Hyundai Kona Electric now offered with Rs. 1.5 lakh discount

Hyundai is now offering a cash discount of Rs. 1.5 lakhs on their Kona Electric. It is currently the only electric vehicle in its portfolio. The discount is only being offered on MY2020 Kona Electric. Having said that if you opt for the white colour one you will only get a discount of Rs. 50,000. Hyundai currently is offering discounts on all of its vehicles.

Hyundai was one of the first manufacturers to launch a pure electric vehicle in the Indian market. The Kona Electric was launched in July 2019. The crossover comes with a 39.2 kWh battery pack that produces a max power output of 136 PS of max power and a peak torque output of 395 Nm. The front wheels are driven via a single-speed gearbox. It has a claimed ARAI range of 452 km and can a hit 100 Kmph in just 9.7 seconds. Being an electric vehicle you would need to charge the Kona Electric. There are three charging options available. The 50 kW fast charger can charge the car’s battery to 80 percent in 57 minutes. Then there is the 7.2 kW AC charger that Hyundai can install at your home.

It will take 6 hours and 10 minutes to fully charge your vehicle. So, you can charge the car whenever you are at home. Then there is the 2.8 kW charger which is small and portable so that you can carry it wherever you go. However, it does take a lot of time to charge up the Kona. The charger can be plugged directly into a regular wall socket charger and will take 19 hours to reach 100 percent battery. Hyundai offers various driving modes that can alter the driving characteristics. There are 4 driving modes on offer namely Eco, Eco+, Comfort and Sport. There are paddle shifters also but they are not to change the gears(as it is a single-speed gearbox), the paddle shifters alter the level of regenerative braking.

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There is loads of equipment on offer such as automatic climate control, 10-way power-adjustable driver’s seat with lumbar support, electric sunroof, rear AC vents, LED headlamps with LED Daytime Running Lamps, LED tail lamps, ventilated front seats, cruise control and much more. Hyundai Kona Electric starts from Rs. 23.75 Lakhs ex-showroom. It currently competes with the MG ZS EV which costs Rs. 20.88 lakhs ex-showroom. Yes, both the SUVs are quite expensive. However, that is where Nexon EV from Tata Motors come in. The Nexon EV is priced at Rs. 13.99 lakhs ex-showroom.

We would have to accept the fact that the future of the vehicles is electric. Yes, India lacks the charging infrastructure, but that will develop slowly. Highway minister Nitin Gadkari has already confirmed that the EV giant Tesla will be entering the Indian market this year. He also said that “India is going to become a number 1 manufacturing hub for auto in five years.” We assume that Tesla will be importing the cars at first through a CBU unit and if they import only 2,500 units they would be able to price it a bit lower. Tesla had opened the bookings for Model 3 for India a few years back. So, we assume that it will be the Model 3 that will be coming to India first.

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