Several legacy automakers are finding that switching production of gas-powered cars to electric vehicles is requiring fewer workers and that’s causing problems with unions, which are often strong in the auto industry.
In Korea, Hyundai’s union head is now even calling electric cars “a disaster” and “evil.”
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After unveiling the Kona Electric earlier this month, Hyundai now elaborates on its latest all-electric vehicle’s performance in cold weather.
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Automakers have unveiled quite a few electric vehicles in Geneva this year. A few that are aimed to reach production and some destined to remain concept vehicles.
This electric dune buggy concept that converts into a jet ski by Hyundai likely falls under the second category, but it’s pretty cool nonetheless.
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Several new electric vehicles have been unveiled in recent weeks and people like to call them ‘Tesla killers’ or say that they are directly aimed at competing with Tesla, which is not entirely false in some cases.
Hyundai certainly thinks so since it apparently went as far as challenging Tesla CEO Elon Musk in billboards seen in Europe.
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Today, Hyundai officially unveiled the new Kona Electric compact SUV through a global digital launch.
The company released the spec list – revealing two different versions and one with a range of up to 292 miles.
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Over the last year, Hyundai has been talking about launching all-electric SUVs in 2018 and now the company started teasing an all-electric Kona SUV to be unveiled in Geneva this month.
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Battery costs have been falling fast for years now, but commodity prices of several key raw materials have been increasing recently and some predict that the supply won’t be able to keep up with the demand.
Now Hyundai, which is currently trying to build its battery supply chain for upcoming electric vehicles, predicts that battery costs could stop falling starting in 2020.
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Korean automakers Hyundai and Kia want to step up their EV game with new vehicles next year, but they are being very careful about their production capacity, according to a new report.
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Electric cars have been popular with car sharing services due to their low cost of operation. Some automakers have been building large fleets, like BMW deploying 400 BMW i3s in Copenhagen in 2015 and earlier this year, Renault started deploying a fleet of 500 electric cars for a new car-sharing service in Madrid.
Now that Hyundai has the Ioniq Electric, the Korean automaker announced that it is also launching a car sharing service using electric vehicles.
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Four months ago, Seth got a chance to try out the 2017 Hyundai IONIQ Electric at a Hyundai media day, and came away impressed. The IONIQ is Hyundai’s new three-powertrains-on-one-platform model, with a hybrid released and a plug-in hybrid planned, alongside the pure EV model we reviewed. Seth’s takeaway was that the IONIQ compares very favorably to the Prius, the car which it seems aimed to compete against.
Last week, I was given the chance to take a week long test drive of the IONIQ Electric, to go into a deeper dive of how the car works, more than our short test drive could give us (though do have a look at Seth’s review for a lot of the spec details). What I found is that the IONIQ is a lot of car for the money, and a complete game-changer in the “entry-level” EV market.
In a bizarre move today, several media outlets, like Reuters and BBC, are reporting that Korean automaker Hyundai is announcing a ‘shift’ to electric vehicles and confirmed a new “long-range” premium sedan by 2021.
But that’s something Hyundai already confirmed months ago.
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Hyundai is having a lot of success with the all-electric version of the Ioniq EV, as we anticipated in our review. So much, that it now has production constraints, which it plans to solve within the next few months.
The problem is reportedly related to the LG Chem battery pack supply and the Korean automaker now plans to increase orders by 50%.
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At the ‘Hyundai Truck & Bus Mega Fair’ in Korea this week, the Korean automaker unveiled a new range of commercial vehicles, including a new all-electric bus.
The bus, called Elec City, features an impressive range of “290 km (180 miles)”.
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While Hyundai has made it clear that they accelerated their plan for their first long-range electric SUV, it’s still not clear which model will make it to market first.
They have electric versions of the Niro, the Stonic and the Kona coming all within the next 2 years and now we learn that they reportedly plan to debut one of those as an all-electric SUV for ~$39,000.
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After our Electrek Review of the 2017 Hyundai IONIQ Electric, we were quite impressed with the car – especially with the aggressive $29,500 price before incentive. And now the company is launching a new ‘unlimited subscription’ program for its first all-electric vehicle that could reduce the entry price even more.
The only problem is that Hyundai is shaping up the Ioniq Electric to be a compliance car in the process.
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As of late, Hyundai has shown several signs of moving away from fuel cell hydrogen and investing more into battery-powered electric vehicles. For example, the Korean automaker recently confirmed plans for a new platform for long-range EVs.
Now it sounds like this new platform could also make use of a next generation battery technology.
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Last month I had the opportunity to travel to beautiful Durham, North Carolina on Hyundai’s dime to check out the new IONIQ EV and hybrids. The IONIQ, you’ll recall, is a 3 car strategy from Hyundai aimed at the high-efficiency vehicle market traditionally dominated by Toyota’s Prius line.
Though the Prius-beating 58 mpg and nifty new 12V battery replacement technology in the IONIQ Hybrid was impressive, it’s the IONIQ Electric we’re all here to talk about. I spent the bulk of my time driving the EV – and boy was I pleasantly surprised…
Hyundai, the third largest automaker in the world by volume, has so far been too entrenched in fuel cell hydrogen cars to significantly invest in battery-powered electric vehicles. The Ioniq Electric was its first major deviation from its effort in zero-emission cars and it has so far been well-received. We have a full review coming soon.
The Korean automaker seems now ready to invest more in electric vehicles. An executive confirmed that they are working a new all-electric platform that will enable several long-range models in different segments.
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As we recently reported, Hyundai is about to launch the all-electric version of its new IONIQ vehicle in the US. The Korean automaker has now confirmed pricing and it’s a lot more competitive than anticipated. The vehicle will start at an MSRP of just $29,500.
After electric vehicle incentives, the car could technically be sold for less than $20,000 in certain markets – making it highly competitive in its segment.
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The all-electric version of the Hyundai IONIQ (it’s also available in PHEV and HEV) is reportedly finally coming to the US this week after deliveries in Korean and Europe last year and being fairly well-received around the world.
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While Hyundai is one of the biggest automakers still pushing for fuel cell hydrogen and they admitted that they “are only making electric plug-ins until hydrogen fuel cell vehicles take hold”, the EV market is still going to take those new electric cars until the Korean automaker realizes that battery-powered vehicles make more sense.
The IONIQ Electric is a great entry in the all-electric space for Hyundai and despite its view of EVs, the company is now quickly moving forward with a longer range all-electric SUV. A prototype was spotted for the first time and the vehicle is expected to hit the market as soon as next year.
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The US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) released its official fuel economy rating for the new 2017 Hyundai Ioniq Electric, the Korean automaker’s first all-electric car, and it took the first spot as the most efficient car rated by the agency – dethroning the BMW i3.
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Earlier this week we reported that it looks like Hyundai is moving away from fuel cell hydrogen in its zero-emission vehicle development, the Korean automaker further demonstrated it yesterday by announcing its plans for “14 new alternative-fuel models” with most of them being electric.
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Hyundai was one of those automakers entrenched in fuel cell hydrogen technology in its effort to develop zero-emission cars, which is why the IONIQ is so important. It’s the Korean automaker’s opportunity to test the market and sees if it should divest from fuel cells and invest in electric powertrains.
The problem is that Hyundai fell behind in EV development and it is now releasing a model equivalent to the last generation of EVs (LEAF, i3, e-Golf etc.) in term of range. But it could still find a market in Europe and in its home country, South Korea, for the next year.
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