JMEV ELIGHT

A little background into JMEV, they are an electric vehicle manufacturer under the wing of JMC, a brand that’s fairly well known for light commercial vehicles in Sri Lanka. JMC dates back to 1947, so the brand is older than our independence, basically. But hang on, there’s another owner, namely Groupe Renault. Yes, that Renault. Stats tell me that JMEV has sold over 100,000 vehicles as of 2023, which isn’t a small amount. That being said, Unimo Enterprises, a fully owned subsidiary of United Motors Lanka PLC does have a tough sell with the ELIGHT because of two reasons. One; buyers may not immediately make the connection between JMC and JMEV until told. Two, it’s a sedan in a country that’s obsessed with SUVs. So let’s give the ELIGHT a fair chance and see how it does.

Exterior

Walking towards our test black ELIGHT, the first thing that strikes me is how sedan-ey it is. There are some modern sedans that try to ape crossovers with their tall-riding form and high window lines, but the ELIGHT remains true to the tried-and-tested, low-riding four-door formula. It’s got a mid-height window line and 150 millimetres of ground clearance which is more than some JDM machines can provide. At the front, we’ve got LED daytime running lamps flanking the main LED headlamps, and the JMEV logo which is a simple E. Moving to the side, we see 17-inch silver and black two-tone aluminium alloy wheels shod with 215/55 tires which offer a pretty decent side profile. Bimsara Perera from Unimo Enterprises who accompanies me on my test drive mentions that unlike many competitors, the ELIGHT comes with Michelin tires.

As we move our eyes towards the rear of the car, we see a sloping, fastback-styled silhouette and some hints of Tesla Model 3 in the design. Chrome surrounds the window line and the LED taillamps have a design that echoes that of the front DRLs. Overall, the ELIGHT’s design doesn’t copy much from other brands, but seems to carve out a decent niche for itself. If black isn’t your thing, the other colours are Ellis Blue, Bluish Green, Purple and White, as per the brochure. And yes, the ELIGHT comes with those flush-fitting, pop-out door handles that nearly every Chinese EV seems to be sporting nowadays.

Mech & Tech

The JMEV ELIGHT is a front-wheel drive machine. Unlike many 100-kilowatt EVs, it’s got a 118-kilowatt permanent magnet synchronous motor with 225 newton-metres of torque. That power output works out to around 158 in horsepower, in case you were wondering. The brochure tells me that the 0-100km/h acceleration time is under 8.9 seconds, which gels well for Sri Lankan driving. Braking is accomplished via front and rear discs, the front ones of which are ventilated. Steering is assisted by an electric rack as is common nowadays. Meanwhile, the ELIGHT’s battery pack is a 63 kilowatt-hour NCM battery.

Driving Experience

Settle into the ELIGHT’s low-slung (comparative to an SUV) cabin and you’ve got a powered driver seat to get that ideal position. You also sit in a more legs-stretched-out manner, than upright, which once again, appeals to me. Furthermore, you can get the seat to go quite low if you want, which once again, is nice if you like that sunken-down driving position or are just tall. Foot on brake, thumb the POWER button and the ELIGHT hums into life. It’s got a 7-inch digital gauge cluster that displays all the information you’d want but seems a little small to me. A 10-inch unit would have fared better, especially when you’ve got a relatively spacious 14.6-inch infotainment screen.

Select Drive via the gear shifter (no buttons thankfully), and the parking brake automatically releases if you’ve got the auto release function switched on. Tap the throttle and away you go. It’s a very smooth experience with easy controllability and a comfort-oriented ride. Granted, the ELIGHT will corner with less roll than expected thanks to its low centre of gravity, but it isn’t a sports sedan. Corner hard and those Michelin tires make themselves known. That’s because the suspension is on the soft side, as intended for its target audience. After all, this is an ideal family car for the daily commute. I’ll get more into that in the Living With section, but as a driver, the ELIGHT doesn’t push you to hustle it and drive ‘on the edge always’. Rather, it lowers your pulse, encouraging you to take it easy and smooth.

However, if you do decide to push harder and you’ll find that 118 kilowatts and 225 newton metres make for rather nippy progress. This is a characteristic of EVs with their instant torque delivery. You can easily handle the urban cut and thrust of things, with plenty of urge remaining well up to legal highway speeds. We did try out the 0-100 sprint in the ELIGHT and suffice to say, it performed admirably well. The brochure cites the top speed as “greater than 140km/h which we didn’t try, of course. We even got a little bit of wheel-spin when applying throttle while cornering. Ditto the brakes which were more than capable of hauling it down, aided by regeneration that’s not too strong. The latter is great for first-time EV drivers as they get used to the whole concept of regenerative slowing down. If you’re an EV novice, you can easily drive the ELIGHT in a smooth manner without causing “nodding head syndrome” among your passengers.

Living with the ELIGHT

Our test ELIGHT is equipped with the Dark Interior and comes with some neat features. One great thing is the physical control panel for the climate control system, replete with its own old-school LED-light display. This means that even though you can control the system via the touchscreen, you can control it better via the buttons and knobs. You don’t even need to look away from the road as a result. Then, the ELIGHT’s infotainment system is pretty comprehensive, with smartphone connectivity and large, easy-to-navigate menus. You can control it via the multifunction steering wheel too. Sound comes via a 6-speaker system that was initially a bit thin to my ears, but after a little fiddling with the equalizer, sounded very, very nice. I’m told that the higher spec variant gets more speakers – I counted apertures inside the cabin and found a total of ten, so that’s probably the maximum amount possible.

However, there are some interesting quirks with the ELIGHT that I must tell you about. Once you get used to these, you’ll find it second nature but initially, they can be confusing. The first is that the roller on the left-hand-side of the wheel isn’t for volume, but track skip or radio station change. Instead, volume is adjusted by two buttons on either side of the roller. I would have preferred the roller to be handling volume instead, as that just seems more intuitive. The second little quirk is that the wireless phone charger is placed in the storage area beneath the centre console, rather than atop it. The area atop the console hosts the USB charging and data ports. Ideally, these should be swapped, so that as you get into the ELIGHT, you place your phone on top of the console, where the wireless charger should be. This way, you’re less likely to forget to grab your phone when you switch off the ELIGHT and leave. The USB ports can remain below decks because those are connected via cable anyways. I hope that JMEV takes this feedback and applies it for future models.

On to a happier aspect, the rear space in the ELIGHT is simply eye-widening. With the driver’s seat set way back, I crawled into the rear seat and sat behind it. I still had plenty of legroom and despite the sloping roof design, headroom was decent as well. Yes, the ELIGHT is ideal if you’ve got a tall family. Rear seat occupants get headrests, air vents, charging ports and a flip-down arm rest with cup holders. Furthermore, the vehicle’s seat belt reminder system extends into the rear seat as well, right down to the centre seat. If anyone is sitting there but not buckled up, the car will protest.

On to another surprise, the deep boot. Popping the trunk, reveals a fairly generous storage space, despite the spacious passenger cabin and sporty silhouette. I checked for specifications but couldn’t find a definitive figure. Some sources quoted 430 litres, others said 467 litres. However, there are split-folding rear seat backs, and when these are fully folded, I found some sources reporting a total of 1,000 litres of cargo capacity. Either way, these are figures that are pretty decent for a family sedan. You’ve also got the usual complement of door pockets, glove box, centre console box, lower centre console storage space and seat-back pockets within the passenger cabin. Oh, and if the Dark Interior isn’t your thing, Unimo Enterprises also offer a Light Interior colour theme which as per the brochure, appears to feature a light tan theme, but some elements remain dark, for a two-tone look that’s quite attractive. I wish our tester had this theme as it would have looked fantastic in the photos.

Safety

You’ve got the whole gamut of safety and ADAS features in the JMEV ELIGHT. Blind spot monitoring, cruise control with a smart driving mode, a 360-degree panoramic camera system, hill descent system, hill start assist, and a full suite of airbags. There’s even automatic power-off and automatic door unlocking in the event of a collision. ISOFIX mountings for child seats are present in the rear seats, and the vehicle features a tire pressure monitoring system too.

Range and Charging

Specifications in the brochure for the ELIGHT’s 63 kilowatt-hour battery pack state a 530 kilometre NEDC range, with 460 kilometres on the WLTP cycle. Meanwhile, charging can be accomplished in at little as 27 minutes for a 30% to 80% charge at a DC fast charge. Using AC charging can take between 8 and 10 hours which is perfect for most home charging needs. This means that even if you drive your ELIGHT home on the proverbial fumes at 9pm, if things go well, you’ll have a fully charged battery by 5am the next day.

Price and Warranty

Our tester comes in at Rs. 16,850,000 at the time of testing. Unimo Enterprises provides a 6-year / 100,000-kilometre warranty on the vehicle. Meanwhile, the battery is covered by an 8-year / 150,000-kilometre warranty. We’re told about a higher-spec variant too, but you’ll need to inquire about that one.

Final Words

The JMEV ELIGHT is a fine choice for those who want to dip their toe into the EV pool but aren’t willing to go for the jacked-up look of an SUV. Yes, there are some sedan fans out there, after all. If you’re one of them, it’s definitely worth looking into the ELIGHT, because you’ll definitely be hard-pressed to find an alternative brand-new sedan at this price point – especially one with an internal combustion engine that offers similar power. But that’s not the only reason. The ELIGHT’s decent specification, easy-driving characteristics and roomy interior are fine feathers in its cap, even if there are a few things that need getting used to. The best thing to do is to take a test drive at Unimo Enterprises – after all, nothing like experiencing a vehicle for yourself…