Hyundai Kona to be India’s first locally manufactured EV

Ready for launch in the next 3-4 months, will be made in Chennai

The Indian automobile market is fast adapting to changes and one such key area is of greener cars. While the government has been working hard to curb pollution by implementing stricter emission norms, manufacturers also have greener hybrids and pure electric vehicles lined up for launch in the next two years. Hyundai seems to have an upper hand in being the first one to launch a locally made electric vehicle.

The Hyundai Kona is a successful EV globally and will be launched in India by mid 2019. It will be manufactured at the company’s Chennai plant and an investment of  Rs 7000 crore has been planned for the same. The Kona EV will also pave the way for future EVs in India and companies like Maruti are already testing electric vehicles for the past few months.

The Hyundai Kona EV will come with a 39kWh motor for the India market and this will put out about 134 bhp of power. Most importantly, the Kona EV will erase the biggest shortcoming of an electric vehicle and this is the real world range. The Kona promises to deliver a real world range of 250-300km which means a typical user will have to charge it up every 3-4 days. The charge itself will take about half an hour if using the quick charging method. Solves your problem, eh?

Because the Kona EV will be made in India, as a customer, you will not have to pay for import taxes and custom duties. Even then, we expect the Kona to be priced in the Rs 15-20 lakh range, making it rather expensive for a small SUV. This is due to the high cost of batteries and an electric motor set-up. But look at the brighter side : it has zero emissions and will offer extremely low running cost, allowing an owner to save as much as half a lakh each year over a similar sized petrol vehicle. Plus, bragging rights in front of your friends!