The Canadian media launch of the new Hyundai Kona took place mere weeks ago, and already the automaker is announcing the arrival to the North American market of its all-electric variant. Simultaneous presentations at the New York and Vancouver auto shows confirmed that consumers on this side of the Atlantic will benefit from its 400-km range.
At the NYC show, the surprise appearance of the electric Kona actually - and ironically - took some of the spotlight away from the company’s reveals of the new Santa Fe and Tucson SUVs.
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The model will debut at dealerships in the latter part of 2018 as a 2019 model. That 400-km range comes courtesy of an 150-kW electric motor and a high-tension 64-kWh lithium-ion battery. Output is listed at 201 hp and 291 lb-ft of torque. Charging time is estimated at 55 minutes to get 80% charge when using a Level 3 charging station, and close to 10 hours on a Level 2 station.
The vehicle will feature a generous list of equipment, one of them a touchscreen that includes the ever-more-essential Apple CarPlay and Android Auto. In terms of safety, the Kona Electric will get the Hyundai Smart Sense suite of systems; included in these are forward collision warning with pedestrian detection, lane keep assist, blind spot warning, rear cross-traffic collision avoidance assist and more.
No prices have been announced for the Kona Electric by its manufacturer. We expect Hyundai will have more on that front as we get close to commercial launch date.
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