Bold Disruptive Entry- Hyundai Kona!

A friend and neighbour brought one of the first Hyundai Kona electric cars hitting the indian market. And I had a drive in it to experience the very welcome disruptive technology brought in by this pioneer.

For a start, the price is attractive especially when we think of the overpriced hybrids the green conscious went ahead and bought.

The price of Kona is around ₹2.5 million ($36,000). Wait, just the other fay the GST (Goods and Services Tax) Council reduced the tax rate for electric cars from some 28% to 5%. And some of the states like Karnataka and Tamil Nadu waived road tax.

That means the price is to get reduced handsomely soon.

The car is to give 450 kilometres a charge. Perhaps in Indian roads it’s 350. Car comes with a portable charger taking about 20 hours for a full charge when plugged into a normal power socket. This is for top up and not for full charge.

Car owners can invest about ₹80,000 for an overnight charger for installation in the parking lot for a 6 hour full charging.

And when the government or private service providers install public charging facilities, it could be full charging in an hour.

Best part is the 8 year warranty for the battery.

The car is packed with all the superior features. The only drawback is that it runs silent and one needs to honk to alert an unsuspecting pedestrian.

The short drive was awesome and surely the replacement car is an electric car for those of us not going for it now.