Category Archives: Hyundai

THE CARS WITH ONE EYE ON SUSTAINABILITY

October 3, 2020BMW, Electric Cars, Ford, Hyundai, i3, IONIQ Electric, News, Reviews and Comment, Renault, ZOERepost

Recycling. It’s a word which most people know and understand. In a world faced with imminent climate change, recycling is a way for us to limit our own impact on the earth through reducing waste and turning what we’d usually throw away into something new.

Manufacturers are just as aware of this too. In fact, plenty of car makers are integrating recycled materials into their vehicles. Let’s take a look at some of the best.

BMW I3
BMW’s striking i3 is green from the off, as its fully electric powertrain has far less of an impact on the environment than an equivalent petrol or diesel-powered car. However, it goes further with an interior which majors on sustainability.

Much of the interior is made from kenaf, which is a lightweight, quick-growing material taken from the mallow plant. The dashboard is crafted from eucalyptus, while the seats are woven from sustainable wool. Check out i3 models for sale here.

POLESTAR 2
Polestar’s new 2 is a car which has been brought in to take the fight to Tesla in the electric car stakes. However, it hasn’t lost track of the end goal – to reduce environmental impact – which is why you’ll find eco-friendly techniques and materials used throughout its construction.

It uses natural fibre composites to reduce the car’s overall use of plastic while at the same time driving down weight. In addition, the seats themselves are made from recycled plastic bottles, the upholstery is entirely vegan-friendly and the carpets are made from old fishing nets too. Don’t worry – they’ve been cleaned first.

HYUNDAI IONIQ ELECTRIC
Hyundai’s Ioniq was somewhat of a trendsetter from the off, as it was one of the first cars to be offered with three powertrains – regular hybrid, plug-in hybrid and electric. However, it’s just as cutting edge in other areas too.

Hyundai used recycled plastic mixed with powdered wood and volcanic stone to lower the weight of the interior plastics by an incredible 20 per cent.

5 reasons why the Hyundai Kona Electric is a brilliant EV

September 27, 2020Electric Cars, Hyundai, Kona Electric, News, Reviews and CommentRepost

With a growing number of EVs to choose from, picking the right one for you is becoming increasingly difficult.

However, there are certain models that stand out from the rest – not least Hyundai’s Kona Electric. It has scooped a number of awards to back it up – including Which?’s ‘Product of the Year’, along with Top Gear’s ‘Best Small Family Car’ at its Electric Awards, and with updated for 2020 to its interior and enhanced connectivity features, it continues to be one of the best electric cars on sale.

Here’s why we reckon it’s a brilliant EV…

Long electric range
Despite many drivers only doing 20 or so miles a day, the range of an EV remains the key talking point – the longer being the better.

And if you want an electric car at an affordable price with a long range, the Kona Electric should be right at the top of your shortlist. Being able to travel for up to 278 miles with the 64kWh battery-equipped version gives this Hyundai a big trump card over many of its rivals. It also means that if you do long journeys, whether frequently or occasionally, you can do them with only occasional stops to charge.

Long list of standard kit
If you like the idea of getting a lot for your money, you should without doubt consider the Kona Electric.

Even entry-level SE models come equipped with 17-inch alloy wheels, climate control, keyless entry and adaptive cruise control to name but a few features. Meanwhile top-spec versions get all manner of luxuries, such as heated seats throughout, a heated steering wheel and a head-up display.

It certainly means you won’t feel short-changed by this Hyundai.

Funky styling
Some manufacturers take a more reserved approach when it comes to their EV’s styling – the Nissan Leaf, for example, whereas others – like Hyundai – take a much bolder approach.

Based on the already funky-looking Kona, the Electric is available in a host of bright different colours, along with textured alloy wheels, stacked headlights and a smooth closed-off grille to make sure it stands out next to the regular petrol-powered versions.

Great performance
While the Kona Electric isn’t designed to be a sports car, you get some superb performance with it. Especially on top-spec versions with the larger electric motor producing 201bhp and 395Nm of torque, you can surge to 60mph in just 7.7 seconds.

However, because of the instantaneous nature of its performance – electric cars have no gearbox to contend with – and the fact all that torque is available immediately, it often feels much quicker than its figures suggest.

It’s Time to Go Green!

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Global Plug-In Electric Car Sales July 2020: The Market Takes Off

September 14, 2020Electric Cars, Hyundai, Model 3, News, Reviews and Comment, Renault, Sales, Tesla, ZOERepost

Tesla exceeds 200,000 YTD, while 9 other brands sold more than 10,000 passenger plug-in cars.

After about a year of relatively low growth or noticeable decline inf global plug-in electric car sales, July 2020 finally brings us a strong bounce up.

With close to 248,000 sales (the 4th best monthly result ever), sales improved by 76% year-over-year, and market share is up too, at 3.7% (7% decline in the overall car sales helped a little bit).

All-electric cars hold the majority of plug-in car sales (64% and 67% YTD), although growth of 63% year-over-year in July is significantly lower than in the case of plug-in hybrids (up 106% year-over-year).

During seven months of 2020, almost 1.2 million passenger plug-in cars were sold globally, which is 5% than a year ago at this point, but the perspective is positive as Europe is booming and China has returned to growth.

Model rank
The top selling models last month were:

Tesla Model 3 – 22,461 (#1 YTD: 164,800)
Renault ZOE – 9,410 (#2 YTD: 46,511)
Tesla Model Y – 7,540 (#11 YTD: 20,955)
Wuling’s Hong Guang MINI EV – 7,348 (outside top 20)
Hyundai Kona Electric – 6,257 (#4 YTD: 25,549)
The Model 3 is pulling forward quickly and is so far ahead that we can already assume it’s the best-selling car of the year 2020, just like in 2019.

Renault ZOE is really strong and clearly stands out from the rest of the pack. The time will tell whether it will be caught by others, like Model Y or Wuling’s Hong Guang MINI EV (with over 50,000 orders).

By the way, Hyundai Kona Electric passed the Volkswagen e-Golf and is now targeting the Nissan LEAF.

It’s Time to Go Green!

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Why I bought a Renault Zoe and a Hyundai Ioniq Electric: owner review

July 28, 2020Electric Cars, Hyundai, IONIQ Electric, News, Reviews and Comment, Renault, ZOERepost

Back in 2015, Kevin Booker and his wife wanted a quirky car few people owned – now they own two electric cars and wouldn’t look back. Here’s why…

You might say that my wife and I ‘get’ electric cars now: we started our journey with a Renault Zoe Q210 (22kwh battery) back in December 2015 for my wife’s small daily commute as a way to test the feasibility of an electric vehicle and have grown in confidence from there.

Over the past four and a half years we have covered more than 42,000 miles, and I’d say that our experiences have only been positive. What’s not to love? The ease of driving, the quietness, the power and instant torque and the cheap running costs all stand out.

We’ve had adventures all over England and Wales and always been surprised and delighted by the number of people that want to stop for a chat about the car, with lots of questions, around its range and how long it takes to charge.

If there are frustrations, they are not down to the car. We love driving the Zoe, but there are issues with the charging infrastructure, which lags behind what you would find in many other countries.

It’s Time to Go Green!

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Hyundai Kon Electric: The New Favored Police Patrol Car For Europe?

June 5, 2020Electric Cars, Hyundai, Kona Electric, News, Reviews and CommentRepost

As cities look to reduce air pollution, some are equipping their police forces with electric cars. The Hyundai Kona Electric is proving to be a popular choice, in Europe at least.

Police forces in Spain, Switzerland, and the United Kingdom currently use Kona Electric patrol cars, Hyundai said earlier this month in a press release. The Ioniq and hydrogen fuel-cell Nexo are also used by police in Europe, the automaker said.

The Swiss canton of St. Gallen added Kona Electric police cars to its fleet last year. The crossover was the only electric vehicle that met the canton’s requirements for power, range, and cost, Hyundai said.

Kona Electric are also used by police in Valencia, Spain, according to Hyundai. In the U.K., Sussex Police and North Wales Police have one Kona Electric each in their fleets, while Hampshire Police has ordered nine, for delivery next month.

Additionally, three Netherlands police forces—in Amsterdam, East Netherlands, and Central Netherlands—are testing Kona Electrics for police use.

Dutch police officers have found the Kona Electric to be a great surveillance car, since suspects can’t hear it coming, according to Hyundai. The cars are certainly quieter than the diesel Opel Astra hatchbacks that have been the default choice for most European police forces over the last decade.

It’s Time to Go Green!

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How to drive an electric car: petrol vs EV driving styles

May 12, 2020Electric Cars, Hyundai, IONIQ Electric, News, Reviews and CommentRepost

We get behind the wheel of an electric Hyundai Ioniq and petrol Hyundai i30 Fastback to see if their motive power has an impact on the way we drive

Electric cars are different from petrol and diesel ones, and that becomes clear even before you’ve sat in one. From range and charging infrastructure, to government tax breaks and miles per kilowatt hour replacing miles per gallon, moving from fossil fuels to electric power requires a change in mindset.

When you get behind the wheel of an EV, even more differences emerge. The silent running, the instant torque, the regenerative braking – electric cars have intrinsic character differences when compared with their counterparts, and require different driving styles.

But how do these differences impact drivers and how they drive, and is it a positive change? In the hope of finding answers to these questions, Hyundai came to us with a proposition. The firm presented us with two cars – one a pure-electric Ioniq, the other a petrol-powered i30 Fastback – and asked politely if they could hook me up with a blood-pressure monitor and track my eye movement during a pair of 30-minute drives, one in each car.

It wouldn’t be just me that was wired up. The cars would be rigged with pressure pads on their steering wheels, accelerometers and all manner of other sensors. The measurements gathered by these instruments would, together with the assessments of an observer sitting in the passenger seat, generate category scores in five areas: awareness, ability, confidence, efficiency and calmness. The experiment is called Drive Different and its aim, it almost goes without saying, is to look at how my driving changes as I switched from one car to the other.

The day gets off to a bad start, with the cars held up by traffic on their way to the office and rain pounding London’s streets. But soon I’m hooked up; the heart-rate monitor is an unobtrusive bit of kit like a wristwatch, while aside from pressure-pad covers on the cars’ steering wheels and pupil-tracking cameras on their infotainment screens, all seems fairly normal.

It’s Time to Go Green!

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Electric cars with the longest range

November 18, 2019Audi, e-tron, Electric Cars, EQC EV, Hyundai, I-PACE, Jaguar Land Rover, Kia, Kona Electric, Mercedes, Model 3, Model S, Model X, News, Reviews and Comment, Niro EV, Renault, Soul EV, Tesla, ZOERepost

EV range is a hot topic right now so we’ve listed the new electric cars with the longest range you can buy now…

The first question most people have when a new electric car comes out is how much range it has. ‘Range anxiety’ is a phrase often thrown around to describe the fear EV owners could face when driving their electric car with a level of remaining battery charge that may not get them to their destination. As a result, there’s a certain kudos attached to the electric cars with the longest range as well as a valuable competitive advantage manifested as electric car buyers are attracted to them. If you’re wondering which electric car has the longest range, you can find out below.

Manufacturers have quickly realised the importance of range to existing petrol or diesel car owners and now some electric cars can travel just as far on a single charge as an internal combustion engined (ICE) equivalent can manage on a full tank – all the while producing zero emissions at a cheaper running cost to the owner. The fact that most drivers will very rarely travel the kind of distances in a single day that would deplete a modern electric car’s battery is seen as less important than the need to reassure motorists considering the switch to the new technology.

There’s no doubt that the UK’s charging infrastructure still remains a stumbling block for electric cars and their owners. Charging points are increasing in number across the country and charging times are dropping but the chargers that there are are still often in use compounding the fact that recharging an EV is still noticeably slower than filling up a petrol or diesel vehicle.

With increasing investment from the Government and charging infrastructure providers to improve EV charging options coupled with the appeal of emission-free motoring and cheaper running costs than ICE vehicles, electric cars are more appealing than ever. Manufacturers too are in a race to develop enhanced batteries and electric car technology that will increase the range available in electric cars to the point that range anxiety will become a thing of the past.

The best electric cars you can buy in 2019

November 2, 2019Electric Cars, Hyundai, I-PACE, Jaguar Land Rover, Kona Electric, Model 3, News, Reviews and Comment, TeslaRepost

Turn on, plug in and drop out of the fossil fuel race with the finest zero emissions passenger cars currently on offer

Traipse around one of the recent European motor shows and you’d be forgiven for thinking that most of the world’s most famous manufacturers don’t produce or sell an internal combustion engine any more.

The major players have spoken and the future of personal transportation looks distinctly battery powered, with Deloitte predicting worldwide sales of Battery Electric Vehicles (BEVs) will rocket from 4 million in 2020 to 21 million by 2030, whereas sales of traditional internal combustion engines will fall off a cliff.

There are political and ethical arguments around for instance, lithium mining for EV batteries but this isn’t quite the right place to get into it.

Zero emissions vehicles boast a number of benefits that can be enjoyed today. There are fewer moving parts, meaning lower maintenance costs, the tax breaks and Congestion Charge benefits are extremely generous, while those with regular short journeys could save bucket-loads of cash by turning their backs on the humble petrol station. And don’t be misled by those bemoaning the public charging network, because a quick scan of Zap Map reveals an abundance of locations to charge a vehicle – a number that is growing by the day.

On top of this, those who have already made the switch to electric often attest to the fact that installing a charging point at home often negates the need to use the public charging network. After all, when was the last time you drove more than 200-miles several times in a week?

Hyundai joins IONITY to trigger a ‘new era’ of ultra-fast EV charging

September 20, 2019Charging, Electric Cars, Hyundai, Ionity, News, Reviews and CommentRepost

Hyundai has joined IONITY’s ranks of car manufacturers in a bid to “open a new era” of high power charging (HPC).

A joint venture between BMW, Ford, Daimler and Volkswagen, IONITY was launched in 2017 with the aim of establishing and operating a HPC network along the main highways in Europe.

The firm’s 350kW chargers hit the UK in May as part of a partnership with Octopus Energy for the installation of 40 charging stations, supplied with renewable energy.

IONITY also penned a deal with Extra MSA Group, which owns and operates part of the UK’s motorway network, for installations at eight service stations.

Thomas Schemera, executive vice president and head of product division at Hyundai, said:

“I am confident that our work with IONITY will open a new era of high power charging experiences, where charging will be seamless and easier than refueling for our customers.”

Facelifted 2020 Hyundai Ioniq Electric: Final Specs And New Photos Released

September 8, 2019Electric Cars, Hyundai, IONIQ Electric, News, Reviews and CommentRepost

Hyundai has dropped final specifications and a photo gallery of the facelifted Ioniq Electric on the occasion of the model’s international media launch in Amsterdam, the Netherlands.

The main update made to the EV is the upgraded 38.3-kWh battery with 36 percent added energy capacity for an enhanced real-world driving range of 311 km (193 miles) as per WLTP. The new battery replaces the previously-available 28-kWh unit.

Another significant upgrade is the addition of a standard 7.2-kW on-board charger for Type 2 AC charging that replaces the 6.6-kW charger. As a result, the battery can reach 80 percent charge in as little as 54 minutes using a 100-kW fast-charging station.

The electric motor stays the same and delivers a maximum power of 100 kW (136 PS / 134 hp) and a peak torque of 295 Nm (218 lb-ft). Borrowing from the Kona Electric, the Ioniq Electric makes maximum use of regenerative braking technology by adopting one-paddle driving capability. This allows drivers to stop the car by simply holding onto the left paddle shift lever — most of the time with no need to engage the braking pedal.