The Aion ES comes across as an EV for ride-hailing drivers and may be perfect when fuel subsidies are gone.
All this tech, it can be quite distracting.
In the ten years I’ve spent reviewing cars, technology has crept up and integrated itself into the modern passenger vehicle. Today, if a car doesn’t have absolutely all boxes ticked, it’s looked down upon. To be honest, I haven’t bought any of the cars I’ve ever reviewed, save the original Perodua Alza (which I’ve since sold). I personally find a car with too much technology integrated into the drive to be a little unpleasant. I don’t like blind spot monitors beeping at me every time I turn the signal on.
I don’t like my steering to self-correct on a curved road. I don’t like when the brakes activate without my input. Sure, these things can be life saving, but I’ve been daily driving 30 year old cars for a decade. Most of my family members still drive older ‘low-tech’ cars and we get on just fine. This tech CAN save lives, but it is ultimately down to the driver, the condition of the car, and, unfortunately, a lot of luck to keep you safe on the road.
I Like EVs, But I Don’t Need The Gimmicks
It’s a bit of a strange place to start my review of the Aion ES – the latest electric vehicle to be launched in Malaysia by GAC via Warisan Tan Chong. We drove their Y Plus model a few months ago and found it to be an extremely practical and spacious EV. Something suitable for a family looking to transition to electric mobility without needing a showy-vehicle. While the Y Plus had ticked all the boxes, the ES arrives with a much lower price and suffers from being very ‘base-spec’ in terms of look and feel.
Immediately, the first thing that pops out are the single tone 17″ alloy wheels that make the sedan look aged from its side profile. Try to open the boot and you’ll find no release on the boot lid – you need to use the key fob or trunk release like a car from the 1990s. Step inside and it only gets worse. 2 airbags. Take it or leave it. An analogue instrument cluster. Not a USB-C port in sight. halogen interior bulbs. A bezel-rich infotainment system that’s smaller than those found in Peroduas costing half as much. In the same vein there are physical, easy-to-access capacitive air cond controls, manual door and window locks, manual seat adjustments – things I sort of appreciate in a car. What is going on? Aren’t electric vehicles supposed to be futuristic?
The Design Is Very Human
Well, as with the Y Plus, Aion’s approach with the ES has been to target practical electric mobility, not the clout-chasing, green lifestyle crowd. Aion cars are there to replace the petrol car you already run daily and nothing more. The ES is priced like a high-spec Toyota Vios or Honda City Hybrid, but it gives you an electric drivetrain that’s absolutely quiet, it gives you the dimensions of a C-segment sedan, and there are just enough features and creature comforts to make your commute pleasant enough.
I’m not kidding when I say this is the sort of Grab I would want to be picked up in. It reminds me of a Camry from 20 years ago in terms of its interior ergonomics, comfort and space. It’s one of the few Chinese EVs that gives someone of my size sufficient thigh support. I think that’s saying something.
Practical In Practice
Boot size doesn’t seem that impressive on paper, but it’s actually very large – enough for at least a couple of 30kg check-in bags, plus a couple of extra carry ons.
The suspension is dampened for comfort, and this makes it excellent over rough roads but a little scary to drive hard.
In fact, driving this car at highway speed is not entirely confidence inspiring. But if you’re just going in a straight line and within the speed limit there are no mistakes made in the drive character. The only two aspects that deserve some attention is nicer steering wheel upholstery and perhaps better tyres to lessen road noise and improve grip. The car has just enough power to get it moving, but if you step on the pedal, you’ll somehow lose grip.
Simple Driving Character
I did appreciate the i-Pedal functionality and there’s a discernible difference in throttle response when switching between ECO, NORMAL and SPORT modes. Auto Hold and the electronic parking brake were also nice to have and made a difference in this otherwise ‘kosong’ spec car. I’ve seen online commentators say the car can only get to 130km/h and stays there.
To be honest, I didn’t dare take it much further than that. The car just doesn’t feel ‘at home’ at high speeds, but that doesn’t mean that it feels slow. Even in ECO mode, putting the pedal to the plastic will get it blasting past all its petrol (and perhaps hybrid) price competitors. It’s brisk without being actually fast.
Just About Enough To Get Home
As for range, we had the car for over a week. When we picked it up it had 960km on the odometer with 437km of range quoted. We returned it with well over 1240km clocked and 75km of range left. Effectively the range is closer to 350km than 450km in mixed driving scenarios that include a lot of acceleration, extreme weather and poor pedal discipline.
However, I do believe 400-440km is achievable if driven in a proper, ‘taxi-like’ manner. Charging speed though is pretty lackluster. 6.6kW AC is about as bottom of the rung as you can get. You can expect all-nighters to get this car juiced up at home. 60kW DC charging is also pretty slow. Still, for in-town drivers willing to regulate between 30-80% state-of-charge, the Aion ES can do it in about 30 minutes.
Mixed Bag In Looks Department
Design-wise, it has its angles. I don’t think it’s a stunner by any sense of the word. However, viewed dead on from the front or rear and you definitely see hints of something more premium than the price suggests. I honestly think it’s just the side profile, the wheel/tyre size, and paint options that bring down the vehicle. Designing vehicles people-first is a lost art form, but what happens is it’s hard to resolve the modern, trendy sloping roofline with 3-box shape that has some headroom.
The result is what you get with the ES – awkwardness in proportion. This is accentuated by the tiny wheels with huge gaps in the wheel arches that beg to be filled. You also have the problem of the paint options. Black always photographs poorly, yet that is the colour of the marketing vehicle provided to us. The other options aren’t particularly enticing either – silver and white. It’s almost as if these were destined for fleet sale.
Was There A Ride-Sharing Plan?
Perhaps that is where the Aion ES can ultimately redeem itself. Should the government follow through with its promise to remove the blanket subsidy on RON95 petrol, then many ride hailing drivers are going to find their margins shrinking dramatically. If Warisan Tan Chong can form synergies with Grab the way it did with the previous Nissan Almera, perhaps arrangements can be made for lease-to-own or pre-registered sales to upgrading grab drivers. Sure, going from an RM45,000 Perodua Bezza to an RM107,000 Aion ES doesn’t sound like a logical step, but if pricing can be brought down to RM80,000-RM85,000 through the aforementioned methods, the Aion ES might find itself a little niche in the market.
Contextually-Speaking
Coming from my 30 year old Proton Perdana, I personally found the Aion ES to be an absolutely fine vehicle that filled my daily driving needs. I wasn’t missing anything. Sure, the speakers are just enough to serve but I at least had Apple CarPlay running. My old car doesn’t even have airbags, so moving to 2 was an upgrade. The issue is that at RM107,000, there are plenty of petrol, hybrid and electric options that all feel like much bigger upgrades in the spec department than this.
In fact, if you are looking at an EV, chances are you’re in the market where spending upwards of RM200,000 isn’t an issue. In which case, the ES is completely not on your radar at all. The ES should have been positioned as a starter EV with a starter EV price with coordination with the government. Else it should ahve been upgraded with more airbags, larger wheels, some ADAS basics and sold at around the same price. Either way, it feels like there was very few ways this could have worked out in GAC’s favour given our market conditions.
2024 Aion ES Specifications
Motors: Single, Front Mounted, Permanent Magnet Synchronous Motor
Battery Capacity: 55.2kWh
Range: 442km (NEDC)
Max power: 136PS
Max torque: 225Nm
Price: RM106,800
