Hyundai Kona Electric SUV to be built in India

Hyundai Kona, which will become the brand’s first full-electric vehicle in the Indian market will be launched in the Indian market later this year. The second-largest automobile manufacturer in India is planning to manufacture the all-new Kona EV in India. Hyundai is expected to launch the all-new Hyundai Kona EV in the Indian market in the second half of 2018 and it will be manufactured at Hyundai’s Chennai plant.

To set up the production line for the Kona, Hyundai India will invest as much as Rs. 7,000 crores. The overall capacity of the plant will rise by 1 lakh units and 1,500 new jobs are expected to be created with the expansion. Currently, the production capacity of Hyundai’s Chennai plant is around 7 lakh units and many models are exported from the same factory.

Hyundai India will initially manufacture the Kona EV for the domestic market but the electric SUV will be exported from India to various different markets too. The Hyundai Kona was showcased at the 2018 Auto Expo but it was not an EV model. The Indian market is expected to get only the EV model of the Kona and the price is expected to be around Rs. 20-25 lakhs. It is not yet known if the vehicle will be manufactured completely in the Indian market or it will be assembled after importing Completely Knocked Down (CKD) kits of the SUV. If the vehicle is manufactured locally in India from the scratch and Hyundai sources locally made parts for the Kona, it can come with an attractive price tag. However, importing the vehicle in any form will increase the price.

The Kona gets two powertrains but we are not sure which one will be made available in the Indian market. There is a short range trim that gets a 133 Bhp power and gets a 39.2 kWh battery pack. It can do a maximum of 300 km on a full charge. The short range variant can do 0-100 km/h in just 9.3 seconds. It takes 6 hours to charge the battery pack completely.

Hyundai also offers a long-range version in the international markets. It gets a 64 kWh battery pack and 201 Bhp electric motor. It gets a range of 470 km. The long-range version can do 0-100 km/h in just 7.6 seconds with a top speed of 167 km/h. It takes around 9 hours to get fully charged. Hyundai also offers fast charging set-up with both the versions of the car. It can charge up to 80 per cent in less than an hour.

With the lack of charging facilities for cars India, the launch of the long-range version will be more practical but it will also increase the price of the vehicle. The launch of Kona and the market response to the electric SUV will path the way for the launch of future electric vehicles in the Indian market.

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