Hyundai has gone and done it. Many new cars these days don’t come with a spare tyre, and among EVs, you’d be exceptionally lucky to find a single one with a spare tyre, or at the very least, a space-saver. However, Hyundai is releasing the Kona electric in Australia with a spare. Queue the applause.
I happen to like Hyundai a lot – the company’s Ioniq 5 EV was a runner-up in our EV of the Year ranking, and I very much enjoyed my time with the Ioniq 6 sedan. The Kona, however, represents Hyundai’s entry-level EV, priced more than $10,000 below its Ioniq counterparts, with a design adapted from an ICE vehicle.
And now, the Korean carmaker has reinvented the wheel, and will ship the electric model with a spare tyre for the first time in its product history.
“[The] All-new Kona Electric is the first EV in its segment to come standard with a spare tyre, to help reduce driving anxiety, especially on longer journeys. The space saver temporary spare is stowed below the cargo floor and is suitable for driving at up to 80km/h.”
Suitable at up to 80km/h? Oh, it’s a space-saver. Don’t worry, we’ll take it. The way I see it, a spare tyre is one of those ‘hate to need it and not have it’ kind of things – you’d rather have it in the back just in case something went spontaneously wrong.
Compared to similarly priced electric cars, the only other EV that comes with a spare tyre is the Nissan Leaf, with a space-saver located under the floor. As pointed out by Chasing Cars, only a handful of other, more expensive electric cars come with spare tyres in Australia.
But let’s not kid ourselves – I’m hopeful that this is the first of many EVs in Australia that’ll come with an included spare.
Moving on from the tyres, the Hyundai Kona has received a facelift in Australia, with two models available.
The first is a 99kW FWD model, with 370km WLTP range and a starting price of $54,000. Up from this, the 150kW FWD model has a range of 505km WLTP for $58,000. If you choose the ‘Premium’ variant, you’ll spend $68,000, but you’ll be upgrading the Kona’s 17-inch wheels to 19-inch, with a range drop to 404km WLTP.
All models come with a 12.3-inch infotainment system, a rear-view camera, cloth seating, manual front seats, one-pedal driving, and safety features like lane-keep assist, lane following assist, adaptive cruise, and blind spot monitoring.
The Premium adds subtle exterior and interior design changes, projector LED headlights, a birds-eye camera, side parking sensors, a heads-up display, a sunroof, leather seating, powered front seats with heating and ventilation, and a powered tailgate.
The entry-level trim than the previous model by $2,500, however, as pointed out by Drive, the top-end model is more expensive than its predecessor by $4,000.
Each model includes V2L capabilities, heat pump cabin heating, battery conditioning and a wireless phone charger, with more leg and shoulder room than before. It’s also slightly longer and taller, and all models can charge at a maximum of 100kW on a DC charger. That’s really not a terrific DC charging limit, and is easily bested by cheaper and similarly-priced alternatives from Tesla and Polestar in particular, along with cheaper alternatives from MG, but Hyundai claims it can charge from 10 per cent to 80 per cent in 45 minutes at peak charging performance.
It’s an attractive-sounding car, but it’ll be interesting to see if it can attract buyers in a market where Chinese automakers like BYD and MG are offering many of the same features at a much lower price – albeit without a spare tyre.
Seriously, thank you for including a spare, Hyundai. Good stuff. The Kona Electric is available to order now.
Image: Hyundai
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