The Hyundai Kona Electric has gone on sale in India at an introductory price of Rs 25.30 lakh (ex-showroom). While that is a lot of money, the Kona Electric could see a drop in price of up to Rs 1.40 lakh in the weeks to come.
In the recent Union Budget announcement, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman said to promote e-mobility, a proposal to slash the Goods and Services Tax (GST) from the current 12 percent to 5 percent has been shared with the GST Council. That said, it is only a proposal at this point, and it’s unclear whether the government intends to extend this GST cut to all EVs, or only to models within a certain price bracket. If the proposal is passed and ends up encompassing all manner of EVs, Hyundai will pass on the benefit to buyers of the Kona Electric.
Speaking to Autocar India about the effect the reduction of GST would have on the Kona Electric’s price, Puneet Anand, Senior General Manager & Group Head, Marketing at Hyundai India said, “We expect the GST cut to result in a benefit of Rs 1.40 lakh." However, Anand reiterated the possibility of the Kona Electric being left out of the ambit of the GST reduction.
Kona Electric buyers could get another boost with the government’s proposal to offer benefits in the form of deductions of up to Rs 1.5 lakh from taxable income on the interest payable on loans taken for EV purchase.
To give you a quick recap, the Hyundai Kona Electric in India comes with a 39.2kWh lithium-ion battery pack. Power output is rated at 136hp and 395Nm of torque, the claimed 0-100kph time is 9.7 seconds and the ARAI-certified range is pegged at 452km. It’s worth noting that on the WLTP (the European Union's Worldwide Harmonised Light Vehicle Test Procedure) cycle, the 39.2kWh version of the Kona Electric has a significantly lower range of 289km.
Charging time for the Kona Electric is 57 minutes (from 0-80 percent) using a 50kW DC fast charger, or 6 hours, 10 minutes (0-100 percent) using a wall-box charger, which Hyundai will provide with the EV. The carmaker will also install DC fast chargers at select Indian Oil petrol pumps in four major Indian cities.
The Hyundai Kona Electric comes with a 3-year/unlimited warranty as standard, and an 8-year/1.6 lakh kilometre warranty for the battery.
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