The 10,432 km journey saw the Proton e.MAS 7 EV traverse through 9 different ASEAN nations.
In a bold showcase of its capability and confidence, the Proton e.MAS 7 has just completed a record-setting 10,432 km journey across nine ASEAN nations. Originally planned as a 9,000 km drive, the ASEAN Unity Drive 2025, organised by the Malaysia Automotive, Robotics and IoT Institute (MARii), exceeded its target by more than 1,400 km over 22 days on the road.
The route of this long-distance road trip saw the e-SUV traverse across Vietnam, Laos, Cambodia, Thailand, the Philippines, East Malaysia (Sarawak & Sabah), Brunei, Indonesia, and Singapore. And rather impressively, the ark across the 9 countries successfully completed without a single incident.
“Completing over 10,000 kilometres across nine countries without a single battery issue is no small feat,” said Zhang Qiang, CEO of PRO-NET, highlighting the Proton e.MAS 7’s outstanding engineering achievement.
Throughout the journey, the e.MAS 7 faced Southeast Asia’s notorious heat, humidity, and diverse terrain conditions. But in spite of the poor road conditions to limited charging infrastructure, the e.MAS 7 proved to be (pardon the pun) good as gold.
Driver Mohd Adib bin Mohd Azam recalled the constant challenge of range anxiety in areas where charging stations were few and far between. “We encountered situations where charging points were farther than the remaining range,” he explained. “We used portable AC charging at coffee shops to bridge the gap.”
One of the most demanding stretches was the 356-kilometre route from Pakse to Krong Kracheh, which tested the vehicle’s claimed range of 430 km to its limits. Actor and mixed martial artist Peter Hugh Davis described how daily route planning became essential. “On longer journeys, we had to stop overnight and tactically charge for a long trip the next day. That happened quite often, and we were constantly driving long distances each day for weeks,” he said.
Beyond range performance, the e.MAS 7 also demonstrated its durability on one of the most treacherous segments of the trip. On the under-construction Papar to Sepitang stretch of the Pan Borneo Highway, the SUV navigated crater-sized potholes, loose gravel, and weather that turned certain sections into flood zones. In the Beaufort area, torrential rain left the roads waterlogged, but the e.MAS 7 handled the conditions confidently and without complaint.
Following the drive, the Proton e.MAS 7 was selected as the official vehicle for the ASEAN Summit 2025. As Malaysia prepared to host leaders and delegates from across the region, the choice of Proton’s EV as the summit’s official vehicle signalled a clear shift toward forward-thinking, sustainable mobility solutions.
Since its local launch last December, the Proton e.MAS 7 has been on a strong upward trajectory. It’s currently Malaysia’s best-selling EV for the third consecutive month in 2025, accumulating over 5,500 bookings and more than 1,800 deliveries so far.
The e.MAS 7 is offered in two variants, with the base Prime and top-spec Premium priced at RM 109,800 and RM 123,800 respectively. Both variants of the e.MAS 7 feature the same front-mounted ’12-in-1 Electric Drive System’, outputting 160 kW (218 PS) and 320 Nm of torque, which enables this e-SUV to achieve a 0-100 km/h time of 6.9 seconds and a top speed of 175 km/h.
Both variants of the e.MAS 7 are powered by a battery pack comprising Aegis Short Blade cells with lithium iron phosphate (LFP) chemistry. The Prime comes with a smaller 49.52 kWh battery pack that delivers a WLTP-rated range of 345 km, whereas the Premium features a larger unit with 60.22 kWh usable capacity, which extends that figure to 410 km.
