Hyundai launches Kona Electric at 2019 BIMS

KUALA LUMPUR: Hyundai has launched Kona Electric in Thailand at the ongoing 2019 BIMS (Bangkok International Motor Show). It is a battery powered EV version of Hyundai’s compact Kona crossover. In Malaysia, the car was showcased at the 2018 KLIMS.

Hyundai Kona Electric is one of the popular EVs in the market. It came out as a production model in February last year. Fueling the EV is a 64 kWh battery, which claims to provide an overall driving range of around 482 kilometres. However, there is also a base variant that comes with a 39.2 kWh battery, which can provide 312 km of driving range in a single charge.

The charging time for the 64 kWh battery is nine hours forty minutes, while the smaller one takes only six hours ten minutes to be charged fully, by using the 7.2 kW on-board-charger. However, the batteries can also be charged by the 100 kW DC (CCS) fast charger, which takes only 54 minutes to refill up to 80%.

The top-spec powertrain is capable of churning out a maximum power of 240 PS along with a peak torque of 395 Nm. It can speed up from 0 to 100 kmph in just 7.6 seconds. The base variant pushes out a maximum power of 136 PS, while the peak torque in this variant sticks at 395 Nm.

Speaking of the features, the Kona Electric comes with a wide range of equipment such as a seven-inch Supervision cluster color LCD meter panel, all-LED lighting, wireless charging, button-operated shift-by-wire, tyre pressure monitoring system, head-up display, a seven-inch touchscreen head unit integrated with Apple CarPlay and Android Auto support, a single-pedal driving system, and many more.

The Thai market has both the variants of Kona Electric car. The shorter range variant is named as SE (39.2 kWh battery), which costs around 1.849 million baht (equivalent to RM 237,285). Whereas, the top-spec version termed as SEL (64 kWh battery), has 2.259 million baht (RM 289,916) of a price tag. The manufacturer has provided eight years or 160,000 km warranty for the battery of the EV.