Peugeot is serious about its electrification plans, EVs are popping up all over the group. With a newcomer like the e-2008, will the French be able to deal a serious blow to the competition? We find out in a comparison with the Hyundai Kona Electric.
PSA is gaining steam with a serious electrification program. After a remarkable first step with the Peugeot iOn and Citroën C-Zero (basically the Mitsubishi i-MiEV with different badges) and the Opel Ampera-e (essentially the American-built Chevrolet Bolt), the group now finally has a whole range of its own developed electric cars. For those own EVs, one electric motor (136 hp) and one battery pack (50 kWh) is currently available. We come across this duo in more and more models of the French-German group, from DS to Opel and from Citroën to Peugeot. And not only in the passenger cars, but also in the vans. This always concerns existing models. Where manufacturers such as Nissan and Renault build special models for their EVs (think of the Leaf and the Zoe), the electric cars of PSA are models that we also know with petrol and diesel engines. This also applies to the Peugeot 208 and 2008, which go through life with an electric motor as the e-208 and e-2008.
As a compact crossover, the e-2008 enters the waters of the Hyundai Kona, which you can also get on petrol and diesel and as a BEV. In fact, Hyundai offers a choice of two electric powertrains, with 136 or 204 horsepower. The first is almost identical to the Peugeot in terms of specifications. Nevertheless, we have chosen the most powerful Kona for this comparison, because with its starting price of just over € 41,000 it is better in line with the Peugeot, whose prices start just below that amount. That brings us directly to the question of what the Peugeot offers to compensate for the difference in power.