Kia Motors India today announced its partnership with the Andhra Pradesh government for development of electric infrastructure in the state.
Kia Motors India have signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the government of Andhra Pradesh on ‘Partnership for Future Eco Mobility’, where both entities will work together towards developing the local infrastructure for electric vehicles (EVs) and also setting up charging stations. For now, Kia Motors, who are currently busy with setting up a plant in Andhra Pradesh, have donated three variants of their global model, the Niro, and have also set up a charging station in the premises of the government secretariat at Vijaywada. The three Niro variants, namely the Niro Hybrid, Niro Plug-in, and Niro EV, will be used by the officials for now and the company also plans on donating more EVs to the government in the future.
Under the new initiative, Kia Motors and the Andhra Pradesh government aim at achieving clean and sustainable mobility for the future, and plan to dynamically revamp the transportation system in 14 upcoming smart cities in the state. This move also underlines the bigger plan to offer alternate mobility solutions in various parts of India with Andhra Pradesh serving as the test-bed to gauge feasibility of an electric future.
Kia Motors is currently pushing the envelope when it comes to sustainable mobility as the company aims to launch as many as 16 electrified models globally that will include hybrids, plug-in hybrids, full EVs, and a fuel-cell vehicle. However, Kia say that their plans for electric cars in India will depend on future government policies regarding cars running on electric power and alternative fuels.
The Kia Niro EV, which is the fully electric vehicle amongst the three showcased, boasts an impressive range of 455 km on a single charge, but, keep in mind Indian road conditions and congestion, these numbers might differ. In addition, Kia have stated that the car charges up to 80 per cent with an hour of charging, due to its fast charger. However, these figures might only be possible from Kia’s dedicated charging stations.
As for the company’s immediate plans in 2019, Kia Motors are all set to launch their first product – an SUV based on sister Hyundai’s Creta – in 2019. The styling of this SUV will be based on the Kia SP Concept, which we saw at the 2018 Auto Expo, with the engine and chassis coming from the Creta. Kia are expected to price this SUV in the Rs 10-16 lakh region with production starting from July 2019.
