[yd_gli]

The pricing is alright when compared to global prices and credit to Hyundai for taking the lead on bringing a global spec EV to India. Yes, the Prius was here earlier but the I think the form factor of the Kona will appeal to Indians far more than the Prius. Needless to say the Prius pricing was whack for the time.



Although, I still believe the EV phase in India must be brought in by the base of the pyramid rather than the top. The government needs to be forced into developing the necessary charging infrastructure and that can only happen when the mass audience (two wheelers and three wheelers) start wanting and buying EV vehicles. The Athers and Bajajs of India will be the ones to bring about this change better than the premium EV SUVs and sedans. Until the government takes this up on a war footing and the common man adopts an EV two/three wheeler, cars like the Kona will only remain novelties on the road.

[SpideyBoy]

Here comes the drive reviews from ACI and Over Drive.

ACI Review

Step into the rear, and the Kona's other weaknesses are revealed. The door cavity is a bit narrow, and because of the raised floor height (to accommodate the battery pack), you’re seated quite low, in a knees-up position. Knee- and legroom are tight, and there’s no space under the front seats for passengers to tuck their feet in. Its 332-litre boot is large enough to haul a family’s weekend luggage, and the Kona gets a space-saver beneath the boot floor.

It’s even possible to drive the Kona with just the one pedal (the accelerator), thanks to regenerative braking function. Paddleshifters are offered; they aren't used to change gears but to alter the intensity of regenerative braking. Uniquely, it’s even possible to brake and come to a complete halt by pulling the left paddle. The actual brakes feel a bit grabby, but there’s some lull in the pedal feel initially.

OverDrive

At the BIC on the racetrack, the range drops scarily fast, but then I don't suppose much pedal to metal driving in real-world conditions would ever take place. Either way, you have four driving modes to select from. Eco+, Eco, Normal and Sport. The latter being the most fun to drive mode while the foremost gives you the maximum range. Handling is brilliant, the Kona rides on 225/65 R17 tyres and while the tyres are low rolling resistance, these Nexen's still have a wide dynamic range to offer fantastic stability. I can't comment on the ride quality and how it feels since we haven't driven on road yet. There isn't much body roll however and the car overall feels well balanced and precise. Even the steering does not have the traditional lackluster feel strongly associated with most Hyundai's, its precise, weighs up well at speed and has this substantial feel when you grip it. There is also little understeer, even when pushed reasonably hard into corners. What I did like is that thanks to the placement of the batteries under the floorpan the weight of the Kona feels like it is centred low and spread evenly. Plus it has a fairly large footprint with a 2,600mm wheelbase and 1565mm(f)/1575mm(r) track length.

Both of them have their driving limited to the racetrack should see how the handling is in the city.

[CrAzY dRiVeR]

With Hyundai getting the pricing almost right, now it will be really interesting to see how MG places their eZS in the Indian market.

Surely they can't directly rival Hyundai, nor can they afford to make their second launch a dummy showroom flagship. Now that brings eZS down to Compass territory?

[volkman10]

Hyundai Kona review,

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8hajv5GxWdw

[superbad]

Originally Posted by Sankar

Where road tax exemption is provided the money thus saved can be used to set up a solar plant on the roof if feasible.

Not possible, this car requires around 40 units to charge completely, while the max supply capacity of a typical home rooftop solar installation (costing about a lakh) is around 1-2 units. A solar plant capable of powering this thing will cost at least 10l.

[pseudo_coder]

Originally Posted by superbad

Not possible, this car requires around 40 units to charge completely, while the max supply capacity of a typical home rooftop solar installation (costing about a lakh) is around 1-2 units. A solar plant capable of powering this thing will cost at least 10l.

By 1-2 units, do you mean the battery capacity of the installation?

[ksameer1234]

Originally Posted by superbad

Not possible, this car requires around 40 units to charge completely, while the max supply capacity of a typical home rooftop solar installation (costing about a lakh) is around 1-2 units. A solar plant capable of powering this thing will cost at least 10l.

A 5kw rooftop solar pv setup would cost around 2-3L depending on subsidies. Even if it generates peak power for only 8 hrs, 40 units of electricity would be generated, enough for fully charging the car everyday.

While Kona isn't cheap, it should have reasonable long term savings to justify initial. Additional policy level support from municipality to national level would only tip scales in favour of electric vehicles.

[superbad]

By 1-2 units, do you mean the battery capacity of the installation?

One unit = 1 KWh
An average 2 KW home roof top solar panel will be able to generate a maximum of 2000 watts of power, that too during the max sunshine hours (say 10 am - 4 pm). Using this power you can charge any battery (car, home inverter etc), however assuming no power factor loss it will take at least 20 hours to charge a 40 KWh battery. Obviously there is no sunshine for 20 hrs at a stretch. Now you can add bigger/more solar panels to pump up the power to enable charging in a lesser time, however the costs balloon up equivalently. So it's not practical to charge this car via solar power.

A 5kw rooftop solar pv setup would cost around 2-3L depending on subsidies

A cursory glance at online prices reveal the average price to be around Rs 100,000 / KWh. IMHO, peak power won't be generated for 8 hours, more like max 6.

[aarvee]

Originally Posted by superbad

Not possible, this car requires around 40 units to charge completely, while the max supply capacity of a typical home rooftop solar installation (costing about a lakh) is around 1-2 units. A solar plant capable of powering this thing will cost at least 10l.

Not really. A 10 kW solar plant is sufficient to generate 40-45 units a day. As on date, this should not cost more than 3.5 to 4 lakh.

[abhishek46]

Given the high cost of batteries, and the technology associated with the platform as a whole, the pricing is acceptable.

If Suzuki would have access to this car/platform, the first thing they would have done is to stretched the chassis with some cheap jugaads and turned it into an MPV, 4.3m SUV, 4.4m Sedan instantly.

[Rehaan]

Originally Posted by NAVREVV

Will Hyundai come to my rescue?

In theory, yes.

If you see the left side of the image shared by Volkman10, it mentions Road Side Assistance (RSA) - which is 24x7.


What the quantity and locations of these charging vans is remains to be seen.

Originally Posted by Durango Dude

Now, isn't Hyundai lying about that range of 452 kms?

Hyundai isn't lying. It's the ARAI testing procedure that isn't close to real-world accurate.

If ARAI had said the range was only 190km - Hyundai would have to quote that figure too.

Now, it might seem like they are really going to town advertising the 452 km figure since it's hugely in their favour, however, you have to realise that even internationally the RANGE of the Kona is its strongest selling point, and so that's where a lot of the marketing emphasis is.

The unfortunate part is that a lot of the Indian media are blindly shouting the "452 km range" figure, without even mentioning that the real world range would be roughly 65% of that.

[braindead]

We have a 4Kw PV array at our house. We generate about 20 to 30 units of electricity per day if its not too cloudy. In the monsoon we generate less than 10 units per day.

A way to look at this is to have the car charge not just on the PV plant, but have the PV plant fill in for the electricity consumed. So any size of PV plant helps. I see a big jump in the number of PV plants being put up thanks to electric vehicles.

[drhoneycake]

Got these pics from my Wife. They had a promotional event near her office.

Observations made by her:-
- Looks very nice (she loved the looks, but not this colour)
- slightly bigger than the i20 Active in size
- Typical Hyundai fit and finish
- lot of interest generated around the car
- interiors and dashboard have a nice and functional layout.
- No conventional gear lever, just buttons for P,R,D
- Typical Hyundai AVN system, does not have the new one that is seen on the Venue
- Digital Instrument Cluster

Overall, she loved the car, it’s funky looks, feature set and that it stands out from all the cars in a nice way. Really don’t need a new car now.

[yajaman99]

The Trident Showroom in Yelahanka has got demo cars. I was passing by there today evening and stopped on by. The test drive vehicle was out and about so no test drive.
However got to see the car in the showroom.
It is little bigger or maybe the same size as an I20. Rear leg room space is not there.
the boot was not opening due to some battery issue.
The driving position is nice and feels good. Power seat adjustment.
The center console is neat and reminds be of Knight Rider with a whole lot of buttons one can push.

I asked what was the average cost of a full charge, rough calculation was 320KM approx Rs 150. Approx 2rs/km.
My average monthly drive is 2000KM, which means 4000Rs compared to my diesel cost of Rs 10000 to Rs 12000.
The cost difference from a Creta SX+ AT CRDI to Kona approximate 8Lacs.

If my lease was getting over i would try to get Kona, but i need to wait two years.
By that time the Kona would be more mainstream and hopefully price would drop (wishful thinking).
The Hector EZ in my view is too big and i am sure the price would be 30L+.

So although the car market is not doing to good the electrical market is the way of the future.

[Ragavsr]

Originally Posted by yajaman99

I asked what was the average cost of a full charge, rough calculation was 320KM approx Rs 150. Approx 2rs/km.
My average monthly drive is 2000KM, which means 4000Rs compared to my diesel cost of Rs 10000 to Rs 12000

Isn't it 50 paise per km. Please check your post.

However, use the electricity tariff per kwH for the highest tariff slab for a proper estimate. That in Bangalore would be over 6 rupees per kwH.