EV Review: 2021 Hyundai Kona Electric Ultimate

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Like a movie or play being promoted at a theatre (remember going to those?), the poster announcing the widespread arrival of electric cars in Canada has gone from “coming soon” to “now playing”. Just about every major automotive manufacturer has either recently introduced a raft of EVs or has a portfolio of them ready to unleash on the general public. It won’t be long before wide swaths of the country either have an electric car or knows someone who does.

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Hyundai was one of the first out of the gate, introducing the Kona Electric a couple of model years ago. It was—and remains—a solid pick in the segment, blending modern EV efficiency with a body style that doesn’t look like it was cribbed from a soiled copy of Popular Science. Its front wheels are powered by a single electric motor that heaves out just over 200 horsepower and very nearly 300 lb-ft of torque.

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It’s the latter which makes itself known in all driving situations, permitting the Kona Electric to hilariously break traction at speed while accelerating out of a roundabout and onto a highway on-ramp. In fact, when placed in Sport mode and unshackled from the surly bonds of traction control, this machine can neatly lay two long strips of rubber (on a closed course, naturally). Combine these traits with a decidedly un-alien driving experience and a cargo capacity utterly identical to its gasoline-powered variant and the pieces are in place to market this thing to more than just fringe-case early adopters.

But to really push EVs into the mainstream, it’s going to take a concerted effort on several fronts, with players like regional power companies and third-party suppliers investing in new technologies and fresh business models. To get the lay of the land, we spoke with Jacqueline Foster, senior communications officer for Nova Scotia Power. She explained to us the innovation happening on their side of the table.

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“We have tripled our renewable energy over the last decade from 9% to 30%,” said Foster in an interview with Driving . “We are on track to supply approximately 60% of our electricity from carbon-free sources in 2022.” For a province that once made a living mining coal, that’s nothing short of remarkable. Foster also pointed out that Nova Scotia is a Canadian leader in carbon reduction, cutting carbon emissions by 34 per cent since 2005, well ahead of the national goal of 30 per cent reduction by 2030.

Of course, as any automaker spending R & D dollars on EVs will gladly tell you, it’s one thing to make a lot of energy but quite another matter to store enough of the stuff to make it all worthwhile. Foster goes on to say her company believes that storage paired with renewables is a big part of the future. They are testing battery storage through an Intelligent Feeder Program, plus initiatives like Smart Grid NS: a pilot project in which individual pieces of the electrical system can communicate with one another so the entire electrical system works together to use energy more efficiently.

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So that’s innovation from the folks who supply the power. What about those who supply parts and pieces for EV assembly? Joe Harary is CEO of Research Frontiers, an American-based nanotechnology company that develops and licenses its patented SPD-SmartGlass technology to carmakers.

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There are plenty of efforts at OEMs to improve the battery tech, and we applaud that,” said Harary. “But our role is to create a product that can conserve the power that’s onboard.” He describes their ability to embed a nano film in glass, permitting a specific amount of light to pass through its pane. They discovered that using their glass in an EV’s roof can reduce cabin temperatures by 10C and, more importantly, reduce the use of a power-hoovering air conditioning compressor by 40%. “Conservation of the energy is very critical,” explained Harary. “That’s what we do.”

Like the power company and third party supplier, Hyundai is plowing innovation dollars into making the Kona better for everyday Canadian use. These efforts result in items like smart charging and heat pumps, the latter of which show up on Preferred and Ultimate trims.

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Why does a heat pump matter? Gasoline-powered vehicles generally create cabin heat by scavenging warmth from the engine’s cooling system. EVs don’t have this source, so engineers create resourceful tech to prevent passengers from turning into popsicles. Some models have a resistive heating system, essentially an electric element that gets hot and throws off heat, just like baseboard heaters in an apartment. These units sap electricity which would be better used to propel the car.

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This is where a heat pump can help. Part of the Kona’s ventilation system, it captures ambient heat from the atmosphere or radiant warmth from powertrain components before compressing it into higher temperature heat and releasing it into the cabin. Freed from having to funnel precious electrons to a resistive heater, Kona Electric diverts a relatively small amount of energy to the ventilation system when an occupant requests warm air in the cabin. Thanks to this, your author had no trouble getting warm on a typically cold Atlantic Canadian morning, a statement he could not make about some other EVs and even the scattered plug-in hybrid.

Buying advice? Selecting the mid-range Preferred trim is prescient, since it is only about $1,000 more than the base car but brings important EV features like the heat pump and battery heating system. Also added are safety nannies such as adaptive cruise control that’s capable of bringing the thing to a full stop in traffic, rear cross-traffic collision warning, and forward collision avoidance. A better audio system and heated front seats are also part of the deal, making the Preferred trim a no-brainer. Be sure to investigate the myriad rebates on offer by various levels of government, including up to $5,000 from the feds and other provincial monies depending on where you live.

In the Kona Electric, the crew at Hyundai have created a machine which is easily approachable for customers new to the EV lifestyle yet efficient enough to twig interest from the green crowd. With the innovation efforts outside of car manufacturing from places like NS Power and Research Frontiers, it all bodes well to moving the needle further toward widespread acceptance of electric vehicles.