KUALA LUMPUR, Oct 28 — Proton has finally taken the drape off the interior of its first electric vehicle, the Proton e.MAS 7. This is right after the national automaker officially opened the order books for the e.MAS 7 which has an "expected price” of RM120,000.

What you are looking at here is the Proton e.MAS 7 Premium which is the high-spec version of the EV. In general, this variant has a larger battery capacity, longer range, and faster DC charging speed than the low-spec e.MAS 7 Prime variant.

Let’s get the elephant out of the room first

First thing’s first — yes, the interior of Proton e.MAS 7 is identical to its twin in China, the Geely Galaxy E5. This didn’t come as a surprise though given that both e.MAS 7 and Galaxy E5 were born from the same development project.

At the moment, the e.MAS 7 only has one colourway — Indigo Blue — for its interior. While some of the e.MAS 7 showcase units do have white interiors, we were told that the colourway was made just as a "concept” and not meant for production.

Minimalist but not in a barren way

Suppose I can only use one word to describe the interior of e.MAS 7, that would be minimalist. However, the interior of the new EV is still nowhere like Tesla which is quite bare. More importantly, it is not over the top like some of the EVs from Chinese brands out there.

Similar to the Galaxy E5, there’s a rotary dial on the centre console alongside four climate control buttons. The centre console also has covered cup holders, a phone tray, a wireless phone charger, and two storage compartments.

All the seats in e.MAS 7 are draped in high quality leatherette but the e.MAS 7 Premium does come with extra features for its front seats. This includes memory function for the driver’s seat while there is also a ventilation function for both seats.

The new EV has also been fitted with a 2-spoke steering wheel that also has antibacterial properties. As you can see, it is slightly elongated than most steering wheels out there but it also has a flat bottom which can provide some extra space especially when getting in and out of the car.

On the e.MAS 7, a 10.2-inch digital instrument cluster has been provided for the driver to see vital information of their car and journey. If you choose the Premium variant, you will also be provided with a head-up display to complement the driver’s instrument display.

For infotainment, the job is being handled by the massive 15.4-inch 2.5K touchscreen which has a punchy and vibrant colour output. Powered by a 7nm automotive-grade system-on-chip, I found no noticeable lag as I went through the Flyme Auto operating system, switching from one section to another.

The e.MAS 7 Premium variant also features a 16-speaker sound system powered by Flyme Sound and guess what: there are speakers in the headrests too!

The limited time that I had with the display car (we have to share it with our friends from other media, after all) didn’t allow me to test the audio system. However, it is probably the best in its class according to SoyaCincau.com’s Co-Founder Amin who has driven the pre-production unit for around 1,200km during the Northern leg of the Proton e.MAS 7 Tour recently.

Pretty spacious for a mainstream electric SUV

What really impressed me when it comes to the interior of e.MAS 7 is the amount of space that this electric SUV has. With the driver and front passenger seats set to my preferred position, I found myself having so much legroom and I certainly had no issue with the headroom as a 169cm guy.

Proton said that the e.MAS 7 has a total of 33 storage spaces throughout the EV but the one that caught my attention was the drawer underneath the rear passenger seats. As a father to two young kids, I applaud the designers at Geely and Proton for implementing this which can certainly be quite useful for parents out there.

Not only that it substantially-sized but the drawer can also support up to 3.5kg of contents within it. In addition to that, there is also another smaller but still very useful drawer under the rear AC vents which can hold contents of up to 2.5kg.

When it comes to boot space, the e.MAS 7 offers 461L of space but that figure alone is just part of the story. There is this 51L underfloor storage area in the boot section that is so massive to the extent that I managed to have our friend Agus from Pro-Net who is over 160cm tall fit into it.

What I showed here is just to give an idea of how large the underfloor storage area within e.MAS 7 boot but please don’t put any human being or animal into it. Meanwhile, you can have up to 1,877L of space once you fold down the rear seats.

As noted earlier, the Proton e.MAS 7 will be launched at the end of this year with an estimated price tag of RM120,000 although the national automaker didn’t clarify whether this is a starting or the ceiling price. You are already able to book the EV right away with a refundable booking fee of RM500. — SoyaCincau