The Francisco Motors Elektron is the first battery-electric SUV from the company that has been building jeepneys in Metro Manila since 1947. Francisco Motors unveiled the Elektron on July 27, 2026, with a top-of-the-line Deluxe variant priced at ₱1,947,000 and a reservation programme limited to 1,947 slots at ₱1,947 each — both figures a deliberate nod to the year the company was founded.
It is an unusual entry in a Philippine electric vehicle market that is, so far, almost entirely made up of imported brands. It also arrives with a large caveat: the company's own reservation page says the specifications and pricing are not final.
What Francisco Motors actually announced
The Elektron is a five-door compact crossover SUV. According to Gulf News, it offers 450 litres of cargo space, a CCS2 charging port — the DC fast-charging plug standard that most Philippine public chargers use — and a warranty of up to eight years or 150,000 kilometres, whichever comes first.
The vehicle measures 4,640mm long, 1,870mm wide and 1,655mm tall on a 2,760mm wheelbase, with a combined output of 340kW (456 horsepower) and 640Nm of torque, Adobotech reported. Inside there are dual 12.3-inch screens, Apple CarPlay and Android Auto, power-adjustable heated and ventilated front seats, and an advanced driver assistance system (ADAS — the group of features that includes lane-keeping and collision alerts). Launch colours are Moon White, Lemon Yellow, Natron Red, Stellar Black and Oasis Green.
Elektron variants and claimed specifications
| Variant | Motor setup | Battery | Claimed range | Top speed |
|---|
| Basic | Single motor | 54.9 kWh | around 400 km | 160 km/h |
| Fashion | Single motor | 63 kWh | around 500 km | 160 km/h |
| Deluxe | Dual motor, all-wheel drive | 81.5 kWh | more than 600 km | 180 km/h |
The Basic is quoted at 7.7 seconds from 0 to 100 km/h and comes with a four-speaker audio system; the Fashion moves up to nine speakers and the Deluxe to ten, Tech Times reported. The ₱1,947,000 figure is the price attached to the Deluxe. No separate retail prices for the Basic and Fashion trims have been published.
What the ₱1,947 Founder Orbit reservation buys
Francisco Motors opened reservations through Founder Orbit, a digital pre-order programme running on Jeepney.io, the company's mobility platform. Buyers get a founder badge, a pre-order status dashboard, priority assistance from DOMENG — described by the company as "the AI command layer of Francisco Motors and Jeepney.io" — plus launch updates and referral perks.
Read the fine print before paying. The company's official ELEKTRON page states plainly that a reservation "does not guarantee final vehicle allocation, pricing, specs, financing, insurance, delivery, or purchase terms," and that all of those items remain "subject to final confirmation and separate written terms." In other words, the specification table above is provisional, and so is the ₱1,947,000 price.
DOMENG is also not a self-driving system. Francisco Motors describes it as a support and transaction layer that handles reservations, payments and enquiries — not a substitute for the driver.
How to read the range and charging numbers
Two claims deserve a closer look.
- Range. Francisco Motors has not said which test cycle produced the 400km, 500km and 600km-plus figures. Electric vehicles built on Chinese platforms usually quote the CLTC standard, which typically reads 15–25 percent higher than the WLTP figures used in Europe. Until the company names the cycle, real-world Philippine range — in traffic, with air conditioning running — is unknown.
- Charging. A "30-minute fast charge" in the industry normally means 20 percent to 80 percent, not empty to full. Charging slows sharply above 80 percent to protect the battery cells.
Where the Elektron lands in the Philippine EV market
The timing is not accidental. Battery electric vehicle sales here are climbing quickly. In the January–June 2026 sales report from the Chamber of Automotive Manufacturers of the Philippines (CAMPI) and the Truck Manufacturers Association (TMA), VinFast led with 3,342 BEV units, followed by Tesla with 2,374 and OMODA & JAECOO with 1,484.
Against that field, a ₱1,947,000 asking price puts the Elektron Deluxe in the same bracket as mainstream imported crossovers rather than in budget territory. Government policy is pushing the same direction: the Electric Vehicle Industry Development Act (Republic Act 11697) underpins a roadmap targeting roughly 2.5 million electric vehicles on Philippine roads by 2040, and lawmakers have floated further incentives — see our earlier report on the Senate bill proposing free toll lanes and parking discounts for EVs.
What is still missing
For a Filipino buyer weighing a reservation, the gaps matter more than the spec sheet:
- No confirmed delivery date. Francisco Motors has not published a customer delivery window.
- No completed regulatory clearance. Land Transportation Office homologation must be finished before retail units can be registered and delivered.
- No named manufacturing partner. The company has not identified who builds the platform or where final assembly happens.
- No published prices for the Basic and Fashion trims.
The Elektron is a genuine milestone — a Filipino brand putting its name on a modern electric SUV rather than importing one. But at this stage it is an unveiling and a reservation programme, not a car you can buy and drive home. Treat the ₱1,947 as a deposit on a promise, and wait for the homologated production specification before deciding.
