In this Hyundai Kona EV Undercarriage Review episode of Munro Live, Cory and Kevin have a look at the high/low voltage wiring, SORB strategy, structure, suspension, and more.
Our episode starts off with Cory and Kevin pointing a few things that weren’t mentioned in our previous episode. Firstly, that the battery box hangs lower than the cradle, as demonstrated when Cory holds up a level to the battery box. This is a surprising find as this was an issue with the original Tesla Model S when it was first launched. Even though you can buy a polypropylene shield for this, the issue is passing the cinderblock test. Under highway conditions, if you ran over a block it would rip out the wires and damage the battery box.
The team moves on to the SORB (Small Overlap Rigid Barrier) strategy for partial front impact. The design on Hyundai’s newer vehicles seems to focus on trying to get away from having to use a perimeter cradle. The design doesn’t include small overlap rigid tusks or integration with the front end module, which we see on other vehicles. The Kona ICE vehicle performs/scores acceptable for SORB but we are interested in seeing how the EV version holds us. The vehicle employs a defensive strategy where the structure around the passenger occupant home is affording the vast majority of the protection with double shear brackets and an S/Y blend of body structure redirecting the energy away from critical areas.
While Hyundai does employ low cost impact solutions as mentioned above, there are certain places that they spend the extra for quality such as the very refined and efficient knuckle forging.
Looking at the EDM (Electric Drive Module) Cory points out that the output of the gearbox in not centered and instead biased to the left. This also means the the the two front half-shafts are different lengths which creates a certain amount of torque steer feeling when driving the vehicle. While Sandy pointed out that he liked the idea of integrating the AC compressor into the EDM, but Cory demonstrates that this is a trade as it then requires you to have very long cooling lines that travel along the underside of the car to reach all the places it’s needed.
The team goes on to talk about NVH issues on the EDM as well as findings on the rear suspension. But to see what our finds, you have to watch the video below:
