Hyundai, Kia, Genesis Brands All Get a New Electric Model: Senior VP

by Steph Willems

Published: March 31st, 2017

hyundai kia genesis brands all get a new electric model senior vp

Each brand under the Hyundai Motors umbrella will see an all-new model powered solely by electricity in the next few years, with the lower-rung brands getting them next year.

That’s according to Lee Ki-sang, senior vice president and head of the automaker’s green cars division. While the company is busily crafting an expensive, dedicated electric vehicle platform, those first small SUVs will ride atop existing architecture, he said.

Lee made the product promises during a speech at the Seoul Auto Show, Reuters reports.

The first solely all-electric Hyundai model (unlike the hybrid, plug-in and BEV Ioniq) should launch next year, followed shortly after by a Kia-badged vehicle, Lee said. Both will fall into either the compact or subcompact segment. Genesis plans to launch a plug-in hybrid model in 2019, with a premium all-electric offering scheduled for 2021.

Selling an electric car is hard work (the same goes for hybrids), so Hyundai made sure to wrap that technology with a bodystyle that’s in high demand. With range being a key factor in a customer’s decision to go green, or drill, baby, drill, Lee claims the Hyundai and Kia offerings should top 300 km (186 miles) of driving on a single charge. The compact hatchback Ioniq currently gets 124 miles per charge.

Batteries galore isn’t the only thing worthy of note. Kia has embarked on a fuel-cell vehicle project, following in Hyundai’s footsteps. Still, Lee doesn’t see fuel cells overtaking conventional vehicles or even electrics anytime soon — the executive claims the roll out of refueling infrastructure is simply too slow to make hydrogen-powered driving anything but a long-term plan. In the meantime, he expects to see electric vehicles make up 10 percent of global auto sales by 2025 — a lofty goal that Lee expects Chinese demand will help reach.

[Image: Hyundai

#ElectricCars #Genesis #Hyundai #Kia #New

Steph Willems

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6 comments

Indi500fan on Mar 31, 2017

More juice for the masses! Competition is a wonderful thing. Think of all the dirt cheap 3 year old evs that will be available coming off lease. Every progressive school system needs to be planning a parking lot full of ev charging ports for the kids. And of course all of these are cutting petroleum usage on the margin, making those of use who prefer evil carbon power more likely to continue to have 2 buck gas.

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- Demon Something on Mar 31, 2017
  
  Hell, I can't wait for an electric Miata type sports car..
  
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- JohnTaurus on Apr 01, 2017
  
  @Demon Something Tesla made a roadster first, but you could always buy an older Miata with issues and do a conversion. Its becoming quite popular to do that (not a Miata specifically) out on the west coast.
  
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SCE to AUX on Mar 31, 2017

I'm amazed at Toyota's and H/K's persistence with fuel cells. Psalm 107:17 "Some became fools through their rebellious ways and suffered affliction because of their iniquities."

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- OldManPants on Mar 31, 2017
  
  "I’m amazed at Toyota’s and H/K’s persistence with fuel cells." Me, too, and I'm having great difficulty understanding how purely political jockeying can be driving such a patently futile misuse of R&D, murky and impenetrable as East Asian govt/keiretsu/chaebol relationships famously are.
  
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- Aquaticko on Mar 31, 2017
  
  @OldManPants I might understand their continued development of fuel cells are if the infrastructure in their domestic markets were further along, but neither South Korea nor Japan have hydrogen refueling infrastructures which are more extensive than their electric charging stations are. Truth be told, electric cars seem a perfect fit for South Korea, what with the two biggest cities (Seoul and Busan) situated barely 300 miles apart. Especially given the combination of a very urban population and substantial local air quality issues, you'd think the Korean gov't would be pushing EV's far harder, but maybe that'll come once the new president is elected in 2 months; Park Geun-hye's term has been a total waste of time.
  
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