Francisco Motors is officially pulling the cover off the ELEKTRON, its compact electric SUV, this Monday, July 27, and the company is framing the date as more than a product launch. Chairman Elmer Francisco chose July 27 to honor the birth anniversary of his late father, Jorge T. Francisco, whose vision helped build Francisco Motors into the jeepney era institution it is today. “This launch is both a product milestone and a tribute to his legacy,” the company said in its media invitation. The full reveal lands on JEEPNEY.io, the platform running the entire rollout.
A Filipino icon, rebuilt as an EV
Established in 1947, Francisco Motors helped manufacture the vehicle that became the Philippine “King of the Road.” With ELEKTRON, the company says it is carrying that heritage into an electric, software-defined future. It is a battery-electric compact SUV with a closed EV front fascia, slim lighting, a continuous rear light bar, and five proposed colors: Moon White, Lemon Yellow, Natron Red, Stellar Black, and Oasis Green. Provisional dimensions are 4,640 mm long, 1,870 mm wide, 1,655 mm tall, with a 2,760 mm wheelbase and 450 liters of cargo space, seating five.
Three personal-use configurations
The personal ELEKTRON range comes in Basic, Fashion, and Deluxe. The specifications below are preliminary and subject to homologation, but they are the most detailed the company has published:
| Configuration | Battery | Claimed range | Drivetrain | 0-100 km/h | Top speed |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Basic | 54.9 kWh LFP | 400+ km | Single motor | 7.7 s | 160 km/h |
| Fashion | 63.2 kWh | 500+ km | Single motor | 7.7 s | 160 km/h |
| Deluxe | 81.5 kWh | 600+ km | Dual motor, AWD | 4.3 s | 180 km/h |
The Deluxe, the top personal variant, is provisionally rated at up to 340 kW (about 456 hp) and 640 Nm of torque. All versions support fast charging in roughly 30 minutes via CCS2, though Francisco Motors has not yet published charger output, test cycle, or the variables behind its estimates. The company also lists 4G or 5G connectivity, voice controls, Wi-Fi, wireless phone charging, and over-the-air software support for selected configurations.
The price: Deluxe at P1.947 million
The headline number is the P1.947-million figure shown through Founder Orbit, but Francisco Motors is explicit that this applies to the Deluxe personal-use configuration and should not be read as the starting price of the whole range. Reserve your ELEKTRON through our referral link to enter Founder Orbit and earn Founder benefits. Lower-priced, purpose-built versions for businesses, commercial operators, institutional fleets, and public transport are planned, with their own pricing, warranties, and timelines still to be announced. The P1,947 Founder Orbit access payment (a nod to 1947, the year the company was founded) is credited toward a purchase but is not itself a completed sale.
Every ELEKTRON is powered by DOMENG
At the center of the platform is DOMENG, the AI layer meant to connect vehicles, customers, partners, and JEEPNEY.io services. Francisco Motors calls it “an intelligent digital co-pilot, not an autonomous driver.” It is designed to answer questions and route requests for reservations, vehicle info, payments, financing, insurance, fleet needs, maintenance, parts, charging, and roadside assistance. Chairman Elmer Francisco described his personal inspiration as combining the companionship of R2-D2 with the assistance of Iron Man’s JARVIS, “a car that is also my friend.” The company is careful to note DOMENG is informational only unless confirmed by a human representative or binding document, and is not an emergency service or self-driving system.
Safety and driver assistance
The preliminary feature list includes electronic brake-force distribution, emergency brake assist, traction control, an acoustic pedestrian alert, passive entry and start, and event-data recording. Proposed driver-assistance tech for selected trims covers a 360-degree camera, blind-spot detection, lane-departure warning, lane-keeping assist, traffic-sign recognition, autonomous emergency braking (collision mitigation only, not full self-driving), front and rear collision warnings, driver-fatigue monitoring, adaptive cruise control, and automated parking. The warranty for qualifying private-use vehicles is intended to run up to eight years or 150,000 km on designated battery, motor, and drive-electronics components.
BAKBAKAN: a Filipino strategy game, powered by AI
Alongside the car, Francisco Motors is launching BAKBAKAN, which it describes as the first Filipino innovation board game powered by DOMENG AI. It is a hidden-rank strategy game, think concealed piece identities, bluffing, memory, and deduction, in the tradition of Filipino strategy games. Elmer Francisco previously helped distribute Game of the Generals sets through 1111 Empire Inc., and BAKBAKAN is positioned as a distinct trademark drawing on that local heritage while moving play online. DOMENG is meant to support rules guidance, matchmaking, match review, tutorials, and computer opponents. Quanta, the ecosystem’s closed-loop unit (symbol ⟁, pegged at ⟁1 to P1 of internal value), doubles as BAKBAKAN’s in-game currency and the unit used to buy DOMENG AI Credits.
The bigger bet: an ecosystem, not just a car
What makes ELEKTRON unusual is the business model. Instead of a one-day launch and a dealer network, Francisco Motors is running a digital-first rollout through JEEPNEY.io: reservations, a Quanta wallet, referral and creator commissions (a 3 percent direct referral cut on cleared sales, with media and creators able to earn toward their own ELEKTRON via an Ambassador pathway), financing and insurance routing, parts ordering, on-site diagnostic requests, and charging access. The company describes it as blitzscaling, connecting customers to qualified providers through one platform rather than owning every showroom. The catch, which the press kit states plainly, is that the physical service-center, charging, and parts partner network “had not yet been onboarded” at the time of review. That is the real risk for any buyer today: the car’s promise depends on a support network that does not fully exist yet.
Full technical specifications
Beyond the headline range and power figures, here is the complete preliminary specification sheet from the official write-up, broken down by configuration. All values are provisional and subject to homologation and final sales documents.
| Specification | Basic | Fashion | Deluxe |
|---|---|---|---|
| Battery | 54.9 kWh LFP | 63.2 kWh | 81.5 kWh |
| Claimed range | 400+ km | 500+ km | 600+ km |
| Drivetrain | Single motor, FWD | Single motor, FWD | Dual motor, AWD |
| Max power | Not separately disclosed | Up to 340 kW (~456 hp) | |
| Max torque | Not separately disclosed | 640 Nm | |
| 0-100 km/h | 7.7 s | 7.7 s | 4.3 s |
| Top speed | 160 km/h | 160 km/h | 180 km/h |
| Fast charge (CCS2) | ~30 min (output/cycle not yet published) | ||
| Speakers | 4 | 9 | 10 |
| Colors | Moon White, Lemon Yellow, Natron Red, Stellar Black, Oasis Green | ||
| Price | To be announced (purpose-built commercial/fleet versions planned) | P1.947 million (Founder Orbit display price) | |
How the three trims compare
Bars scaled within each metric (range and power to the top trim; 0-100 and charge to their own maximum). Company claims, not independently verified.
Size and footprint
| Dimension | Measurement |
|---|---|
| Length | 4,640 mm |
| Width | 1,870 mm |
| Height | 1,655 mm |
| Wheelbase | 2,760 mm |
| Cargo space | 450 liters |
| Seating | 5 occupants |
Connected cabin and driver assistance
The cabin centers on a digital instrument cluster, a central touchscreen, and a console rotary controller, with proposed equipment including a fixed panoramic roof, multi-color ambient lighting, dual-zone automatic A/C, wireless charging, USB-C ports, and a ventilated, heated, memory driver seat. Proposed driver-assistance and active-safety tech includes:
The JEEPNEY.io ecosystem at a glance
ELEKTRON is sold as an account, not just a car. Through JEEPNEY.io and DOMENG, the ownership experience connects these layers:
Founder Orbit reservation, financing and insurance routing
Quanta wallet, DOMENG AI co-pilot, OTA updates
On-site diagnostics, parts catalog, service network
Charging access, future wireless / swap / H2
3% referral commission, Ambassador pathway
The physical service-center, charging, and parts partner network had not yet been onboarded at the time of the press-kit review, so real-world availability of these layers depends on rollout.
Technology roadmap (research stage)
Francisco Motors lists several forward technologies as R&D objectives, not current specifications: vehicle-scale wireless charging, battery swapping, a hydrogen fuel-cell range extender, and modular plug-and-play driver-assistance hardware. A longer-term R&D presence in Los Angeles targets AI, automated systems, and energy research. None of these are included in today’s announced ELEKTRON specs.
Where it’s really made
The “Filipino EV” question gets a direct answer in the writeup. Francisco Motors says it draws from China’s mature EV supply chain, battery, drivetrain, electronics, and manufacturing for development, while using US (Los Angeles R&D) and Chinese experience alongside Philippine engineering and market knowledge. The longer-term goal is to localize selected parts, components, and final assembly in the Philippines, potentially through the government’s Electric Vehicle Incentive Strategy and the Electric Vehicle Industry Development Act. For now, the brand, engineering refinement, and market integration are Filipino; the supply chain is global.
What to watch on 7.27 and after
The July 27 unveiling is the start of a continuing rollout, not the finish. Francisco Motors says further announcements are expected on final certification, production, delivery schedules, financing and insurance providers, service coverage, the ELEKTRON Care packages, and commercial configurations. And once the first production batch arrives, the company says it will invite media and creators for hands-on test drives and independent reviews, the moment the real-world range, charging, and build quality claims can finally be checked.
Based on the official Francisco Motors California, Inc. / JEEPNEY.io press kit and media write-up (jeepney.io/press-kit, jeepney.io/assets/docs/francisco-motors-elektron-bakbakan-writeup.php) and chairman Elmer Francisco’s July 27 launch invitation. All specifications, pricing, configurations, and timelines are preliminary and subject to homologation, regulatory approval, and final written sales documents. The P1.947-million figure applies to the Deluxe configuration.
