Tamil Nadu Chief Minister Edappadi K Palaniswami on Wednesday flagged off India’s first fully electric SUV – Kona Electric manufactured by car major Hyundai Motor India Limited, at its facility in Chennai.
He also took a ride in the car after flagging it off at the State Secretariat in the presence of Deputy Chief Minister O Panneerselvam and officials from Hyundai. Once fully charged for about six hours, the car could travel up to a distance of 452 km.
Hyundai is in talks with Indian Oil to setup charging stations at its fuel outlets for providing fast charging facility.It would develop infrastructure at select fuel stations in select cities including, Delhi, Mumbai, Chennai and Bengaluru.
HMIL will invest on the equipment and installation of these fast chargers (CCS type Sinle Port). These chargers could charge 80 per cent of the battery capacity in less than an hour. Meanwhile, a company release said the launch of Kona Electric was part of HMIL’s commitment to invest Rs 7,000 crore in Tamil Nadu.
The company had signed a MoU with the state government at the second Global Investors Meet in January this year for making electric cars.
HMIL MD and CEO S S Kim said ‘it is a moment of pride to share that Kona-Electric is an expression of our commitment to the Indian market and bringing clean mobility solutions in India.’
