2022 Hyundai Kona Electric Reviews, Pricing & Specs

We’ve always appreciated the Hyundai Kona for having a bit of a “bulldog” look to it. Short and stout, the Kona rides low to the ground with hardly any rear overhang. Visually, it manages to look simultaneously tough and friendly.

For 2022, Hyundai has added some new wheels and updated the Kona Electric’s front and rear bumpers. Our test model, a top-tier Ultimate trim, wore Surfy Blue paint to go along with its 17-inch alloy wheels.

Although it was certainly eye-catching, we will say, our blue paint job was a lot of blue. With the Kona Electric’s grille-less front bumper and the painted mirror caps, it was a true wave of colour.

Hyundai sells the Kona in two trims: Preferred and Ultimate. The Kona Electric comes well-equipped, but the Ultimate does add some nice features. On the exterior, the Limited trim swaps in LED headlights (LED taillights are standard in Canada). You also get rain-sensing wipers with the more expensive trim level.

Climb aboard a Hyundai Kona, and you’re greeted with terrific outward visibility. The vehicle’s short, sloping hood and big windows make it easy to stay alert to the happenings around you.

From a usability standpoint, the Kona Electric’s interior is delightfully simple. Physical controls are everywhere. With the exception of the shifter, everything is obvious and instantly familiar. This is the type of vehicle you could rent while on a vacation and feel immediately at home inside.

The shifter is a “+” design with Parking at the top, neutral at the bottom, drive on the left, and reverse on the right. It’s unconventional but self-explanatory. Two big cupholders sit to the right of the shifter.

The rest of the centre console is basic and functional. Hyundai fits it with a couple of storage bins, more hard buttons, and knobs for volume and tuning flanking our Ultimate-trim vehicle’s 10.25-inch touchscreen display—the Preferred trim level makes do with an 8-inch screen.

The Kona never feels big—its steering wheel is comically small—but it doesn’t feel cramped in the front. The Preferred trim comes equipped with black cloth upholstery, but we enjoyed leather-trimmed seats. For niceties such as a sunroof, LED interior lights, eight-way power adjustment and lumbar adjustment for the driver’s seat, heated rear seats, and wireless device charging, you’ll need to shell out for the Ultimate. However, the battery warmer system is standard equipment in Canada.

Hyundai has quietly become a powerful force in the world of electric and electrified vehicles. Along with the Kona, the company sells PHEV versions of the 2022 Tucson and 2022 Santa Fe, plus it recently debuted the 2022 Hyundai Ioniq 5, the first in an eventual line of zero-emission all-electric vehicles.

By comparison, the Kona Electric looks well-traveled. While it doesn’t boast top-of-market EV technology like the Ioniq 5, what it does offer is still excellent for regular use.

A 150-kW electric motor paired with a 64-kWh lithium-ion battery makes up the Kona Electric’s powertrain. With power specs of 201 horsepower and 291 pound-feet of torque sent to the front wheels for a front-wheel drive (FWD) drivetrain, it’s genuinely quick. And with all the torque coming on immediately, it’s a hoot to drive around town. Better yet, a Natural Resources Canada-estimated 1.8 city, 2.2 hwy, and 2.0 combined litres-equivalent per 100 kilometres rating makes the Kona Electric an appealing choice for shoppers looking for a highly efficient electric crossover. The total driving range measures 415 kilometres on a single charge, but as with any EV’s electric range, that number will fluctuate, and shoppers should expect to see it drop with lower temperatures.

Charging hardware is less impressive: the Kona Electric’s 7.2 kW onboard charger can replenish the battery from 10 to 100 percent on a level 2 home charger in nine hours 15 minutes. Plug into a 100-kW charging station for fast charging, and the battery will progress from 10 to 80 percent in 47 minutes. Compared with the new Ioniq 5, this is positively slow.

On the bright side, the battery warmer that comes standard helps speed charging in cold weather and, when in winter mode, it minimizes charge loss. Road noise is also impressively quiet in the Kona Electric, measuring only 65 dBA.

Hyundai supplies three drive modes for the Kona Electric: Eco, Comfort, and Sport. Drivers will find that, regardless of mode, the Kona Electric stays composed in corners, with its short, 2,600 mm wheelbase and huge toque making it fun to toss about. The suspension soaks up bumps, but the curb weight of the vehicle is heavy enough (1,685 kilograms or 3,715 pounds) that you’ll feel some weight transfer if you really get into it.

Hyundai has identified range anxiety, slow charging times, and concerns about public charging infrastructure as three key hurdles facing would-be EV adopters. With the Kona’s 415-kilometre drive range and dual Type 2/CCS charging port, at least two of those concerns are largely alleviated.

For such a small vehicle, there’s reasonable headroom in the Kona Electric—1,005 millimetres up front, or 965 mm with the sunroof, and 957 mm in the rear. But while the front passengers won’t struggle with legroom (1,054 mm), the folks in the back will. There are only 848 mm back there.

Cargo space is also tight: 544 litres behind the rear seat, 1,296 litres with the rear seat folded. While small, it’s actually the same size as the non-EV Kona. That’s because Hyundai designed the Kona to accommodate a large battery pack from the outset, as opposed to other automakers that engineered battery powertrains into existing gas-powered cars.

There’s no getting around the Kona’s compact interior dimensions, but its sensible use of storage cubbies and compartments provides some saving grace. We had no issues loading our test model with water bottles, backpacks, camera equipment, and other road-trip necessities.

For anyone hoping to use a Kona Electric as an uber-efficient hauler, think again. You can’t tow with a Kona Electric SUV, despite it being classified as a crossover.

Hyundai has developed a terrific infotainment system that manages to be full of features, attractive in design, and simple to understand. The Preferred trim’s 8-inch touchscreen supports wireless Apple CarPlay and Android Auto, although the larger, 10.25-inch display on the Kona Electric Ultimate does not.

Dual USB ports for the front seats are included as standard equipment (the Ultimate trim also gets a USB outlet for backseat passengers), and shoppers can expect the typical Bluetooth connectivity and SiriusXM satellite radio.

Hyundai also offers the Kona Electric with a digital key, a smartphone app that allows owners to lock, unlock, start, and activate the panic alert on their vehicle.

Step up to the Ultimate trim, and you’ll also enjoy a Harmon Kardon premium audio system which, despite having only two more speakers than the base system (for a total of eight), sounds crisp and bright with plenty of range.

Finally, Hyundai’s introduced a new 10.25-inch digital driver information display to beautifully pair with the Ultimate trim’s equal-sized infotainment display.

The Hyundai brain trust says that “Progress for Humanity” is their north star, the guiding principle behind their current product line. Obviously, electrification ties into this ethos, but the Kona Electric’s impressive array of standard safety features also helps.

The Kona Electric comes equipped with a variety of advanced driver assistance systems (ADAS) included as standard equipment. Labeled under the SmartSense umbrella, these items include forward collision warning, automatic emergency braking with pedestrian detection, lane-following assist, lane-keeping assist, a driver attention warning, blind-spot warning and collision avoidance, and rear cross-traffic alert.

Shoppers can also add front parking sensors for the automatic emergency braking system and high beam assist by moving to the Ultimate trim. The Kona Electric Ultimate also benefits from Hyundai’s Highway Driving Assist technology.

Neither the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) nor the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety (IIHS) has crash-tested a 2022 Hyundai Kona Electric, but the IIHS did award the gas-powered Kona its top score of Good across all crashworthiness evaluations.

At this point, the market for electric cars is still fairly expensive. The 2022 Kona looks like a decent value, however. Starting at a $43,899 MSRP before a mandatory $1,825 destination fee, the base Kona Electric Preferred comes in well below competitors like the Ford Mustang Mach-E, Telsa Model 3, and the Hyundai Ioniq 5 and Kia EV6. Even the Ultimate trim’s $49,399 price (before destination) looks competitive. Admittedly, the Kona Electric can’t match any of those other options in terms of battery size or interior appointments, but if you’re in the market for an affordable EV, the Kona looks like a Goldilocks of driving range, driving dynamics, and price. Plus, it qualifies for the full amounts available in both the federal iZEV incentive program and the provincial rebate programs offered in Quebec and British Columbia.

Other vehicles the Kona Electric will need to contend against are the 2022 Nissan Leaf and the 2022 Chevrolet Bolt EUV and Bolt EV, both of which undercut the Kona Electric’s price. However, the Bolt has been beset with recall issues, and the Nissan Leaf’s time in the sun as a segment-leading EV has long since passed.

For shoppers who are ready to switch to an electric vehicle and want a fun, stylish, and affordable subcompact SUV, the Hyundai Kona Electric deserves a test drive.

Note: Images show a US model.