Hyundai i10 electric at Auto Expo 2010

Hyundai i10 electric car launch at Auto Expo 2010

This is something which we wrote about almost an year back when we wrote a detailed article about electric cars in India. And then we totally forgot about it.

Latest Auto Expo 2010 News

The Hyundai i10 electric will be launched at the upcoming Auto Expo 2010. For all purposes, the company seems to be serious about this car – and the car itself seems like a valid proposition. Specifications for the little i10 electric are already available, so then it would come down to the price – and other practical issues with owning an electric car.

The Hyundai i10 has been very popular in India ever since its launch, in all its versions. The company introduced the electric i10 small car at the 2009 Frankfurt Motor Show. The car is expected to go on sale in South Korea in 2010 – and that would be around when it would land on Indian roads too.

The Hyundai i10 electric car is provided thanks to a 16kWh lithium ion polymer battery, co-developed with LG, which drives a 49kW / 65 bhp motor. That is a bit anemic, but probably the car does not have any gears – making all its torque available at the start itself.

One of the critical parameters for the success of an electric car is its maximum driving range per full charge. The Hyundai i10 electric offers a max range of 160 kilometers per charge – that means small inter-city runs are a real possibility for this electric car. That is something the Reva electric cars could never do – even though the upcoming Reva NXR and NXG could change that. Top speed for the i10 electric car is a claimed 130 kmph – not bad at all, again. 100 kmph is achieved in some 15 seconds – good enough, not too slow.

With 220 V charging, a full charge for the Hyundai i10 electric would take around 5 hours. That is a night overnight charging cycle. Apartment dwellers obviously would find charging the i10 electric a problem.

Much would depend on the price. As the i10 is manufactured in India, it might be possible for Hyundai to price the electric variant close to that of the petrol variant.

Another electric car which would make an appearance in prototype form at the Auto Expo 2010 is the Chevrolet Spark Electric (may be called Electra). This too is expected to offer similar performance to the i10 electric. The Tata Indica electric car which we have talked about several times earlier might make an appearance, but a launch is not expecte anytime soon.

We expect the Hyundai i10 electric to be a major crowd-puller at the Auto Expo – and if Hyundai can get the pricing spot-on, this could be our favourite car of the year.