While there have been plenty of reports of an upcoming Kia Seltos EV, there could also be a Hyundai Creta electric in the pipeline that will share its powertrain with its Kia cousin
By now, it has become quite widely known that Kia has been working on electrifying the Seltos in order to tap the electric vehicles market. Well, It’s quite probable that the Seltos EV will be sold in India, where it will be positioned below the Kona EV but, possibly, much above the Nexon EV. This will give the buyers of electric cars in the country a new option in the market.
However, the influx of new EVs won’t end here. As you would know already, the Kia Seltos and the second-gen Hyundai Creta share a lot between themselves. Both the SUVs are based on the same platform and even offer the same engine options. Not just this, even much of their features list is identical to each other. All this clearly means that if a Kia Seltos EV is in the pipeline, an electric Creta isn’t far either.
In fact, it makes brilliant sense for Hyundai Motor India Ltd to come up with an electric car positioned below the Kona, which, quite frankly, is way out of reach of most car buyers. The Hyundai Creta will share its battery pack and electric motor with the Kia Seltos, which, in turn, will source the electric powertrain from the Niro EV.
Production of the Seltos Electric is expected to begin as soon as in August 2020 and its local launch could be a bit more than a year away from us. What this also means is that even the Creta EV won’t be too far from us.
China could be the first market to receive the Hyundai Creta EV towards the end of this year. It may be noted here that in China, the Creta is sold as the ix25 and the second generation of the hot-selling small SUV has already been present in its gasoline format in China since long before its local introduction.
The Kia e-Niro aka Niro EV gets its power from a 356 Volt, 64 kWh battery pack that is mated to an electric motor that can generate a maximum power of 204 PS and a peak torque of 395 Nm. As per the company, the EV has a driving range of 455 km on a full charge. Visually, the electric version won’t be too different from the Creta EV, with the most apparent differences arising out of a new grille and the badges,