Hyundai-Kia, Korean State Power Co. to Collaborate on EV and Charging System
By John O'Dell October 28, 2009
A little birdie tells us that Hyundai has signed an agreement with Korea's state-run power company to develop an electric car and charging system that will be ready for sale in Korea by 2011.
The car itself will be done by Hyundai and its Kia subsidiary, with Korean Electric Power Co. working on the EV battery charger.
Hyundai may already have the car well-in hand. It showed a prototype city EV, the i10 Electric (right), at the Frankfurt auto show earlier this year.
The car used a 16 kilowatt-hour lithium-ion battery pack and promiosed a top speed of 80 mpgh and a range of up to 100 miles on a single charge.
The memo calls for the first charger and a prototype Hyundai EV to be ready in just 10 months - August 2010 - with the car and charger to be ready to go on sale sometime in 2011.
KEPCO, the power company, also has agreed to help distribute the car - probably by bundling it with a charger.
Hyunda and Kia - like just about every other major automaker, have said they want to be leaders in the upcoming electric car (that includes all-elelctric and plug-in hybrid models) market.
The automakers released their first gas-electric hybrids this year, the Hyundai Elantra LPI and the Kia Forte LPG, both using liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) engines and electric motors.
As our colleagues at Inside Line point out, Hyundai is one of several companies (Daimler, Mitsubishi and Subaru are others) working in conjunction with government controlled energy companies to develop EVs and the infrastructure to charge them.
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