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City cars are tricky when it comes to EV because fitting enough batteries into a tiny car to allow a sensible range and then doing it at a sensible price is difficult. As a result we haven’t had lots of choice, so when one of our favourite EV manufacturers announced its intention to release a new model we were excited! The result is the Hyundai INSTER.
At just over 3.8 metres the INSTER is ideally suited to the urban environment, with the performance well judged for this brief. Despite having less than 100 bhp 0-62 mph is dispatched in a handy 11.7 seconds thanks to an admirably low kerb weight. Saving weight also results in the entry level model achieving more than 200 miles on the official tests which is great for this class. If you do want a bit more a slightly larger battery is available, which provides a modest increase.
Charging is handled by a 10.5 kW on-board AC charger and the ability to charge at up to 73 kW at DC chargers which is bang on the class average. At an Ultra Rapid charger a 10% to 80% charge takes about 30 minutes so combined with the usable range, it is feasible to take longer trips in the INSTER when you want to break out of the urban jungle.
So the INSTER is small enough for city use but what about practicality? Well you can get 4 adults in and still have 280 litres of boot space or ditch the rear seat passengers and that increases to 1059 litres. There are no prizes for guessing that you can’t tow, but you can get 75 kg on the roof, and the INSTER has a party trick up its sleeve! If you can stretch to the plusher models, all four seats fold flat turning the car into a temporary camper van.
The INSTER combines a useable range, with sensible price and Hyundai’s 5 year warranty. The interior is very flexible and the boxy shape means that you can get 4 adults in, or fold the seats and INSTER can turn into a temporary van, or fold all four seats and it becomes a camper. All in it is a brilliantly designed city car and a welcome addition to the market.
Estimated real world range: 140 – 203 miles
Official range: 203 miles
Official electricity consumption: 143 Wh/km
Battery pack: 42 kWh lithium ion; 8 year / 100,000 mile warranty
Recharge time: 7 kW charge approx 6 hours 5 minutes; 11 kW charge approx 4 hours; Rapid CCS 50 kW approx 55 minutes (10 – 80%); Ultra Rapid CCS 73 kW approx 30 minutes (10 – 80%)
Please note that CO2 emissions quoted for electric cars are not directly comparable to diesel and petrol cars. This is because CO2 emissions quoted are calculated by Green Car Guide and include the emissions created at the power station turning fuel (e.g. gas etc) into electricity and in transmitting and distributing the electricity to an end user. They do not include the actual production of the fuel (e.g. gas extraction and refinery emissions). Petrol and diesel emissions are supplied by car manufacturers and are based solely on the fuel burnt in the engine (tailpipe emissions) and do not include the production of the fuel or distribution to a fuel station. In practice this means that electric car emissions are over-estimated relative to petrol and diesel. For instance if an electric car, a petrol car, and a diesel car are all reported to emit 100 g/km CO2, the electric car actually has lower emissions.
