Kia e-Niro and Hyundai Kona Electric

It’s surprisingly Snappy for 200hp, not like a lazy brz/86.

Hah that’s true.

When I drove the frs. That thing was the most disappointment you could buy for 30k.

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Heh, The new Soul EV looks good too. :stuck_out_tongue:

Has the Soul gotten significantly better since 2013? I’ve got a friend who had a 2013 and it was pretty awful. Doors felt like they were made of tinfoil, the entire car felt like it’d been designed to be washed out with a pressure washer. The ride was okay, but it barely had enough power to push a golf cart.


Also, I really don’t like this frontmount charge port fad. Put it where the fuel door goes. Seriously. One minor fender bender and you can’t fill up your car.

Oh no! I haven’t heard anything bad about them for the US. What’s the word?

Yeah, the original Soul was a total non-starter for me. I’ve not gotten the chance to test it out, but It will definitely be much better than the initial offering, for sure.

This.

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I was replying to misteryangel. The ampera in UK is based on the Chevy volt. Which has been cancelled in US so the European model may not last long.

It looks like I’ve got some reading to do; I didn’t know what a CARB state even was. (from Tennessee)

California Air Resources Board.

It was brought about to combat the LA/SF smog (and really didn’t do jack shit), but what it really does is create a black market for vehicle emissions inspection and force aftermarket parts manufacturers to bribe CARB to give them an EO (executive order) number, allowing you to use it on your car.

Here’s an example: A 178hp turbo kit for the first gen miata (90% increase in power) is carb legal. A NA exhaust header (maybe gives you 2hp), which is effectively just a goddamn pipe, is not carb legal.

That’s the bullshit we have to put up with.

Basically, it’s government regulation of aftermarket parts and vehicle emissions.

Any state with tight emissions will be what’s considered a “CARB state”

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No you’re mixing the bolt with the volt.

Vauxhall/Opel Ampera-E is based on Chevy Bolt.

PSA bought opel/Vauxhall tho and the ampera E production has nearly stopped with most of it going to the Chevy bolt in the US. Still people waiting for their pre ordered ampera E deliveries in Europe.

The Kona has a battery heater in NA, it’s just that it’s a resistive heating element like a Tesla rather than a more efficient (and expensive) heat pump like the rest of the world gets.

It’s not a huge deal, it just means that in the cold weather you will use a bit more energy to keep the battery warm. Considering that both the Kona and Niro are performing very well in Norway I shouldn’t be concerned.

Also NA gets the unlimited mileage lifetime battery warranty, same as Korea, where as in Europe it’s “only” 200,000km/8 years.

0-100 kph / 0-60 mph has been measured at around 6.3 seconds by IIRC Autocar. Being an EV it is of course instant torque, very good fun to drive.

Oh and they both have one pedal mode, another really nice effort-saving feature. They have auto regen control too, which basically adjusts regen using the front radar so that most of the time you don’t need to brake or adjust it to follow the car in front. Of course they have TACC with start/stop for traffic as well.

One other thing that the Kia/Hyundai autopilot does which Tesla lacks, they can read road signs. Speed limit, dual speed limits (tied in to wipe control) and end of restriction are all recognized.

Do you have a source on this? I’m seeing from the other articles that it simply doesn’t have a heater.

From https://insideevs.com/hyundai-kona-electric-not-for-usa/

Also, I was able to squeeze some exclusive news for InsideEVs from Hyundai senior Manager of eco and performance powertrains, Jerome Gregeois. Gregeois told me that the Hyundai Kona Electrics sent to North America WILL NOT have active battery heating, unlike the cars going to European countries. Instead, they will only have thermal management with active battery cooling, but not heating.

So it seems to me that one of these three options are the case:

  1. it doesn’t have a battery heater
  2. it does and the Hyundai senior manager is mistaken (lol)
  3. it does and the article is being untruthful.

I’m leaning towards option 1

Ah thanks I didnt know PSA bought Vauxhall brand

That’s about what it is for regular in WA right now. I’m visiting IA for the holiday and I shit you not gas dropped to $1.979 yesterday at a couple stations. :rofl:

Wife has that gen of soul with the larger engine. Its funny you dislike all the things I dont care about and say the one thing I hate about it is okay. Rides like a fucking superduty with nothing in the bed to me.

No idea if the new ones are better but I would guess no.

Resistive heating elements are 100% efficient so im not sure how a heat pump beats that unless that element is wasting heat to the outside that the heat pump would otherwise not be. I suppose it could provide a more even heating of the cells.

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Yeah, I’ve never understood why there’s such a huge disparity in pricing across the country.

Different strokes I guess.

To be fair, I prefer softer rides, so I’d rather have a super duty than a 911 on coils.

102% efficiency. SUCK IT PHYSICS!

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Local gas taxes. WA is like the second highest in the country.

Yeah, but local gas taxes can’t be 100% of the difference. We have 47c/gal taxes here. That’s not the difference between 1.97 and 3.69. That doesn’t even get it close.