Hyundai Kona Electric

The Kona has been redesigned and reimagined as a slightly upscale subcompact SUV, offered with either gas-only or all-electric powertrains. While this road test review focuses on the Kona Electric, we’ve tested both versions and found several improvements over the previous model, which suffered from a stiff ride and a cramped cabin. The new Kona, which has grown larger with the redesign (and more expensive), sports a radically styled exterior and offers a roomier interior.

We found the Kona Electric to be a mostly enjoyable, reasonably priced little runabout that’s zippy, has short stopping distances, and user-friendly controls. But elevated wind and road noise make the cabin loud for an electric vehicle, and the abundance of hard plastic trim throughout the interior is disappointing.

The entry-level Kona Electric SE comes with a 48.6-kilowatt-hour (kWh) battery and has an EPA-estimated driving range of 200 miles. The SEL and Limited versions get a 64.8-kWh battery and an EPA-estimated driving range that extends to 261 miles. The SEL trim we tested managed a decent 245 miles in our 70-mph highway range test.

Over the years, we’ve tested a vast number of EVs. However, many of them have been frightfully expensive, which is why we were enthusiastic to test a more reasonably priced EV. Our mid-level SEL model rang in at just a touch under $39,000—which is, arguably, a lot closer to many buyers’ budgets compared to EVs from Toyota and Volkswagen, for example. Heck, even the Chevrolet Blazer EV we tested topped $60,000.

The Kona EV competes directly with the Kia Niro EV and Nissan Leaf, although the Leaf is already outdated. Unfortunately, the Kona EV is only available with front-wheel drive—a bummer if you live where it snows.

We bought a Kona Electric SEL—anonymously from an area dealer, as we do with every vehicle we test—for the purpose of this road test review.

Acceleration from the 201-horsepower electric motor is swift, effortless, and nearly silent. The Kona EV’s 7.2-second run from 0 to 60 mph makes it about 2.5 seconds quicker than the gas-powered Kona we previously tested. The 11-kilowatt onboard charger allows you to gain about 37 miles of range per hour using a 240-volt home-charging system—figure on it taking about seven hours to charge the Kona SEL from near-empty. Hyundai says the battery can be amped up from 10 to 80 percent in 43 minutes at public DC fast chargers. But the charging port’s front location low on the grille (rather than on the side of the car, as in most EVs) means that it gets covered with bugs and road grime.

The base SE has a shorter EPA-estimated range of 200 miles compared to our tested SEL, which comes in at 261.

Thanks to its small size it’s easy enough to take the Kona through corners, and it proved predictable and forgiving when pushed hard in at-the-limit handling tests at our track. The ride is anything but plush, but while the suspension is certainly firm, it rarely allows harsh hits into the cabin.

Braking is excellent, both in terms of short panic-brake stops and pedal feel. We really like the Kona’s handy on-the-fly ability to customize the intensity level of the regenerative braking system, which slows the vehicle when coasting or braking while recouping energy that gets sent back to the battery. Like many other EVs, the Kona can be set to a “one-pedal driving” mode in which you control the car’s acceleration and braking with just the accelerator pedal.

Even though there aren’t any sounds from a gasoline engine to contend with, the Kona EV isn’t all that quiet of a vehicle thanks to pronounced road, tire, and wind noise at low speeds, and a constant hum in the background on the highway. 

The cabin ambience in the Kona SEL is nothing special at all. Look around and you see lots of hard plastic everywhere. Even the small storage bins and center console cup holders have slippery plastic bases, rather than grippy rubber, beyond the phone charging pad.

Our tested SEL trim comes with a power driver’s seat with two-way lumbar support adjustment. We found that the nicely shaped front seats do a good job holding you in place through corners, but the padding proved too firm for most drivers. Plus, the plastic door armrests get uncomfortable quickly, and numerous drivers complained that the top of the steering wheel cuts off part of the driver’s instrument screen, which forced them to raise the wheel into a higher and less comfortable position so that they could see the entire display. Otherwise, the Kona’s driving position is quite airy and roomy, with plentiful shoulder and elbow room. Overall visibility is pretty good, especially to the front and sides, but there’s also the typical rear three-quarter blind spot issues that we see in most SUVs. The rear seat is spacious for a subcompact SUV, with ample headroom, lots of foot space, and good under-leg support.

The Kona EV has straightforward controls with a clutter-free and logical touchscreen infotainment system. The dashboard has a modern look, adapting the latest trend of presenting the driver’s instrument panel and infotainment screen on what appears to be one giant display (it’s actually two separate ones). The infotainment touchscreen is easy to use, and we appreciate the physical—rather than capacitive-touch—climate-control buttons. The twist-type, column-mounted electronic gear selector takes some getting used to, but with practice it can be operated without looking at it.

Standard active safety and driver assistance features include automatic emergency braking with pedestrian and cyclist detection, automatic emergency braking that operates at highway speeds, blind spot warning, rear cross traffic warning, reverse automatic emergency braking, lane centering assistance, lane departure warning, lane keeping assistance, automatic high beams, and adaptive cruise control.