Proton Saga EV

Proton showcased this Proton Saga EV at the Indonesia International Motor Show happening right now. According to the specs revealed at the show, this Saga EV uses a 15 kWh lithium ion polymer battery that can be quick-charged in just one hour, or via a conventional wall outlet in between 6 to 8 hours. 0 to 100km/h time is reached in 12 seconds, on to a top speed of 110km/h.

The quickcharge time seems quite short compared to other EVs that usually take about 2 hours but you have to remember the battery size also seems smaller compared to say, the Nissan Leaf which uses a 24 kWh battery. The Chevrolet Volt uses a 16 kWh battery but it has a range extender.

A red Proton Saga EV Concept shown in Malaysia back in mid-2009 featured a specifications sheet that listed a larger battery – 20kWh, that took up the entire trunk space. In that red car, the battery is able to power the car for about 109km on the NEDC driving cycle.

This white Saga EV in Indonesia and that red Saga EV from last year seems to have an identical engine bay, in fact you can see one area in the white car’s engine bay’s firewall that reveals an area of red paint underneath it, so I think this is the same car but with some modified specs perhaps?

A smaller battery would usually mean a shorter maximum mileage on a full charge (Proton did not reveal maximum range but I am guessing around 60km since the Volt’s 16kWh battery gets 65km) but as we talked about yesterday, Proton intended the Saga EV concept demonstrator to tackle basic urban city driving needs (hence the 110km/h top speed), with another Persona EV concept demonstrator developed to have a longer range.

It’s worth nothing that this is just a concept demonstrator and probably doesn’t reflect any of the specs of a production car, if Proton ever decides to build one. And where in the middle of all of this is Detroit Electric? No idea. Look after the jump for more photos.