Hyundai Australia CEO JW Lee handed over the keys for the first all-electric Hyundai Kona to an Australian customer this week.
The EV – Australia’s first all-electric car with over 400km range priced around $A60,000 – was delivered to Charles and Carol, who hail from the Fraser Coast in Queensland.
“Charles has been a passionate EV supporter in Australia for over 20 years and has been engaging with me for over 2 years for the first Kona Electric,” said Scott Nargar, manager of future mobility at Hyundai Australia in a note on social media channel Linked In.
A long-term supporter of e-mobility in Australia, Charles accepted the keys from Mr. JW Lee at a special handover event held at Ryde in Sydney on Tuesday.
Neighbour Kyle Bolto of Symbiot Technology, said via Linked In that he was glad Charles’ determination to own an electric car has finally paid off.
“Charles is my next door neighbour and I can vouch he has been so far ahead of the curve with EVs it can be measured in decades,” said Bolto.
“I’m thrilled to see his support for the sector recognised by Hyundai by delivering him the first Kona EV in the country.”
Pricing and official specs for the Kona Electric in Australia were only released weeks ago, after a lengthy delay which sparked rumours that Hyundai had hit a wall with government paperwork.
With a $59,990 starting price tag before on road costs and extras, and 64kWh for up to 480km real driving range, customers have patiently awaited deliveries for Kona Electric to begin.
As an “entry-level” electric compact SUV (many electric cars in Australia are priced in the luxury car segment), it is a significant addition to the Australian electric car market.
The Kona Electric is one in an increasing queue of electric cars waiting to make their was into Australia that will offer more affordable and zero emissions alternatives for Australian drivers.
In late December Hyundai also released its Ioniq electric vehicle on the Australian market, the first such car under the $A50,000 price mark.
Nissan have also now announced pricing for their latest generation all-electric Leaf, which will also start at just under $A50,000.
Within months, they will be joined by the Tesla Model 3 all-electric sedan, although it is likely the first of these on offer will be the more expensive Long Range and Performance variants of the popular electric car.
Bridie Schmidt is associate editor for The Driven, sister site of Renew Economy. She has been writing about electric vehicles since 2018, and has a keen interest in the role that zero-emissions transport has to play in sustainability. She has participated in podcasts such as Download This Show with Marc Fennell and Shirtloads of Science with Karl Kruszelnicki and is co-organiser of the Northern Rivers Electric Vehicle Forum. Bridie also owns a Tesla Model Y and has it available for hire on evee.com.au.