ICICI Bank Offering Full On-Road Finance for India’s First EV – Kona SUV

• Published On: 24 July 2019
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Kona SUV: ICICI Offering Full On-Road Finance for EV

South Korean maker Hyundai recently launched their first electric vehicle – the Kona SUV – in Indian market. The prices for SUV start at Rs. 25.30 lakhs, ex-showroom Delhi. This is a fairly steep price for the Indian market and a major reason behind it is that the Kona is imported in India as knocked down kits. However, ICICI Bank has now come to the aid of prospective Kona customers and is now offering zero downpayment loan on Hyundai Kona. With this loan, the Indian lender is also fully financing the vehicle to the tune of its on-road price. If calculated for a period of 7 years, the EMI for the end user will come out to be around Rs. 40,000. The recently presented union budget announced a relief on income tax of up to Rs. 2.5 lakhs on electric cars. This scheme will hold true for Hyundai Kona as well. With the announcement of the upcoming subsidies for electric vehicles in India, one can expect the Kona to get benefits of up to Rs. 2 lakhs. All this subsidy combined and the IT benefit factored in, the effective price of the South Korean maker’s first EV in India can come down by about Rs. 4-5 lakhs.

Kona is not only Hyundai’s first electric vehicle in the Indian market, rather it is the first all-electric SUV to be launched in the country. Kona will be kind of a flagship vehicle from the brand and will display the maker’s engineering capability. The company had set a target of 25 units per month for the sales of the SUV, but it has received 150 bookings so far. Keep in mind that Kona will only be sold in 11 Indian cities and then when the booking numbers are looked at, the response will surely put a smile on company’s face.

The biggest USP that the brand is touting for the Kona is the massive 452 kilometre range of the SUV. The 39.2 kWh battery pack of the electric SUV from the South Korean maker equips it to deliver 135 Bhp and 335 Nm. The 0-100 km/h time for the Kona SUV is just 9.3 seconds. The SUV also comes with fast charging capability that takes the charge level of the vehicle to 4/5th of the total charge capacity or at 80% capacity in just under an hour. Whereas, the normal charging time for 0-100% stands at 6 hours 10 minutes. The company is currently working on installing fast chargers in major cities of India. All Hyundai dealerships which will sell EVs will have a 7.2 kW AC charger to cater to the needs of the customer.

Speaking of the same, the South Korean maker plans to sell the SUV only in the large cities of India as of now and in smaller cities as the infra for electric cars develops. Speaking of the charging solutions, the company will bundle two chargers with the Kona SUV, a normal wall charger that will give the SUV a range of 50 kms in an hour and a portable charger that will give the same range in 3 hours. Hyundai also plans on providing charging solutions support to the buyers which includes installation along with any power supply upgradations required at the buyer’s home.