Tested: 2024 Hyundai Kona Electric Lives in the Shadow of Giants (2024)

It can be tough when you have a world-famous sibling. Just ask Jeb Bush. At Hyundai, the Ioniq 5 and Ioniq 6 have been basking in the limelight; together they've garnered back-to-back EV of the Year wins, among other accolades. Other Hyundai EVs haven't been so lucky. The now-defunct and just-plain Ioniq EV never got the same attention—proving it doesn't always pay to be first—nor has the battery-powered Kona been elevated to celebrity status.

The Kona Electric arrived for 2019, one year after the gas-engine subcompact SUV version joined the lineup, but buyers remained focused on the more traditional one. For 2024, the Kona—both versions—enters its second generation. It gets a new look and other upgrades, but we're still not predicting that the Kona Electric will become a marquee name among EVs.

Hyundai has has amped up the styling for both the gas and electric versions. At the front is a blanked-off fascia topped by a full-width light bar, a flourish echoed at the rear. Beyond the new look, the other major change is a bigger footprint, as the new Kona is larger than before in length (ICE Kona, 5.7 inches; Kona Electric, 5.9 inches), width (1.0 inch), and wheelbase (2.3 inches). It goes from being among the smallest of its ilk to the largest.

One result is that the new Kona is much roomier than before. The back seat adds 3.0 inches of legroom, and passengers enjoy a flat floor, decent headroom, and seats with a comfortable H-point. Narrow door openings limit access however. The cargo hold has grown too, by seven cubic feet.

The cabin now boasts side-by-side 12.3-inch digital displays, just like Hyundai's more expensive models. The switchgear consists largely of real buttons rather than touch nonsense. And while we're generally averse to novelty shifters, the Kona Electric's column-mounted twist-flipper isn't hard to acclimate to. There's also stowage, stowage everywhere: all kinds of space in the center console, plus a tray in the dash ahead of the front-seat passenger. But nearly everything in the cabin is formed out of hard plastic.

Two powertrains are on offer, a 133-hp base motor—a new addition for 2024—and a 201-horse example. Both are front-wheel drive.

We drove the 201-hp version, which is quick enough for its intended mission of scooting around town, although drivers who've been hearing about EVs with muscle-car-beating acceleration might be left scratching their head. To wit, the Kona Electric hummed its way to 60 mph in 7.0 seconds in our testing and motored through the quarter-mile in 15.5 seconds at 93 mph. Both figures represent some backsliding compared to the previous-gen Kona EV we tested, which along with being 98 pounds lighter, was 0.6 second quicker to 60 and half a second quicker in the quarter-mile.

Buyers likely will be far more interested in a different number: the EV's range. Here, the story is brighter. The EPA pegs the Kona Electric with its 64.8-kWh battery at 261 miles (versus 258 miles for the previous model with a similar-sized pack). In our 75-mph highway range test, the Kona Electric wasn't far off that estimate, with a 230-mile result. Note that those figures are for the SEL and Limited; the base SE gets a smaller, 48.6-kWh battery that carries an EPA estimate of just 200 miles.

The Kona Electric doesn't share its flashier siblings' 800-volt architecture, so it's not as quick to charge, but it is quicker than before. At a DC fast-charger, the Kona's 400-volt architecture can gulp electrons at up to 100 kilowatts. And the car's L2 charger has been upgraded from a 7.2-kW to a 10.8-kW unit, which slashes the 10 to 100 percent charging time at a 240-volt source by a third (now 6 hours, 5 minutes), according to Hyundai.

The Kona Electric isn't at the level of the Ioniq 5 and 6, but it's still a pleasant EV. The chassis is also well sorted for an in-town runabout, albeit with a fair bit of lean in the corners. The steering has some artificially added weight—it doesn't change with cornering forces—but the effort levels are fine. The Kona Electric's braking should please drivers no matter where they fall on the regenerative braking spectrum. Paddles allow you to adjust the level of liftoff regen from none (full coasting) to one-pedal driving (i-Pedal) with several steps in between. And those who do use the brake pedal will find predictable modulation. Stopping distances from 70 mph, however, were a longish 179 feet, which is six feet worse than we recorded with the previous Kona Electric.

We tested the Limited, which is generously equipped, with heated and ventilated front seats, a heated steering wheel, Hyundai's blind-spot monitor, a 360-degree-view camera system, key fob–operated remote parking, and digital key. At $42,650 as tested, though, a wandering eye looks longingly across the showroom at the Ioniq 5 for less than $1000 more or the Ioniq 6 SE Long Range for $43,600. Perhaps, then, you'd drop down to the Kona Electric SEL, which starts at $38,070. We'd avoid the entry-level SE ($34,070), with its smaller battery and shorter range. At the high end, though, we'd be more tempted by one of the Kona Electric's superstar siblings.