Hyundai Kona Electric review - Range, charging and running costs

Much like other electric cars, the Hyundai Kona Electric benefits from low running costs when compared to conventional internal combustion cars. The Kona Electric’s lithium ion battery replaces the fuel tank but costs far less money to top up – around £8 worth of electricity via a mains supply for maximum range on the larger 64kWh battery, in fact.

A lack of a traditional internal combustion engine means there are fewer moving parts to go wrong, which in turn should keep maintenance costs low. Hyundai’s excellent five-year, unlimited mileage warranty will help here, as well as its fixed-price servicing deals.

All electric cars are exempt from road tax – there are no local emissions to worry about – so you’ll save here too; BiK rates for company car users are fantastically low too, sitting at 16 per cent in 2019/20 and 2% thereafter.

Hyundai quotes a maximum range of 278 miles for the pricier, 64kWh-batteried Kona Electric. Hyundai claims that a full charge will take nine hours and 35 minutes via its on-board 7.2kW charger, or just 75 minutes to get to 80 per cent if you have access to a 50kW fast charger at a service station.

The smaller battery returns a claimed 180 miles of range and takes just over six hours to fully charge via the on-board charger; a top-up to 80% via a 50kW charger will take around 57 minutes.

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The Kona Electric comes as standard with a Type 2 charge cable that’ll work with most public fast chargers. An emergency three-pin cable is also supplied, but a full charge will take around 19 or 31 hours for the 39kW and 64kW batteries respectively.

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Insurance groups

Equipped with the smaller of its two batteries the Kona Electric sits in insurance groups 22 (for the SE) and 23 (in Premium trim). The more powerful Kona Electric 64kW jumps to groups 26 and 27 in Premium and Premium SE specifications respectively.

For comparison, the BMW i3 is in groups 28 to 29, with the Kia e-Niro occupying group 29 in its single trim level.

Depreciation

Residual values and electric cars are not always a happy combination, but the Kona Electric should fare better than most – especially if you opt for the more future-proof 64kW version with its longer range. We’d expect the Kona to lose just over half of its original value over the course of three years.