Hyundai Motor Company is planning to release SUV electric vehicle in 2018. After focusing on sedan-type electric vehicle with its new IONIQ Electric this year, it is going to expand range of its electric vehicles towards SUV in 2018. It is heard that its SUV electric vehicle will be equipped with South Korean battery with large capacity and can drive at least 320km after being charged just once.
According to electric vehicle industries on the 15th, Hyundai Motor Company is currently test-driving its small SUV-type BEV (Battery Electric Vehicle) in order to release it in South Korea in 2018. During its test-drive, its image was recently captured by a camera of a person who loves electric vehicles in Seongnam-si.
It is believed that this model is being developed as Hyundai Motor Company is looking at major global electric vehicle markets such as China and the U.S. that are growing rapidly based on SUVs from a bigger view.
This electric vehicle, which is being tested under a development project name called ‘OS Electric Vehicle’, has 64kWh South Korean battery unlike other 1st generation electric vehicles that have 28kWh batteries that were the highest specification until now. Excluding variables such as driving efficiency and condition of roads, this vehicle can drive at least 320km with just its battery. Since it is still being tested, capacity of battery for actual models can be changed.
“By chance, I saw SUV model that looked to be either a PHEV (Plug-in Hybrid Electric Vehicle) or an electric vehicle being charged at a parking lot of an E-Mart that is located in Seongnam-si.” said a person who saw Hyundai Motor Company’s SUV electric vehicle. “Size of this vehicle is about Kia Motors’ SUV called ‘Niro’ and is slightly bigger than ‘IONIQ Electric’ and its wheels were looked to be same as the ones on IONIQ.”
After gathering information, this electric vehicle is found to be Hyundai Motor Company’s SUV electric vehicle. It is expected to be released during first half of 2018 after going through verification test such as test-drive of more than 100,000km and qualification for subsidy from Ministry of Environment.
“Although it is true that we are developing SUV electric vehicle with a goal of releasing in 2018, we cannot disclose any information such as name and specifications of new models due to confidentiality.” said a representative for Hyundai Motor Company.
Because Kia is also planning to release 2nd generation electric vehicle based on its SUV model called ‘Niro’ in 2018, there are going to be competitions between these two models.
Staff Reporter Park, Taejun | gaius@etnews.com