Kia is set to launch an electric version of its supermini Picanto model in Europe within the next three years, Headlineauto reports.
According to the news agency, the Korean carmaker will put a new next generation Picanto on sale in 2011 and will then put electric versions into production in Korea by the following year.
The Picanto EV will be powered by a 50kw lithium polymer battery, preferred by the South Korean carmaker to lithium-ion batteries because they are smaller and produce more power, at least that’s according to Chi Young Jeong, senior research engineer at the company’s technical centre in Namyang.
The EV will be among a raft of eco-friendly technologies being rolled out by Kia in the coming months and years.
The Picanto will also be equipped with a new 1-litre, three-cylinder engine which in 2012 will be turbocharged to give a ‘hot’ version of the small car boasting 110bhp.
Last year Kia launched an LPG hybrid version of its Forte C-segment model on the domestic Korean market – a precursor to diesel hybrid systems that will come to Europe within the next two years, according to company insiders.
LPG is widely available in South Korea, is about half the price of petrol and is used by buses and taxi.
The Forte is the world’s first liquefied petroleum injection hybrid and the company’s first use of the lithium polymer battery.
It is a proprietary hybrid system as Kia did not want to licence the technology and will be further developed as a diesel hybrid.
Kia’s plug-in hybrid is currently being trialled by government fleets in South Korea and are expected on the market by the end of 2012 or early 2013.
The eco roll-out will be completed when Kia’s hydrogen fuel cell vehicles goes on sale later in the decade.
Joeng said that fuel cell vehicles are currently on trial in South Korea and the United States.
