Hyundai India has launched the much anticipated Kona all-electric SUV in India and we bring you the top 5 things to know about the car
Hyundai Motors has launched the much awaited Kona Electric in India today at Rs 25.30 lakh (ex-showroom, India) and is calling the Kona Electric as the ‘India’s first real electric SUV’. With an all-electric range of 452 Km in a single charge (ARAI certified), Hyundai Kona has no direct competition in sight.
On top of that, the South Korean auto major is offering a lot of after-sales support initiatives to address the apprehensions of the electric car buyers in India. Set to join the Hyundai’s exhaustive list of SUVs including Venue, Creta, and the Tucson, there’s a lot to be known about the Hyundai Kona Electric. Here’s the Top 5 things to know about the newly launched all-electric SUV of India-
1. Electric Range
Contrary to some reports, Hyundai India is offering the Kona Electric SUV with a 39.2 kWh battery pack that gets an all-electric ARAI certified mileage of 452 Km on a full charge. There’s also a 64 kWh battery available elsewhere, but there’s no plan to bring that same in India. However, the bigger battery pack offers a range of 575 km on a full charge.
The 39.2 kWh pack is good to produce a peak power of 134.13 bhp and 395 Nm of torque and does 0-100 kmph in 9.7 seconds. The batteries get a liquid cooling system that is installed at the front bay, where an IC Engine is usually placed in a conventional petrol/ diesel vehicle.
2. Charging Options
Hyundai India is offering the Kona buyer’s two chargers with the SUV – a portable charger that can be fitted in a regular 3-pin socket available everywhere and a 7kWh AC Wall Box Charger. While the portable charger can be placed inside the car for emergency or travelling purposes, the AC Wall Box has to be fitted to the place of your choice, either home or office.
There’s a third, much faster DC Charger available but can’t be installed at a house and so will installed at various dealer outlets for support. As for the charging, the Hyundai Kona can be charged using the home installed 7kWh charger in 6 hours. The same charger can top up the battery with an additional 50 km range in under 1 hour.
The portable charger, on the other hand is the slowest one can add 50 km range in under 3 hours. The fastest among the three is the DC charger, which can charge the SUV up to 80% in just 57 minutes. The same kind of chargers will be installed at fuel pumps, dealers, roadside and parking spots and can be used for any electric vehicle that supports fast charging.
3. After-Sales Support
To make an EV successful in India, manufacturers have to break the initial inhabitations of the buyers and that can only be done by offering string after-sales support. To start with Hyundai India is offering 3 years/ unlimited kilometres vehicle warranty and 3 years/ 160,000 kilometres battery warranty with the Hyundai Kona. Also, Hyundai will only offer the Kona through limited dealerships with proper infrastructure to support EVs.
Hyundai will be retailing the Kona through select 15 dealerships in 11 cities initially and of them will be installed with fast chargers. These dealerships will also deploy Kona Electric support vehicles in select cities for emergency charging.
Hyundai has also partnered with Map My India to display Kona Electric compatible charging stations on HMIL website and mobile app. Hyundai has also partnered with fuel company IOCL to install fast chargers at select fuel pumps across India.
4. Features
Apart from the electric bit, the Hyundai Kona is a feature loaded car and is offered with gadgets like a floating 17.7 cm touchscreen infotainment system with Apple CarPlay and Android Auto, heated and ventilated seats, sunroof, LED DRLs and headlights and more.
For safety, Hyundai gets six airbags, ABS with EBD, ESC, blind spot detection, hill-start assist, reverse camera, TPMS and virtual sound for pedestrian safety. The Kona Electric also gets four drive modes to choose from – Eco, Eco Plus, Comfort and Sport. One can also use individual AC system to lower down the battery consumption.
5. Price and Competition
The Hyundai Kona is priced at Rs 25.30 Lakh (ex-showroom, India) for single tone paint scheme and Rs 25.50 Lakh (ex-showroom, India) for dual tone paint scheme. The Kona comes in India through a CBU route (completely built unit) and can be assembled at Hyundai’s Chennai plant later.
As for the competition, there’s no direct competition to the Kona as of now. However, purely on the price perspective Hyundai Kona competes against the Jeep Compass, Honda CR-V and Volkswagen Tiguan.