Reuters has been talking to KIA's parent company about plans for the future and it turns out that KIA is expecting to have an electric CUV in the U.S. by 2013. We've all seen our fair share of Toyota, Honda, Chevy, and Ford hybrids rolling around St. Louis, and with vehicles like the 2011 Chevy Volt coming shortly, we will need an alternative fuel powered vehicle to stay competitive. Check out the rest of the report from Autoblog.com and keep checking back for more Butler KIA News. www.JimButlerKia.com
"According to Reuters, Kia is looking to jump into the EV fight with an electrified CUV. Parent company Hyundai said that it's planning to turn out a total of 2,500 battery-operated vehicles by 2012. A total of 500 of those will be Hyundai BlueOn models, but the rest of the fleet will be made up of the new Kia-badged creation. The early fleet will be sold to Korean government agencies as a large-scale test, but commercial sales are supposed to start shortly thereafter. Reuters quotes Hong John-hee, the director of the company's electric vehicle development group, as saying that the cost of battery-electric vehicles will fall off much quicker than most analysts are anticipating.
Like the BlueOn, the CUV-based EV will store its power in an SK Energy battery pack, though there was no mention as to whether the cells would be lithium-ion or traditional nickel-metal hydride.
The electric crossover is likely to show up on the market in 2013 and will be capable of covering around 80 miles on a single charge. Both Hyundai and Kia are part of an effort by the Korean government to replace up to 20 percent of the nation's passenger vehicles with EVs by 2020." - -- - Autoblog.com
[Source: Autoblog]
