ON-TEST: HYUNDAI KONA EV
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Kona cracks conundrum by delivering affordable EV range Hyundai has delivered just what the fleet sector ordered, says Andrew Walker The first EV I got to drive was the Nissan Leaf, back in 2012. The range was a claimed 100 miles, although in the real world this was more likely to be around 65-70 miles and you really needed to drive conservatively, especially on the motorway, to achieve even that. The Mk2 Leaf improved this, with a range of 125 miles, but about 100 miles being achievable. While not perfect, what the Leaf proved was that the market for EVs was definitely there; customers really wanted an affordable family car, preferably one that looked like an SUV, with a decent EV range of between 200 and 300 miles. Step forward, then, the Hyundai Kona EV, which was launched in late 2018 and was the first fully-electric sub-compact SUV in Europe. With a more realistic price point of £34,695 – before the Government grant of £3,000 – for the entry level SE, with a 39kW battery, the Kona EV was the first affordable electric car that offered a 200-mile range. As fleet customers are more likely to want a greater range than 200 miles, Hyundai loaned us the range-topping Premium model, fitted with the larger capacity 64kW battery. This offers a claimed range of nearly 250+ miles and retails at £38,900, again, before the government grant of £3,000. At first glance the Kona EV looks just as attractive from the outside as the petrol Kona. It shares all the same overall design cues, apart from the lack of a front grille on the electric www.companycarandvan.co.uk
version, where the charging plug is located. Inside, too, the EV mirrors the petrol Kona with a functional, well laid-out dashboard and on-trend connectivity and tech. There’s a reach-and-rake steering wheel and the electrically adjustable seats mean that there’s no reason you can’t get comfortable in this car. The dashboard fixtures and fittings are pleasantly finished, in a mix of hard and soft touch plastics, in a colour combination of silver and grey. The seats and steering wheel, are finished in light grey leather.The quality is good, as you’d expect from a Korean car, with the infotainment screen, steering wheel controls and general layout familiar to anyone who’s driven other Hyundai or KIA models before. There are some notable differences in the cabin, between the EV and petrol models. There’s no traditional gear selector, just four buttons located between the front seats, offering a choice of Drive, Reverse, Park or Neutral. There’s also three drive modes: Eco, Comfort and Sport, which can be selected using a switch just behind the electric parking brake. The Kona EV also comes with clever steering-wheel mounted paddles to increase or decrease the braking regeneration. This gives
TECH DATA Hyundai Kona Price:
from £34,695
CO2:
0g/km
Running cost: 92p per mile BIK: 0%
you a choice of four regenerative levels: 0, 1, 2 or 3. As we discovered, the lower settings work best on the motorway or open roads, the higher ones best in urban areas or in slowmoving traffic. As far as practicality in the cabin goes, the Kona EV offers a decent-sized glove box, an armrest box in the centre binnacle, a small push-shut cubby in front of the gear buttons, which hides the aux-in, USB and phone charger, as well as two smallish door pockets, big enough for one bottle of water each. In the rear the door pockets are slim, as are the storage nets on the rear of the front seats, so not a lot of useful storage is actually offered in the back. The Premium model comes very well kitted out with a long list of goodies, including the battery-reducing heated front seats and a heated steering wheel. There’s also an Auto Hold function for the automatic hand brake. The heating controls can be adjusted to just warm or cool the driver’s side of the car which is energy saving and a nice touch. In common with all EV cars, when it’s cold outside, your EV warms up a lot faster than a petrol or diesel car. The inside of the driver’s door features buttons that control the electrically folding wing mirrors, four electric windows, window lock and the car lock/unlock button. On the right of the dashboard are a row of switches that include Lane Departure Warning, which we always turn off, and something called VESS, which I discovered stands for Virtual Engine Sound System. When activated your EV to emits a noise to warn pedestrians of your presence. Continued on page 18 Company Car & Van | July 2020 | 17
