Should you buy an electric car? Consider: Hyundai Kona Electric vs Hyundai Kona gasoline [diagram]

We decided to compare the profitability of buying a Hyundai Kona ICE and an electric Hyundai Kona Electric. We analyzed the latter model from the point of view of the situation where it falls into the subsidy threshold and, therefore, its starting price is lower. The conclusions are a little sad and a little exciting.

Hyundai Kona Electric vs Hyundai Kona – which one to choose

Table of contents

• Hyundai Kona Electric vs Hyundai Kona – which one to choose
  • The cost of the Hyundai Kona Electric is 39 kWh = 87 PLN with an additional charge.
  • Lesson 1: If Spreadsheet Rules, Kona Electric 64kWh Has No Chance
  • Finding 2 (important): If surcharges start and Hyundai cuts prices on the 39 kWh version, buying a combustion version will no longer make sense.
• Summation

We took three cars for comparison:

1. Hyundai Kona 1.6 T-GDI (gasoline engine) with 7-speed automatic transmission and front-wheel drive, 130 kW (177 hp); price: PLN 86,
2. Hyundai Kona Electric 64 kWh, 150 kW (204 hp), real power reserve 415 km; price PLN 169,
3. Hyundai Kona Electric 39 kWh, 100 kW (136 hp), real power reserve 258 km; Price PLN 125.

> Current prices for electric vehicles in Poland [Aug 2019]

The cost of the Hyundai Kona Electric is 39 kWh = 87 PLN with an additional charge.

If the first two options are obvious, the last one needs to be explained. This is not the real price of the car.but some kind of simulation. The cost of the Hyundai Kona Electric 39 kWh according to the price list is 165 PLN. However, we decided that since one of the dealers can reduce the price from 900 to 200 thousand PLN for the 170 kWh variant, Hyundai may try to compete for the threshold of 125 zlotys for the 39 kWh option.

Other manufacturers have already begun to adapt, although so far we have heard that "the mark-up on electric vehicles is very low" and "there is no room for maneuver":

> Renault Zoe? Price from 116 thousand PLN Opel Corsa-e? Price from 119 thousand rubles. Surcharges work, although they are not!

In such circumstances, the buyer of a Hyundai Kona Electric 125 kWh worth PLN 000 will be entitled to a maximum surcharge of PLN 39 thousand. So the price of the car will fall to PLN 87,5 thousand.! This is just speculation, but the findings are amazing.

Lesson 1: If Spreadsheet Rules, Kona Electric 64kWh Has No Chance

If we are thinking about buying an electric car to save on fuel, then Hyundai Kona Electric 64 kWh loses. Even after five years (60 months) of operation, the cost of driving a combustion vehicle will be well below the cost of buying an electrician. Energy can be free - that makes little difference! And here we have assumed that the driver drives quite a lot, because he drives 1 km per month.

For comparison: according to the Central Statistical Office (CSO), Polish drivers drive an average of 12,1 thousand kilometers per year, that is, a little more than 1 per month. However, those with cheaper fuel (diesel, liquefied gas) travel more, sometimes much more, so 1 kilometer seems reasonable to us.

> Cheap Electric Vehicles – Overview [August 2019]

Of course, not everyone buys a car to save on fuel. The electrician has better torque, better acceleration, and is quieter and probably safer due to the reinforced battery container in the floor. No amount of money can balance the comfort and safety of your loved ones.

Finding 2 (important): If surcharges start and Hyundai cuts prices on the 39 kWh version, buying a combustion version will no longer make sense.

Conclusion # 1 is rather grim, and Conclusion # 2 seems overwhelmingly exciting to us. Well, when surcharges start in Poland and Hyundai decides to fight for them (which is not so obvious), buying an internal combustion version will make no sense. The surcharge will mean that the Kona Electric 39kWh will cost the same as the petrol version right from the start – and less than the diesel!

Each subsequent month of driving means additional savings. The more we drive, the more noticeable the savings will be:

Comparison of purchasing profitability and operating costs of Hyundai Kona Electric 39 kWh (white, blue line, dotted line), Hyundai Kona 1,6 T-GDI (blue, red line) and Hyundai Kona Electric 64 kWh (turquoise, pale blue line). The 39kWh option is a clear winner, but for it to be such a profitable purchase, you need to actively manage the distributor and start subsidizing electric vehicles.

In such a situation, does anyone worry that the Kona Electric has a real range of 250-260 kilometers? 🙂

Summation

Calculations of the portal www.elektrowoz.pl show that The annual operation of the Hyundai Kona combustion costs about 10 PLN.. Some of them are fuel, some are mandatory warranty inspections with an oil change (pay attention to the characteristic stages in the diagram). For comparison: the same costs for an electric car – less than PLN 2 per year!

In our calculations, we proceeded from the assumption that we charge the car at the G12 tariff at PLN 0,42 / kWh. In the G11 it will be more expensive, but when we choose the anti-smog tariff (G12as) or the G12 dual-zone tariff and use the free chargers in stores, the travel costs can be even lower.

The Hyundai Kona Electric 39,2 kWh has a real range of 258, which means that we need at least 1 charge to cover the planned 800 kilometers. It is difficult to go shopping at Ikea twice a week, so you should assume that at least half of the costs will be paid. But even if we use the expensive Greenway, the car will still be cheaper to operate than the version with an internal combustion engine:

> Which electric car to buy? Electric vehicles 2019 – a selection of the editors of www.elektrowoz.pl

Editor's note www.elektrowoz.pl: Koni's fuel consumption and Koni Electric's energy consumption were taken from the FuelEconomy.gov portal. There is no result for the 39 kWh version, so we assumed they would be the same as for the 64 kWh version, which is not correct. In fact, the option with a smaller battery will be a little more economical – however, we decided that the differences would be so small that we would ignore them.

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