | Cons |
|---|---|
| Affordable | Cheap plastics galore |
| Comfortable | Odd to have to connect your phone to both the infotainment and the instrument panel |
| Non-intrusive regenerative braking | Bad use of English on the infotainment |
JMEV Elight 63kWh
| Drivetrain | Full Electric |
| Layout | Single Motor, Front-wheel Drive |
| Motor power / torque | 143hp / 225Nm |
| Battery capacity | 63kWh |
| Efficiency | 16.1kWh/100km |
| Electric Range | 460km |
| 0-100km/h | 8.9 seconds |
| Top Speed | 150km/h |
| VES Band | A1 |
| Dealer | Valor Auto |
| Price | S$153,777 with COE and VES +$6,000, ventilated leather seats & premium audio |
| Verdict | If you can look past some of its shortcomings, the Elight is actually quite value for your money |
