Hyundai Kona Electric launched in Malaysia – three variants, 305 to 484 km range, fr. RM150k to RM200k

Hyundai Kona Electric launched in Malaysia – three variants, 305 to 484 km range, fr. RM150k to RM200k

Hyundai Sime Darby Motors (HSDM) has officially introduced the Kona Electric in the country. The fully-imported all-electric SUV arrives in its facelifted guise and goes on sale in three variant forms.

As previously highlighted, these will consist of a base 39.2 kWh model called the e-Lite, a higher-specification 39.2 kWh version called the e-Plus and a range-topping 64 kWh unit known as the e-Max.

Specification-wise, the 39.2 kWh variants feature a 136 PS and 395 Nm motor, which offers the SUV an operating range of 305 km on a single charge (WLTP cycle). Performance figures include a 0-100 km/h sprint time of 9.9 seconds and a 155 km/h top speed.

Hyundai Kona Electric launched in Malaysia – three variants, 305 to 484 km range, fr. RM150k to RM200k

As for the 64 kWh model, output from the same permanent magnet synchronous motor is upped to 204 PS, with torque remaining the same at 395 Nm. A larger battery gives the variant an operating range of 484 km (WLTP) on a single charge, and performance numbers are also up, to 7.9 seconds for the 0-100 km/h run and 167 km/h in terms of top speed.

In terms of charging, the Kona Electric features two charging ports, a Type 2 AC and a CCS2 DC. The base e-Lite has a 7.2 kW onboard charger, and regular AC charging with via the single-phase 7.2 kW route will take around 6.5 hours to get the six module (90 cells) battery from 10% to 80% SOC.

The e-Plus 39.2 kWh and Max 64 kWh variants have a 11 kW onboard charger, and regular AC charging takes 4.5 hours for the 39.2 kWh and around 7.5 hours for the 64 kWh, which has a 10 module (98 cells) battery.

Hyundai Kona Electric launched in Malaysia – three variants, 305 to 484 km range, fr. RM150k to RM200k

Going with DC fast charging with a 50 kW charger takes 60 minutes for the 39.2 kWh model and 90 minutes for the 64 kWh version. With a 100 kW charger, it’s 47 minutes for both batteries. Incidentally, using the supplied in-cable control box (ICCB) plugged into a domestic three-pin socket, it takes 22 hours to charge the 39.2 kWh versions, and 31 hours for the 64 kWh, so a wallbox is looking like it’s necessary for home charging.

Standard equipment across the range includes LED headlamps, LED tail lights, LED daytime running lights, rear fog lamps, auto headlamps and wipers and Remote Start, with the same 17-inch alloys and 215/55 rubbers to be found on all three variants.

Inside, common to all three are leather upholstery, single-zone automatic air-conditioning, steering wheel audio controls, three USB ports, a 10.25-inch digital instrument cluster and an eight-inch central touchscreen display, with a six-speaker audio system and wireless Apple CarPlay and Android Auto support.

Hyundai Kona Electric launched in Malaysia – three variants, 305 to 484 km range, fr. RM150k to RM200k

The e-Lite makes do with manual front seat adjustment and doesn’t feature a head-up display and wireless charging, which the e-Plus 39.2 kWh and e-Max variants have. The latter duo also come with 10-way driver and eight-way front passenger electrically-adjustable seats.

Safety-wise, all the Kona Electric models come equipped with six airbags and the usual raft of items, including ESC, ABS, VSM, traction control and hill-start assist. All three variants also come with the automaker’s SmartSense safety suite, but there are differences in specification with the e-Lite and the two higher-range offerings.

The e-Lite comes with lane keeping assist (LKA), lane following assist (LFA), leading vehicle departure alert (LVDA), high beam assist, rear occupant alert and driver attention warning, but its autonomous emergency braking (AEB), which is badged as forward collision assistance assist (FCA) on the car, is limited to only vehicles and pedestrians as it features only a camera but no radar.

The e-Plus and e-Max get the full complement, including the front radar, adding on rear cross-traffic collision avoidance assist (RCCA) and blind spot collision avoidance assist (BCA), which can apply the brakes where necessary, in addition to providing warning.

The e-Plus and e-Max also come with safe exit warning (SEW), which alerts passengers to oncoming hazards as well as smart cruise control with stop and go, and the FCA (or AEB) on the duo adds on the capability to track cyclists.

No shortage of exterior colours for the Kona Electric facelift, with nine choices in all, all in two-tone (with a Phantom Black Pearl roof). These are Ignite Red, Atlas White, Cyber Gray Metallic, Surfy Blue Metallic, Pulse Red Pearl, Galastic Gray, Jungle Green Pearl and the quaintly named Dark Knight and Drive in Jeju.

Finally, pricing, and HSDM has announced that for the Kona Electric will begin from RM149,888 for the e-Lite, while the e-Plus will go for RM169,888. The range-topping e-Max is priced at RM199,888, all on-the-road without insurance.

This pricing is inclusive of the import and excise duty exemptions as outlined by the government during the recent Budget 2022 announcement. Supposed to begin from next year, the proposal involves 100% duty exemption for CBU electric cars up to December 31, 2023.

Electric vehicles will also benefit from a 100% road tax exemption (find out how much road tax for EVs would cost when it is eventually charged), while an income tax relief of up to RM2,500 will be provided on the cost of purchasing and installing, renting or taking up hire purchase facilities, as well as subscription payments of EV charging facilities.

All the Kona Electric variants come with a standard two-year/50,000 km warranty, with a battery warranty of eight years or 160,000 km, whichever comes first. However, buyers will be able to extend this via an optional add-on package – for RM10,000, you can upgrade the standard warranty to a five-year/100,000 km warranty, with free service maintenance for three-years/50,000 km. The EV battery warranty remains unchanged.

Additionally, buyers can also opt for a 7 kw AC charging station with external charging cable (Type 2), priced at RM6,000 or a 22 kw AC charging station with external charging cable (Type 2) at RM7,000, both priced excluding installation.

Check out CarBase.my for the complete specifications of all the Kona Electric variants.

GALLERY: Hyundai Kona Electric e-Max 64 kW

GALLERY: Hyundai Kona Electric e-Plus 39.2 kW

GALLERY: Hyundai Kona Electric e-Lite 39.2 kW

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Anthony Lim

Anthony Lim believes that nothing is better than a good smoke and a car with character, with good handling aspects being top of the prize heap. Having spent more than a decade and a half with an English tabloid daily never being able to grasp the meaning of brevity or being succinct, he wags his tail furiously at the idea of waffling - in greater detail - about cars and all their intrinsic peculiarities here.

 

Comments

  • A decent start & price range for EV cars here in Msia considering Nissan leaf was priced almost RM200k few years back.

    Like or Dislike: Thumb up 14 Thumb down 4
  • digidigi on Nov 23, 2021 at 11:36 am

    this is tax free price alr? So expensive?

    Like or Dislike: Thumb up 3 Thumb down 10
    • Kea Was on Nov 23, 2021 at 11:56 am

      What would you expect then, to be the same price as a petrol powered HRV???

      Clearly you have not compared the price of the car sold at USA our worship price reference.

      https://www.hyundaiusa.com/us/en/vehicles/kona-electric

      Like or Dislike: Thumb up 17 Thumb down 4
      • azhar on Nov 23, 2021 at 3:56 pm

        34k usd before EV incentive..you can get kona below 30k in US after incentive deduction

        Like or Dislike: Thumb up 0 Thumb down 1
      • Afeeq on Nov 23, 2021 at 8:40 pm

        I live in the US, here we get $7500 federal tax credit alongside state tax credits depending on which state we live in. So in reality it’s much cheaper.

        Also Hyundai in the US comes with 10 year/100,000 mile warranty

        Like or Dislike: Thumb up 5 Thumb down 0
    • Not Mechanically Inclined on Nov 23, 2021 at 2:11 pm

      The standard range model costs $60 grand in Australia, and that doesn’t even come with led headlights (equates to ~185k myr).

      For comparison, a base Model 3 can be had for 64 grand whilst a base xc40 is a smidge under 60.

      At the moment, EVs are just inherently more expensive

      Like or Dislike: Thumb up 3 Thumb down 1
  • AQIL ADAM on Nov 23, 2021 at 11:52 am

    Is there a way to have the article to include the taxation cost (roadtax) of this EV? I know there was a post before on how electrified cars are to be road-taxed in Malaysia, but hassle to refer back. Good to just add-on the cost for this on top of the regular selling price. Good to have estimation of roughly OTR cost. This will enable potential buyers to weigh on conventional ICE or EV based on $$$ ownership sense

    Like or Dislike: Thumb up 7 Thumb down 1
    • Paul Tan on Nov 23, 2021 at 11:56 am

      this is how EV road tax is calculated:

      https://paultan.org/2021/08/26/ev-road-tax-structure-in-malaysia-how-its-calculated-and-how-rates-are-different-for-sedans-and-non-sedans/

      however budget 2022 also provides free road tax for a few years:

      https://paultan.org/2021/10/29/budget-2022-evs-in-malaysia-to-be-completely-tax-free-soon/

      Like or Dislike: Thumb up 7 Thumb down 1
      • AQIL ADAM on Nov 23, 2021 at 2:34 pm

        Thank you Paul. Thank you Anthony… Appreciated the responses

        Like or Dislike: Thumb up 0 Thumb down 0
    • Anthony Lim (Member) on Nov 23, 2021 at 12:17 pm

      I’ve added a link to the story we did on EV road tax calculations in the launch post.

      Like or Dislike: Thumb up 1 Thumb down 1
      • Taxes on Nov 23, 2021 at 2:03 pm

        So RM243 for 39.2 kWh and RM903 for the 64 kWh then. Why is the Malaysian government discouraging EV adoption with such high road tax. Exemptions is done in using the yearly federal budget, might be in a nasty suprise if they decided to stop it next year.

        Like or Dislike: Thumb up 0 Thumb down 0
      • AQIL ADAM on Nov 23, 2021 at 2:44 pm

        So this means that the top range e-Max at 64000W output only carries a roadtax of RM50?

        Like or Dislike: Thumb up 0 Thumb down 0
  • RyanT on Nov 23, 2021 at 11:57 am

    Considered cheap compare to Nissan Leaf rm180k 200km range

    Like or Dislike: Thumb up 4 Thumb down 3
  • EVs and hybrids are here to stay. It simply is the way forward. We need a decent infrastructure for outstation charging just like petrol stations. In order to be really attractive to Malaysians, prices have to drop below 100k mark. I expect the Chinese manufacturers to be able to meet that range.

    Like or Dislike: Thumb up 8 Thumb down 3
  • sathiya on Nov 23, 2021 at 1:16 pm

    still high price compare to other country but may be in future the price will drop once more brand car introduce at malaysia

    Like or Dislike: Thumb up 2 Thumb down 6
  • st3wp1d on Nov 23, 2021 at 1:44 pm

    Yey, now we talking,
    But still picey

    Like or Dislike: Thumb up 1 Thumb down 1
  • I intend to change a car ard rm200k to rm250k but Hyundai Kona EV is definitely not shortlisted. First, Hyubdai is not worth this much (for me) and design is so ugly (for me).

    Like or Dislike: Thumb up 14 Thumb down 3
    • lithium on Nov 23, 2021 at 5:12 pm

      i agree on the design of the car. the front and back is really ugly. the interior dashboard looks cheap especially the center dash display.

      Like or Dislike: Thumb up 2 Thumb down 0
  • Daniel Chua on Nov 23, 2021 at 2:19 pm

    This kind of price range and feature, I would prefer to wait a bit. Price of EV should be cheaper when China made EV lands in Malaysia.

    Like or Dislike: Thumb up 0 Thumb down 0
  • Ben Yap on Nov 23, 2021 at 2:26 pm

    with a full charge this Kona can outrun the Civic turbo in century sprint. but soon the civic turbo will still tapau the kona easily. overall the civic turbo is still mightier.

    Like or Dislike: Thumb up 0 Thumb down 6
  • Syakir on Nov 23, 2021 at 2:38 pm

    What is the electricity bill is going to be like? Any idea? Serously considering the pros n cons.

    Like or Dislike: Thumb up 2 Thumb down 0
  • azhar on Nov 23, 2021 at 3:49 pm

    Still overpriced after zero tax..fark laaa sime darby!

    Like or Dislike: Thumb up 1 Thumb down 2
  • Dong Gor on Nov 23, 2021 at 3:59 pm

    2 yrs 50K KM …that says a lot of the product maturity.

    Like or Dislike: Thumb up 2 Thumb down 0
  • Warranty on Nov 23, 2021 at 4:54 pm

    Any statement from HSDM why they didn’t offer 5 years / 100000km warranty like other models? It’s a shame they put it as an RM10k option.

    Like or Dislike: Thumb up 5 Thumb down 0
  • 2 years warranty is topkek on Nov 23, 2021 at 8:13 pm

    wah 2 years // 50k km warranty only??

    Those who work or frequently drive long distances can easily reach 50k km in 1 year leh..

    so warranty gone in 1 year ady? What a joke. and 160k km only for the battery? Hyundai Malaysia what are you doing?!

    Like or Dislike: Thumb up 0 Thumb down 0
    • Anthony Lim (Member) on Nov 24, 2021 at 10:33 am

      HSDM has an optional five-year/100,000 km warranty, so it’s likely that most buyers will opt for this. No reasons were given as to why the additional warranty was separated as a RM10k option, but we believe it is likely due to wanting to keep the entry cost of the car down.

      Like or Dislike: Thumb up 1 Thumb down 1
  • Paultan, can u write an article abt how much cost saving of charging this electric car compare with cost of oil monthly usage? Is it really a cost saving? Just like your article research on ron 95 n 97.

    Like or Dislike: Thumb up 2 Thumb down 0
  • Semi-Value (Member) on Nov 24, 2021 at 12:54 am

    200k for a hyundai matrix of 2021.

    Like or Dislike: Thumb up 4 Thumb down 0
  • can use the tag line of mattel toys, battery not included?

    Like or Dislike: Thumb up 0 Thumb down 0
  • ev_future on Nov 29, 2021 at 9:11 pm

    39.2 kWh e-Lite model cost rm150k with tax free incentive? Sime Darby really treats Malaysian like water fish….

    Like or Dislike: Thumb up 0 Thumb down 0
  • isaac on Jan 09, 2022 at 3:32 pm

    Without the proper charging stations around malaysia ev are simply not going to work, and charging time of 30 minutes even when using DC are still too long.

    Like or Dislike: Thumb up 0 Thumb down 0
 

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