EESL has so far purchased only locally manufactured EVs. In a new development, it has procured a few units of the Hyundai Kona Electric, the costliest and the most advanced EV available in India.
The Hyundai Kona Electric is imported to India in knocked-down kits from South Korea, where production takes place at the Ulsan plant. The local assembly takes place in Sriperumbudur. The pure electric SUV is priced at INR 23,71,858* in the single-tone version and at INR 23,90,608* in the dual-tone version. The image seen above suggests that EESL has imported the single-tone version. Of course, the price would’ve been lower for the state-owned enterprise.
The Hyundai Kona Electric is being given to only select government officials. Power and New and Renewable Energy Minister Raj Kumar, and NTPC Chairman and MD Gurdeep Singh are two among them, and they have already been delivered their units. Explaining why EESL decided to procure the way more expensive, imported EV instead of the cheaper, locally manufactured EVs, below is what EESL MD Saurabh Kumar said:
“Kona’s battery size is almost three times that of these other cars (Tata Tigor EV and Mahindra eVerito). The running cost is just 40 paise/km. It’s a brilliant car in terms of comfort and this is the beauty of EVs anyway.”
The Hyundai Kona Electric sold in India is powered by an electric motor that generates 136 PS and 395 Nm of torque. There’s a 39.2 kWh Lithium-ion Polymer battery pack providing the energy required to operate this motor. A 0-100 km/h sprint takes 9.7 seconds. The range certified by ARAI is 452 km.
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Using a 2.8 kW AC portable charger supplied with the vehicle, it takes 19 hours to fully charge the 39.2 kWh battery pack. Using a 7.2 kW AC wall-mounted charger installed at home or office premises takes almost 6 hours and 10 minutes for a full charge. Using a 50 kW DC fast charger, charging from 0% to 80% takes 57 minutes.
*Ex-showroom Delhi
[News Source: livemint.com]
[Image Source: team-bhp.com]
