Your move Elon? Put decent tyres on it first

Wednesday, 19 September 2018

Hyundai Kona Electric Elite

Base price: $79,990

Powertrain and performance: 64kWh Lithium-ion battery pack with Permanent Magnet Synchronous Motor, 150kW/395Nm, direct drive, FWD.

No grilles here. The Kona Electric gets a distinctive look front and rear.

Vital statistics: 4180mm long, 1570mm high, 2600mm wheelbase, luggage capacity 332 litres, 17-inch alloy wheels with 215/55 tyres.

We like: Extraordinarily useful range. Looks different, but not weird. So close to actually being fun to drive, but…

We don't like: …the awful eco tyres ruin that. Takes a LOT of charging.

If you were ever going to have stronger mainstream success with an all-electric vehicle, it would make sense to make one that slots into the hottest segment, in terms of sales and popularity, right? So that is exactly what Hyundai has done with the all-new Kona Electric - a small, all-electric SUV.

Hyundai claims 400km real world range from the Kona Electric, which is easily achievable in everyday driving.

So it's a small SUV and an EV, does that mean that, by law, it has to be weird looking?

Fair question, after all, the Kona Electric sits in two segments where looking weird would almost seem to be compulsory, but it actually manages to look appealing, yet different and distinctive, without delving too deeply into the weird-for-the-sake-of-it bag of tricks..

**READ MORE

The Kona Electric does a lot of things right. Except picking tyres.

* Move over Tesla? Hyundai's Kona EV can go 400km on a single charge

* Hyundai Kona is a baby-SUV that's born to be mild

* Would Iron Man drive a Kona? Hyundai thinks so**

Grilles? EVs don't need no stinkin' grilles! But rather than simply a blank bit of plastic where the grille would be (Ioniq) or a weird vaguely grille-shaped void (Tesla), Hyundai has gone for some texture, some chrome and a strong identity that is arguably their boldest design decision on the Kona Electric and one that gives it that distinct look.

The Electric's interior is a mix of standard Kona and EV bits, like the awkward push button transmission selector.

That said, it's still not going to appeal to everyone (styling's like that), but it shows that you can be distinctive without being plain weird.

That 400km range has to be handy though, right?

Yeah, but there is a catch - while you don't necessarily need to charge every day, if you let it get too low you could be in for a long wait.

While similarly-ranged Teslas have the Supercharger network that jams the electricity in at an alarming rate, no such uber-chargers exist for the Kona - a DC fast charger will take the Kona from nothing to 80 per cent in around an hour (forget waiting for that final 20 per cent though), but at home the best most people will do with an AC fast charger is around 8 to 9 hours.

Just like an ordinary Kona from this angle, but a tiny bit lower.

This still means that you are best to plug the Kona in each night at home, but don't have to panic if you forget and have the ability to head off on a longer trip, as long as you know where a fast charger is to get you back again, because plugging it straight into a domestic wall socket will take a colossal 43 hours to fully charge…

Okay, traditional EV downsides aside, what's it actually like to drive?

This is both the best and worst aspect of the Kona Electric. It has all that delightful instant torque off the line that make EVs a blast, as well as a low centre of gravity thanks to the batteries (that do make the 1,743kg Kona a hefty thing), which almost makes it fun. If it wasn't the crappy eco tyres.

Not only are the tyres not capable of properly handling the torque from a standing start, they make the Kona a squealing, torque-steering mess in the wet, and a prodigious power-understeerer on a winding dry road.

Which is a shame, because the Kona Electric actually has a well set up and compliant chassis hidden behind the tyres' ineptitude. The steering is sharp and nicely accurate (although entirely mute), and the Kona is surprisingly nimble and responsive despite its weight.

Would we give up the bit of extra range the eco tyres give in exchange for some decent rubber that makes it fun to drive? Oh yes, in an instant…

But seriously, would you actually pay $80k for this?

That all depends on where you place the value of an EV with a decent range.

Is an iPhone X or Samsung Galaxy Note 9 worth damn near $2,000 when other phones do essentially the same thing, but not quite as quickly or as well, for under half that?

If you want to be on the cutting edge of technology, have the latest and greatest, be an early adopter, do your part for the planet and all of that then, yes, of course it is worth it. If you don't, then you would never consider one in the first place.

While a used import Nissan Leaf is held up as the pinnacle of affordable electric motoring, keep in mind that someone had to be the early adopter there too. A first-gen Leaf originally cost $69,700 when it was first sold in New Zealand, and that was for a 24kWh car with a range of around 170km.

Any other cars I should consider?

The forthcoming new Nissan Leaf would be the obvious opponent for Hyundai's EV, with Nissan claiming a range of 'up to' 400km (the Hyundia's 'official' range is around 480km, with 400km being its real world range) and 110kW and 320Nm, but it isn't here yet and neither has local pricing been announced.

The BMW i3 BEV that starts at $77,200 is another alternative that is an absolute blast to drive, but has only around half the range of the Hyundai, as does the Kona's in-house competition in the form of the Ioniq ($59,990 to $65,990).

And before you start saying 'a Tesla Model 3 has a bigger range and only costs $35,000!' stop for a minute and consider this - the Model 3 isn't here yet (RHD production isn't even slated to begin until 2019) and the average selling price for a Model 3 in the US is currently $60,000, or NZ$92,000 and they can't actually afford to make the entry level model until they have sold a bunch more higher-spec cars.

So, yeah, the Model 3 will be an alternative, but not necessarily a particularly cheaper one and not for at least a few more years locally.