The Hyundai Kona Electric was launched in India at an introductory price of INR 25.3 lakh* last week. The pure electric SUV’s price could be reduced to INR 23.9 lakh* in the near future, as per a new report from Autocar India.
The Indian government has proposed to the GST council to lower the GST rate on EVs from 12% to 5%. Should the GST council agree and make this reduction, and include even imported EVs, irrespective of their FOB value/ex-showroom price, the Hyundai Kona Electric could see a price cut of INR 1.40 lakh.
“We expect the GST cut to result in a benefit of INR 1.40 lakh,” Puneet Anand, Senior General Manager & Group Head (Marketing), Hyundai Motor India, has said.
While the GST rate cut is yet to be finalised, a new incentive to promote EVs in India has been announced. The government will provide additional income tax deduction of INR 1.5 lakh on the interest paid on loans taken to purchase electric vehicles. This amounts to a benefit of around INR 2.5 lakh over the load period to the taxpayer purchasing EV on loan. The government has proposed to exempt e-drive assembly, on-board charger, e-compressor and charging gun from customs duty.
The Hyundai Kona Electric is available in only the short-range version with a 100 kW (136 PS)/395 Nm electric motor and a 39.2 kWh battery pack. The ARAI-certified range in this configuration is 542 km. The battery pack can be charged to 100% level (using a standard charger)/80% (using a 50 kW fast charger) in 6 hours 10 minutes/57 minutes.
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The Hyundai Kona Electric comes with 3 years/unlimited km product warranty and 8 years/1,60,000 km battery pack warranty.
*Ex-showroom India
