Hyundai Kona Electric 2019 Review Long-term Test #2

The Hyundai Kona Electric successfully straddles the design divide for EVs – it's a vehicle likely to appeal equally to early adopters and more conservative buyers.

Early adopters are currently the main revenue stream for EVs, but electric vehicles must broaden their appeal if manufacturers want that revenue stream to grow.

After a week driving it, the only reason I would hesitate to buy the Kona Electric is the purchase price.

Many motorists are attracted to the idea of owning an EV, but to date there have been too many concessions to be made owning an EV.

While the Mitsubishi i-MiEV was intriguing at the time, it was also flawed in many respects. The Renault Twizy was even more compromised. And the Tesla Model S P85D was fabulous, but well beyond the budget of most eco-savvy drivers.

Hybrids and plug-ins are a stop-gap solution and fuel-cell vehicles face long years of development before they're commercially viable.

But times are changing and cars like the Hyundai Kona Electric promise to be a tipping point. This small but roomy EV offers a credible, practical solution to range anxiety while meeting all (or most) of the varying consumer demands placed on any small SUV.

After the novelty has worn off, EVs all seem to drive much the same. They're quiet, smooth and efficient. But within days drivers are likely to find that lack of noise to be 'disquieting'. There's little if any of the rawness that somehow makes a car with an internal-combustion engine feel 'biological'. We can anthropomorphise conventional cars. With a grille and headlights it has a face; with an internal-combustion engine and exhaust it has a voice.

In contrast, the typical electric car is very 'digital'.

Thankfully, Hyundai Kona Electric is not anodyne. It looks like a conventional Kona, so it has a 'face' of sorts. Low-speed travel is accompanied by a musical tone to alert pedestrians that this otherwise silent electric vehicle is cruising up from behind, so it also has a 'voice'.

While it's not in the same league as a high-power Tesla, the Kona Electric has the necessary power and torque for strong acceleration – in the suburbs and out on country roads as well.

All that torque – nearly 400Nm – is handy for keeping the Kona at a set speed on hills and on the flat. The torque can be finely modulated through the accelerator pedal for precisely the right speed, reducing the likelihood of a speeding conviction. That's one aspect of the Kona's power delivery, which is 'on' when you want it and 'off' when you don't. And the transition from 'on' to 'off', or vice versa, is very progressive.

There's immediate response from the electric motor, particularly in the Sport mode, but unlike a turbocharged SUV with a continuously-variable transmission, there's no delay while the powertrain management system works out a propitious time to launch the Kona EV. In the car's Sport mode, the response is not only immediate, it's also a little aggressive, in fact.

Torque steer is present under hard acceleration (the Kona drives through the front wheels), and a heavy foot on the right pedal will provoke wheelspin at low speeds. It's just as well then that the stability control is calibrated properly for maintaining the right line accelerating out of tight bends.

Despite a weight almost 400kg heavier than a conventional Kona Active, the electric model is surprisingly nimble, offering respectably high levels of roadholding and secure handling for a small SUV weighed down with a battery pack.

The Kona Electric's steering provides direct response in any mode, although there's more weight and feel through the tiller in the Sport mode and it is easier to hold the car steady on-centre and place it precisely in the bends using this mode.

Ride quality is quite supple, but not at the expense of the Kona Electric's body control. The Kona's brake pedal offers better feel than some hybrids and EVs driven in the past, but it's not always consistent.

Unfortunately, the predominant source of noise in the cabin is the standard-fitment 215/55 R17 Nexen tyres. The tyres drone away on coarse-chip bitumen and squeal prodigiously under heavier braking and cornering. They're clearly specified for their low rolling resistance and price, but the Kona EV arguably deserves a better choice of tyre.

The Kona Electric features excellent lighting, comprising bright white headlights, auto high-beam assist and static cornering lights. The horn operated to specification, but didn't startle kangaroos as much as I'd like. And while steering across the centre line to avoid one particularly dozy example of the breed, I had to fight the Kona's lane-keep assist system.

This is not a criticism of that system as such, but more an observation that autonomous motoring has a way to go before it becomes kangaroo-savvy.

Just like the conventional Kona, entering or leaving the electric version is easy, due to the hip point, which is ideal for adults who don't want to bend into funny shapes just to take a seat.

The driving position is very well laid out also, with a head-up display complementing the instruments. In this car, there's no tachometer, as such, but all the driving information you'll want – mainly speed, battery charge remaining, power consumption and regenerative mode – are available at a glance.

I found the Kona's seats to be quite comfortable and supportive, and the Kona has a 'driver-only' setting for the climate control system. If you're the only person in the car, you can save battery power by setting the system to warm or cool yourself only.

The centre console features a 'floating' design with a storage bin and two recharging points underneath – one USB, one 12V. A larger storage bin is located under the folding centre armrest and the centre console also features two cupholders of differing size. Storage bins and bottle holders in the front-door cards aren't particularly useful however.

One qualm about the interior design is the use of matt silver paint on the centre console and dash. It doesn't look very durable in the longer term.

Rear-seat accommodation is only adequate for kids up to teenage years. Headroom is fine, but there's barely enough knee room for adults of average height, and no room whatsoever to stretch out. Lowered for the driver, the seat in front leaves precious little room underneath for the toes of the passenger seated behind.

Due to the high floor (with batteries underneath), an adult will be forced to sit with thighs raised off the seat base. That won't be welcome after an hour or two of travel. Also, there are no adjustable vents in the back, or ports to recharge portable devices.

The rear seat folds down flush with the floor of the boot, but not completely flat.

According to Hyundai, the 'real-world' WLTP range for the Kona Electric is 449km. The capacity of the lithium-ion polymer battery is 64kWh. On successive days the Kona Electric's trip computer was posting average power usage figures from 14.9kWh/100km (one evening on a trip home from work) to 16.4kWh/100km on a 70km test loop.

Those figures are calculated on the fly for consumption over a 100km distance. If the average worked out at under 16kWh/100km that would easily realise 400km or better from the battery between fully charged and totally spent.

Drivers travelling a distance of no more than 40km a day – and I'm one such driver – will find the Kona Electric very easy to keep charged. Hyundai claims that the battery can be recharged from its optional home charging station ($1950) in nine hours and 35 minutes. A standard 10amp/240volt domestic outlet will take 28 hours.

But if you're only using 70 per cent of the battery capacity to travel 280km a week, it should top up back to full capacity in a significantly shorter time – certainly well before you've woken the next day after parking the car and plugging it into the outlet in the garage the night before.

The question you're asking right about now, dear reader, is how gently does the Kona Electric have to be driven to use as little power as 16kWh over 100km?

Not all that gently at all, as it turns out. A family member unfamiliar with the Kona drove me to work one morning. By the conclusion of our 19km journey the trip computer had posted a figure of 15.9kWh/100km – below the average figure for a 400km range. My chauffeur was not driving for optimal efficiency either.

An amusing quirk of the Kona Electric is the trip computer readout that lectures the driver. Most of the time I was operating the vehicle with '0%' aggression. But the test loop saw my 'aggression' climb to 10 per cent after the Kona Electric received a bit of a hiding.

But other than the few minutes immediately after resetting the trip computer, the highest point the power consumption figure reached was around 18kWh/100km – and that figure quickly dropped back after I stopped using every last kilowatt of performance.

What this reveals is that Hyundai has beaten two factors that deter consumers from buying an EV like the Kona. Range and recharging time are those two factors, leaving just the price to be addressed...

How much does the 2019 Hyundai Kona Electric Highlander cost?
Price: $64,490 (plus on-road costs)
Motor: Permanent magnet synchronous AC electric
Output: 150kW/395Nm
Transmission: Reduction gear
Battery: 64kWh lithium-ion polymer
Range: 449km (WLTP)
Safety rating: Five-star ANCAP (2019)

Hyundai Kona Electric 2019 Review Long-term test #1