During
the first year, HMMC intends to manufacture more than 20,000 units of
the Kona Electric. With this development, Hyundai continues to work
toward its commitment to sell only zero-emission vehicles in Europe by
2035.
The
second-generation Kona is led by the all-electric variant (EV), which
offers advanced safety and convenience features and a class-leading
range. Hyundai developed the all-new Kona as an EV first, in line with
the company’s March 2022 accelerated electrification strategy
announcement that will bring eleven new Hyundai EVs to market by 2030.
Hyundai continues to show its dedication to its customers across Europe. Back in 2020, the first-generation Kona Electric became Hyundai’s first electric vehicle to be produced in Europe. The strategic decision to supplement its supply from the company’s Ulsan plant in South Korea with production at HMMC drastically reduced delivery times for customers in Europe. The second-generation Kona Electric continues with this strategy to better serve the European market - made in Europe, for Europe.
Additionally, experts from HMMC had a significant say in the new model’s development for Europe, starting with the preparation of initial sketches. This new development process allowed them to not only shape the all-new Kona Electric’s character and parameters but also consider the specifics of the plant at an earlier stage.
HMMC expects the Kona Electric to represent 15 percent of the plant’s total production by late 2023, thanks in part to the fact that the electric vehicle from HMMC will be delivered to an additional 20 countries to the current 22 exclusively European markets. By the end of this year, 21,000 cars of the new-generation Kona Electric are to be produced, with a further 50,000 manufactured next year.
The Kona Electric will now be produced at HMMC in a right-hand drive version for the UK, Ireland, and Cyprus. New destinations for the electric model will also include Turkey and Israel, as well as the islands of Reunion and Guadalupe.
The Czech-based plant will continue to produce two versions of the Kona Electric with different battery capacities, with both offering higher performance and range than their predecessors. The 65.4-kWh battery pack Kona Electric is equipped with a 160-kW electric motor and offers a class-leading range of 514 km (WLTP). The base version will have a 48.4-kWh battery pack and a 114.6-kW electric motor, providing a 377-km range (WLTP).
The Kona Electric’s battery cells are manufactured at LG Energy Solution's plant in Wroclaw, Poland. The batteries are then assembled in their final form at the same HMMC facility that produced manual transmissions until the end of 2021.
