200-Mile Electric Hyundai SUV Reportedly In The Works

Hyundai is planning to release an all-electric SUV with at least 200 miles of range by 2018, according to recent reports.

The news — which originated with the Korea Herald — has seemingly been confirmed by an unnamed company rep, so it appears to have something solid to it. The confirmation didn’t reference a range, though, but rather simply that that company would be releasing “a new electric SUV” by 2018.

The unnamed all-electric (EV) Hyundai SUV will build on the work that the company has done on its electric vehicle technology in recent times — which led to the recent launch of the Hyundai Ioniq.

Green Car Reports provides more:

Hyundai-Blog suggests, without a source, that the electric SUV may also be offered with a larger-capacity pack yet, giving it a range of up to 300 miles. That first 200-mile range, incidentally, is given as 320 kilometers, and is likely measured on the Korean test cycle — which could be the equivalent of only 140 to 160 miles on the tougher US EPA cycle.

The larger pack might be required to get the US range rating above the 200-mile mark, but at the moment, this remains conjecture. Like the dedicated Ioniq platform, which is shared by Hyundai’s sister brand Kia in the form of the Niro “hybrid utility vehicle,” the new all-electric SUV architecture will likely spawn a Kia variant as well.

It’s “noteworthy,” analyst Kim Jin-woo of Korea Investment Securities told the Herald, that Hyundai is focusing on SUVs for its upcoming all-electric vehicle. Kim attributes that to the better market reception for the Kia Niro hybrid “SUV” than for the Ioniq hybrid hatchback built on the same underpinnings.

Considering that the Korean company is reportedly working on a hydrogen fuel cell SUV as well, it seems fairly likely that the two (the fuel-cell vehicle and the all-electric) will share a common platform, or at least design elements.