The Hyundai electric car called the Hyundai i10 EV, is an electric version of the better known Hyundai i10. The i10 is manufactured in India, and Malaysia for the South Korean auto maker, Hyundai. The electric and gas powered versions of the i10 look about the same. The i10 gas powered rig is made in India, while the EV is produced in Malaysia.
Hyundai is actually a modern pioneer in the EV area. The company produced a small fleet of EVs based on the Hyundai Santa Fe platform in 2003. The fleet underwent several years of very successful real world testing in Hawaii. The batteries at the time were Ni-MH and were used to demonstrate rapid (30 minute) charging while providing a 100 mile range. The Santa Fe EV was similar to the old Toyota RAV4 EV.
Like the RAV4 EV, the electric Santa Fe is not in production today. It appears that Hyundai will instead produce for sale the Hyundai i10 EV. The i10 EV is to be primarily manufactured in India, and shipped to South Korea for final assembly. The market for the cars is likely to be Government agencies outside of India. The car is not scheduled for sale in the US just yet.
At just 2,200lbs/1000kg dry weight, the i10 EV is one of the lighter cars on the market. The light weight should help achieve the claimed 80mph (127kph) top speed and range near 100 miles (160km). The motor seems powerful enough to get the job done, rated at 49 kWh/65 hp.
The onboard charger can accept 220 or 415 Volts as needed. Charge time through a 220V line is about 5 hours. An 80% charge is possible in 15 minutes using 415 volt power source. That seems pretty convenient.
The Hyundai electric car is similar to other late model electric vehicles. It has the advantages of small size and quick recharge. The price is not known, but since the car is not yet for wide export is not important just yet. Hyundai is reported to be producing just fifty i10 EVs in 2010, and up to 500 in 2011. This is in contrast to Nissan which plans to sell up to 50,000 Leaf EVs in the next few years.
