Hyundai Becomes First Carmaker To Offer Fully Electric "Hyundai Kona"
Country's second largest passenger car maker—Hyundai Motor India—has become the first Indian car maker to have launched country's first fully electric SUV called Kona at an introductory price of Rs 25.3 lakh (ex-showroom and inclusive of GST). The dual tone colour option would fetch additional Rs 20,000, the company said on July 9, Tuesday, in a gala launch event at Greater Noida, near Delhi.
Hyundai claims that Kona will offer a range of 452 km/charge. It said an 80 per cent charge can be achieved in 57 minutes with DC quick charger, using the CCS type II charging port. The bookings will open tonight via the website, senior executive of Hyundai India said. Initially, the car will be available in Delhi, Mumbai, Kolkata and Chennai but will soon be made available across seven more towns.
Kona comes in India through Part-by-Part import and then assembled at Hyundai’s Chennai plant. Hyundai is also exploring the option to source EV components locally to keep the costs low. Hyundai will be retailing the Kona through select 15 dealerships in 11 cities with necessary EV infrastructure and support. However, the numbers could be increased after seeing the demand. The Hyundai Kona comes loaded with features like 17.7 cm floating touchscreen infotainment system with Apple CarPlay and Android Auto, heated and ventilated seats, sunroof and more. As for safety features, it gets six airbags, ABS with EBD, ESC, blind spot detection, hill-start assist, reverse camera, TPMS.
Hyundai is collaborating with IOCL to set up public chargers. Hyundai said four such charging stations will be coming up soon (by next month) in the selected cities.
Addressing the media queries on the charging issues, senior Hyundai executives informed that a 7.2 kW level-II AC wall box charger, installed in home or office, will take 6 hours and 10 minutes to charge up to 80 per cent of the battery. However, Hyundai Kona can be charged by plugging a 2.8 kW portable charger into a normal wall socket. The car is equipped with in-cable control box (ICCB) that takes 19 hour for a full charge. The charging port integrated in the front grills. Under the roof, Kona boosts state-of-art features like bridge type centre console, leather wrapped steering wheel and seats, soft touch dashboard. In case the driver is alone in the ride, he/she may opt to ‘driver only’ air conditioning option. The 10-way power driver seat comes with lumbar support.
The lithium-ion polymer battery with a capacity of 39.2 kWh delivers 136 PS of maximum power and 395Nm of torque. Hyundai says Kona Electric is sufficiently powered to reach 100 kmph from start in 9.7 seconds. Kona uses a shift-by-wire automatic transmission and electric parking brake apart from a one-pedal drive. The driver has four modes to choose from: Eco and Eco+: The mode maximises efficiency through ultra-energy saving Comfort: A balanced efficiency and performance Sports: Powers for quick acceleration The South Korean auto major is providing standard three years/unlimited kilometre warranty besides 24X7 road side assistance for the same time period. The manufacturer is also extending an additional (optional) eight years/ 1,60,000 km (whichever earlier) battery warranty. Made of ultra-high tensile strength steel, Kona electric offers high impact energy absorption in situations of collisions. Hyundai claims the cabin is especially designed to disperse energy to reduce impact. Six airbags (driver, passenger, front side and curtain), electronic stability control, vehicle stability management, hill-assist control, Isofix and virtual engine sound system are standard safety features on board. Kona Electric is already available in global market in two motor trims - 100 kW (power: 39.2 kWh) and 150 (power: 64kWh). The SUV was first unveiled at Geneva motor show 2018.
