When Hyundai staged the North American debut of the
Kona Electric at the New York Auto Show, the company said the model would be
able to travel approximately 402 km between charges. That was an impressive figure and
it turns out the final numbers are even more substantial. As noticed by
Electrek, the official EPA numbers are out and the model will have a range of 415 km.
That puts the Kona Electric at the top of the pack
as the model can travel 32 km further than the Chevrolet Bolt and 172 km more than the Nissan Leaf. More impressively, the Kona
Electric can travel more than three times further than the Fiat 500e which has
a range of just 135 km.
While Hyundai’s EV has the competition beat on
range, it’s a closer match in terms of efficiency. The EPA says the Kona
Electric has an MPGe rating of 132 city, 108 highway and 120 combined. The
Bolt, on the other hand, is rated at 128 city, 110 highway and 120 combined. Those
figures are pretty close and the EPA notes both models have an annual ‘fuel’
cost of approximately US$ 550 (£ 427/€ 476).
Pricing remains the big unknown, but we’ll likely
find out how much the Kona Electric will cost closer to its launch this fall.
Regardless, the model will have a 64 kWh lithium-ion battery pack which powers
an electric motor that develops 201 hp and 392 Nm of torque.
Of course, the electric powertrain does have some
downsides as Hyundai says it will take approximately 9 hours and 35 minutes to
recharge the battery pack with a Level 2 charger. However, that time can be
reduced to just 54 minutes with a Level 3 100kW rapid charger.
