[MUSIC PLAYING] DAN EDMUNDS: Prevailing
wisdom suggests that an electric vehicle needs
more than 200 miles of range to stave off range anxiety
and make it useful for more than just commuting. But until now, there's only
been one affordable example. The Chevrolet Bolt EV brings
238 miles of range to the table. But now there's a new
Hyundai Kona Electric with 258 miles of range. KURT NIEBUHR: Which of
these vehicles is better? Are these finally
the affordable EVs that everybody's
been waiting for? Before we answer that, make sure
you subscribe to our channel, and visit Edmunds.com to
help find your next vehicle, electric or otherwise. DAN EDMUNDS: When I
first proposed this test in the office, everybody said,
why are you putting a Bolt up against a crossover SUV? Well, the Kona electric isn't
really that much of an SUV. I mean, it's only got
front-wheel drive. There's no all-wheel
drive version. KURT NIEBUHR: And the Chevy's
just kind of a tall hatchback anyway, and it's
front-wheel drive too. I mean, these things are
pretty close on paper, when you look at the specs. DAN EDMUNDS: Oh, yeah, the
wheelbase is identical. And the Kona is only
about a half inch longer. And both of them have 150
kilowatt electric motors. Chevy says theirs is
good for 200 horsepower. Hyundai's number
is 201 horsepower. But I'll give it to them,
because their electric motor makes more torque. KURT NIEBUHR: These things
do not look the same at all. DAN EDMUNDS: No, no,
the Kona Electric is both lower and wider than
the Bolt, some SUV, right? KURT NIEBUHR: People around
the office are asking, why didn't you guys
include the Leaf? Why didn't you
include the Model 3? DAN EDMUNDS: Well, the Bolt
has 238 miles of range. And the Kona Electric
has 258 miles of range. KURT NIEBUHR: Yeah, the Leaf's
150 is just way too short. DAN EDMUNDS: Right. As for the Model 3,
the $35,000 version, with 220 miles of range,
they're not making it. I mean, we can't compare
these two vehicles to something that doesn't exist. KURT NIEBUHR: Nah,
that's just vaporware. DAN EDMUNDS: Yeah, really. [MUSIC PLAYING] KURT NIEBUHR: So what
are we looking at? DAN EDMUNDS: Well, at the
moment, a whole lot of plastic. But up in here is
the electric motor that drives the front wheels. KURT NIEBUHR: Yeah, I
can just see it up there. DAN EDMUNDS: Right. We move back and there's this
big aluminum expanse, the width of the car, really long. This is the battery pack. 65 kilowatt hours
of storage, that's like gallons to a gas tank. And that's what gives this
car 258 miles of range. KURT NIEBUHR: It's so flat. DAN EDMUNDS: Yeah, the
smoothness of this battery pack and the plastic ahead
of it contributes to a 14% reduction in drag
compared to a regular Kona. KURT NIEBUHR: That's a lot. DAN EDMUNDS: Yeah,
it's not nothing. And we move back
here, and we see a really nice
multi-link suspension, which gives this car really
good ride and handling. And also makes room
for the battery pack to be as big as it
possibly can be. KURT NIEBUHR: So I imagine
that the Chevrolet looks exactly the same underneath. DAN EDMUNDS: Well, maybe. KURT NIEBUHR: So
we're under the Chevy and there's a lot of black
plastic underneath here too. DAN EDMUNDS: Absolutely,
but trust me, there's an electric
motor up in there that drives the front
wheel, just like the Kona. We move back, and we see,
this is the battery pack. But it looks different. It's narrower. It's not as long. But it's almost as big,
at 60 kilowatt hours, 238 miles of range. So it's got to be taller,
which might be why the Bolt has the roofline that it has. KURT NIEBUHR: It's also
not very smooth under here. DAN EDMUNDS: No, it's not. It doesn't look like they
paid nearly as much attention to smoothing the
airflow underneath here. We move back and we see
something different here too. KURT NIEBUHR: Yeah,
this suspension does not look anything
like the suspension that's in the Hyundai. DAN EDMUNDS: No, this is
a basic twist beam rear axle, which is really pretty
cheap and inexpensive. It was popular in compact cars. But it's not the most
sophisticated suspension for ride and handling. It'll be interesting to see how
the two compare when we start driving them back to back. KURT NIEBUHR: Yeah. DAN EDMUNDS: They might
not be the same at all. KURT NIEBUHR: I can't
wait to find out. DAN EDMUNDS: Yeah. [MUSIC PLAYING] So both of these
have plenty of space if you fold the seats down. But they have a lot of range,
so you can go somewhere with the family. So you might have
four people in this. Where are you going
to put the luggage? Will it fit? KURT NIEBUHR: I don't like
how that kind of rides on the plastic trim back there. DAN EDMUNDS: It's
a little bit tight. What about third one? KURT NIEBUHR: The third one,
we're going to have to put it-- DAN EDMUNDS: No choice there. KURT NIEBUHR: It's easy
enough, but will it shut. DAN EDMUNDS: Oh,
actually pretty easily. No problem. KURT NIEBUHR: But we
can lower the floor. DAN EDMUNDS: Oh,
yeah, that's right. And it's a pretty
dramatic change. Oh, look at that. You can stand these things up. Easy. KURT NIEBUHR: There we go. On the Kona-- DAN EDMUNDS: Well,
you can already see that the
floor's longer here. KURT NIEBUHR: Yeah,
there's more room. DAN EDMUNDS: More width too. KURT NIEBUHR: You can
probably shove that one in. DAN EDMUNDS: I think so. KURT NIEBUHR: And it shut. DAN EDMUNDS: Not a problem. You can also lower
the floor as well. KURT NIEBUHR: Oh, yeah. DAN EDMUNDS: It's not as deep. But it might do the job
Yeah, this stands up. There out the line of sight. KURT NIEBUHR: Yeah. DAN EDMUNDS: If you don't
want to drop the basement, this has a little more space. But if you do, there's
really not a big difference. Wow, who was driving this thing. KURT NIEBUHR: I was. DAN EDMUNDS: Well, I
got to bring it back. Are you OK? KURT NIEBUHR: Yeah, I'm OK. DAN EDMUNDS: How's that. KURT NIEBUHR: It's OK, you
can go back a little farther. I'm actually happy back here. I've got enough
room for my legs. I got enough room for my feet. I even have a heated seat. Let's go check out the Hyundai. DAN EDMUNDS: All right. Oh, I'm going to have to
bring this one back big time. KURT NIEBUHR: This
isn't so bad back here. Oh, what are you doing. DAN EDMUNDS: I got
to bring it back. KURT NIEBUHR: Oh, I hate you. Oh, my god. OK. DAN EDMUNDS: That's
a power seat, though. The other one wasn't. KURT NIEBUHR: There's less leg
room back here than in the Bolt by quite a bit. DAN EDMUNDS: You think? KURT NIEBUHR: My feet
are starting to go numb. Could you move this forward? I can't get out. [MUSIC PLAYING] Now comes the fun part. DAN EDMUNDS: We've left town,
and we're in the mountains, and we're going to go
up to Crystal Lake. KURT NIEBUHR: Yeah, and because
we have plenty of range, we don't have to
worry about range and we're not going
to talk about ranch. DAN EDMUNDS: Right, we can
think about the normal things that people think
about, ride, handling, steering, braking, how fun
are these things to drive. KURT NIEBUHR: Let's find out. DAN EDMUNDS: Let's
take the Bolt. [MUSIC PLAYING] Wow, these roads are
pretty incredible. KURT NIEBUHR: Yeah,
they really are. DAN EDMUNDS: What's not
incredible is this seat. It feels like I'm
sitting on a seat frame. It's really narrow. I'm sitting on it,
rather than in it. KURT NIEBUHR: I
think I'm overlapping on the side of the seat. And I'm with you. My upper back, my shoulders
are not happy with the seat. DAN EDMUNDS: The driving
position is good, but the seat itself just feels too small. The interior just
feels kind of cheap. It just does not have
really attractive materials. I wish they'd put a little
bit more money in the seats and the interior panels. KURT NIEBUHR: The
one thing that's really prominent in my eyes,
and it's literally in my eyes, is how bright and
light the interior is. Because there's a lot of shiny
or light plastics, which now we're in shade, and it's great. But as soon as we come
back through the sun, like reflections flicker
off the windscreen. DAN EDMUNDS: Yeah, the
angle of the windshield is just about perfectly wrong,
because it's reflects the-- every detail of the top of
the dash back into my eyes. It's like I need
sunglasses just for that. But that is an option. I suggest that you get
the darkest one they sell. KURT NIEBUHR: You'd have to. DAN EDMUNDS: Yeah, absolutely. You know what's really
cool about this car, the driving position is great. I mean, the telescopic steering
wheel's right where I need it. I feel I can see out really
well, other than the glare. And the re-gen on this thing,
using the motor's magnetism to slow the car, is really easy. You just flip the shifter
and it goes into L. And now, when you lift off the
throttle, you're slowing down and you're not touching
the brake pedal. And it's really kind of fun. It's not kind of fun, it is fun. KURT NIEBUHR: Yeah. DAN EDMUNDS: I got to get
on a little bit of breaks for this tight hairpin, but-- yeah, the tires, they
make a little noise. KURT NIEBUHR: We
might be having fun, but the tires don't sound
like they're having fun. DAN EDMUNDS: Low
rolling resistance. But that doesn't mean low fun. Because this thing really
changes direction really well. KURT NIEBUHR: Yeah. DAN EDMUNDS: And I have really
good control of the car's entry speed because of the
lift throttle re-gen It's really kind of neat. Yeah, these seats
though, they're-- [TIRES SQUEALING] Listen to that. What was I saying? All right, I guess it's
your turn to drive, right? KURT NIEBUHR: Yeah. I'm absolutely with you
on the seating position. I can get comfortable in
this car very quickly. I like the range the steering
wheel moves towards you. The seat is very adjustable. DAN EDMUNDS: It just
isn't nice to sit on. KURT NIEBUHR: It's not
a comfortable seat. DAN EDMUNDS: No. KURT NIEBUHR: This
could be the like worst seat I think I've sat
in that's on sale today. Now I get to make the
most of this car's torque. DAN EDMUNDS: Oh. KURT NIEBUHR: All
EVs make torque right from zero miles an hour. DAN EDMUNDS: Well,
it's not just that. This thing's got 200 horsepower. I mean, we can't forget that. KURT NIEBUHR: No, and it's
actually fun to drive. It's not sloppy. DAN EDMUNDS: That's
a tight hairpin. And that's a skinny tire. KURT NIEBUHR: That's
a skinny tire. But I have to tell you that
I'm not using the brake pedal, I'm just using the
re-gen of the throttle pedal, because it's so intuitive. Back off a little bit to slow
down, twist it to speed up. DAN EDMUNDS: And you know, the
body isn't rolling a whole lot. I mean it's rolling some, but
any car would on this road. KURT NIEBUHR: Yeah. DAN EDMUNDS: But that's
probably because the battery's under the floor, so the center
of gravity of this thing is really low. KURT NIEBUHR: I
will say that I feel like I'm sitting more
on top of the car than in the car, which creates
more of a sensation of speed. Like I feel like I shouldn't be
driving the car this fast, even though the car feels just fine. DAN EDMUNDS: The
cal is really low. The seating position's
a little high, because you've got the
battery under your backside. Just needs some
sticker tires I think. KURT NIEBUHR: This
is way too much fun for an electric vehicle. So what's your
opinion of the Bolt? DAN EDMUNDS: Well,
I like driving it. I mean, the steering,
the handling. It's got plenty of
power, they regenerate braking is really fun,
actually even on a challenging road like this. I just don't like the
interior, the seats, the way the dash is put together. I'm not a fan of that. But to drive it, it's great. KURT NIEBUHR: I
completely agree with you. And you must not buy the
light colored interior. DAN EDMUNDS: Exactly. [MUSIC PLAYING] Oh man, right away,
I love this seat. It looks good, and it's
wide, and it's comfortable. KURT NIEBUHR: Yeah, we are
definitely not in the Bolt anymore. DAN EDMUNDS: Exactly, and
we're a little further apart. This cabin is wide
and spacious too. And look at the materials. This thing looks nice. KURT NIEBUHR: I feel
more surrounded. I feel like I'm
sitting in the car. DAN EDMUNDS: Right. KURT NIEBUHR:
Whereas, in the bolt, I felt like I was kind of
higher up, kind of perched. DAN EDMUNDS: And the controls
are really nicely laid out. There's the touchscreen,
air conditioning, shifter, and these are the heated and
ventilated seat controls. KURT NIEBUHR: I've got vent-- I'm going to use mine. DAN EDMUNDS: Yeah, right? KURT NIEBUHR: Yeah. DAN EDMUNDS: This
also has a sunroof. The Bolt didn't
have one of those. KURT NIEBUHR: No. DAN EDMUNDS: And the
Bolt is the premier. It is the top of
the line offering. This is the ultimate,
which is also the top of the line offering. Its more ultimate. KURT NIEBUHR: Yep. Something else that's
glaringly obvious is the distinct lack of glare. Now, this is still a
light colored interior, but I'm not getting blinded
by shiny plastic bits. DAN EDMUNDS: Right,
right, I agree. And as the driver,
I appreciate it. The other thing I'm noticing
is going into that last corner and some of these other ones,
the regenerative braking just isn't quite as powerful
as it is in the Bolt. KURT NIEBUHR: That
was a squirrel. DAN EDMUNDS: Squirrel. I do have three settings. I can adjust it
with a paddle here. But I set it to the max and
wish I had one more step. You know, this car really
feels more substantial. It's wider and it
feels like it has a wider footprint on the road. It's a little bit more composed. The tires don't feel like
they're working as hard. It's not squealing as much. It's really nicely balanced. I mean, the Bolt wasn't
unbalanced, it wasn't bad. But this just feels better. And even there, on that
really tight corner, a little hint of
squeal, but nothing like the Bolt generated. KURT NIEBUHR: The bolt
was a little vocal. DAN EDMUNDS: Yeah, the
transitions feel real nice. The multi-link rear
suspension over twist beam, I think we're feeling a
little bit of a benefit here. KURT NIEBUHR: I'd say so
far, I feel less movement. DAN EDMUNDS: It's almost like
this road is a smoother road than when it was in the Bolt. KURT NIEBUHR: Yeah. DAN EDMUNDS: Oh, wow. KURT NIEBUHR: That
was way better. No arguing that, the Kona
electric rides better. DAN EDMUNDS: I just
wish I could get a little bit more lift throttle
re-gen in these corners. It's just not quite there. The steering in this
car feels pretty good. When I drove it in town, I
thought, it's a little light, it doesn't feel as distinct
on center as the Bolt. And that's true. But when we get up
here in these corners, it loads up a bit nicer
than it does on the street. I still think the
Bolt's steering feel is a little better, but this is
better than it was in the city. KURT NIEBUHR: So when am
I going to get to drive? DAN EDMUNDS: Right about now. If you listen closely,
there's that-- KURT NIEBUHR: Yeah,
I think it gets louder when you start moving. DAN EDMUNDS: Listen to
that, that's awesome. KURT NIEBUHR: You're
right, right away the car feels more solid. It isn't that the Bolt
feels the least bit flimsy. It's just I like the
way this car feels. I agree with you on
the steering feel. It is a little light,
but I like the way this feels through the corner. And I also like the fact that it
has wider tires on it as well. It's very noticeable. There's not the tires
squeal that the Bolt had. DAN EDMUNDS: It has the power. It's just the matter of
not having as much power? KURT NIEBUHR: No. DAN EDMUNDS: That's not it. KURT NIEBUHR: The power
feels more robust. And the Bolt does not feel
like it's lacking for power. DAN EDMUNDS: No. KURT NIEBUHR: But the Kona makes
that power available to you. DAN EDMUNDS: This has
about the same horsepower, 201 versus 200. Let's call it equal. But it makes more torque,
about 30 more pound feet than the Bolt. So I think that's
what you're feeling coming out of these corners. KURT NIEBUHR: I'll
second what you said about the interior of this car. I feel like I'm sitting
in a more regular car. Because the Kona Electric
is also a regular Kona, it's the same car. And the Bolt was built
just to be an EV. DAN EDMUNDS: Right. Which usually would make the
Bolt a better EV, because it's purpose built. But
this doesn't feel like they've made any sacrifices
to make an electric car version. Just look at the way the
battery is mounted underneath, as we saw yesterday. It's just so well
integrated into the chassis. KURT NIEBUHR: You're
right about the re-gen. I wish it was a little
bit more aggressive. We have it set at the maximum. We both seem to prefer the
way that the Bolt handles it. [MUSIC PLAYING] DAN EDMUNDS: Well, that was fun. KURT NIEBUHR: That
was really fun. DAN EDMUNDS: I mean,
why wouldn't it be? These are compact hatchbacks
with 200 horsepower. KURT NIEBUHR: Yeah, and we said
we wouldn't talk about range. We're still not going
to talk about range. Because we both have
over half a charge left. DAN EDMUNDS: And
we're at 5,000 feet. It's downhill most
of the way home. Things are only
going to get better. So let's go. KURT NIEBUHR: Let's go. [MUSIC PLAYING] DAN EDMUNDS: So which of these
two EVs is the right one? First, we have to talk pricing. We don't know exactly what the
Kona Electric costs just yet. But sources say the
base model's price will come in close to that
of the base Bolt. And we know with
certainty that the Kona will be better equipped. But here's another
point to consider. Chevrolet is about
to cross the phase out threshold for federal
tax credit eligibility. The Bolt's $7,500 tax credit
will shrink by half to $3,750 early next year. Then shrink again to $1,875
six months after that. In just over a year,
it'll be down to zero. Hyundai, on the
other hand, is just getting started with EV sales. The Kona electric will
qualify for the full $7,500 tax credit for years to come. There's a lot to like
about these cars. Both are more fun to drive
than you might expect. They're practically
hot hatchbacks. And you can go places
and be spontaneous, because each offers enough range
to make them useful for more than just commuting. We like the Bolt for its
superior regenerative braking and more
generous rear leg room. But the clear winner here
is the Hyundai Kona Electric on the strength of its
more sophisticated ride and handling, nicer
interior, and longer list of standard and
optional features. The extra 20 miles of range
it offers is merely a bonus. For more videos like this,
be sure to click Subscribe, and visit Edmunds for all
your car shopping needs.
TLDW: Kona wins (especially after GM's tax-credit shrinks early next year).
Hyundai Kona Electric vs. Chevrolet Bolt EV: Whic…: https://youtu.be/2lsVDdgLXho?t=16m3s
Not sure if this is an unpopular opinion around here, but I actually really really like the Kona's styling. I think a lot of that is due to the fact that it looks a bit similar to the C4 Cactus, a car I have a weird obsession with.
I wonder how the dealership network would factor into this. Chevy has a lot more dealerships than Hyundai, but does that mean better availability of parts, service, etc? Would it even be a big factor in EVs considering their maintenance requirements are so low?
What’s the chances you can find and buy a Kona EV in the US anytime soon.