Over the history of the Kia and Hyundai brands being offered in the automotive markets that we enjoy, these two brands have been joined at the hip. As the mainstays offered from Korea, Kia has taken the space of being the bargain brand, but has grown to bring us a lineup of models that are attractive and ready to drive while Hyundai has been positioned just a little higher and has now added the Genesis brand to the family with the luxury models that are offeredwith this brand name. Now, we’re seeing these two brands preparing to offer us EV models to drive.
The Hyundai Kona is ready to be offered on the market and might make its way to the dealerships before the end of this year and the Kia Niro has been part of what we’ve been offered for a year now. This pair is ready to add EV driving to both of these models and Kia is expected to bring the Niro EV to show it off at the Geneva Motor Show in the spring of 2018 to give us a look at what this new EV model willoffer and give us for the drive.
Testing Together
Recently both the Kia Niro EV and the Hyundai Kona EV have been seen testing together on the public roadways. The Niro EV is expected to share a powertrain with the Hyundai Ioniq Electric when itarrives on the market initially. This means the Niro EV will use a 28-kWh battery pack and a 120 horsepower motor to give you an estimated range of about 110 to 115 miles. The Ioniq Electric is smaller and lighter and able to return 124 miles from a full charge, but 110 miles will likely be enough to handle a daily drive in the Niro EV.
Even if this vehicle showsup with this smaller power level, there is a possibility of more for your drive if the Kia Niro EV makes use of the longer range layout that Hyundai is working on. The goal with this new EV system is to reach a 200-mile range or greater to make sure you can have a drive that will be great for the drive you want and offer you a much longer range from a single charge that you enjoy on the roads. Adding this additional range for the Niro EV could make a huge difference for you.
While won’t know what the Kia Niro EV will bring to the market until later, this is certainly the direction this marriage is going with both Kia and Hyundai working togetherto create the EV models of the future together. We’ll have to wait a few more months to see what the Niro EV will offer, but the fact that a longer range EV system is in the works may mean we’ll have more range for the Hyundai models that will eventuallyshow up on the market to give us the ride and efficiency we want to enjoy.
Looking for something a little different? Opt for the smooth-driving Hyundai Accent today!
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