Tata Punch EV Rival Revealed: Hyundai Inster EV Breaks Cover Globally

Quick highlights

• Hyundai Inster EV revealed

• The compact EV features rugged styling elements

• Quirky interior design features sustainable materials

• Feature highlights include dual 10.25-inch screens, vehicle to load tech, ambient ligting and ADAS features

• Gets multiple powertrain options, including a long range variant with a 355km range (claimed)

• Hyundai could consider a compact EV for India

New EV alert! Hyundai has just unveiled its smallest EV, called the Inster. The name isn’t half as quirky as the EV itself, which boasts rugged styling, eccentric interiors with plenty of premium features, and multiple powertrain options. Based on the ICE-powered Casper, the Inster EV will be a global product, and could be launched here in India as well. Let’s take a look at what the Hyundai Inster EV is all about:

Inster EV design

Despite being a compact little EV, the Inster is no short on muscle. It looks buffed with its heavy cladding, big rounded headlights, and chunky fender styling. It looks high tech too, thanks to the ‘circuit board-style’ bumper and the LED DRLs above.

The aggressive creases for the fender give it a proper post-gym pump look and the roof rails further add muscle in profile. Depending on the specifications, you can either have 15- or 17-inch alloys, and we can confirm that the latter looks really sick. For reference, we get 17-inch alloys in vehicles like the Seltos and Creta here in India. 

The rear maintains the quirky quotient of the Inster’s styling, by matching the design treatment up front. In fact, you can also see a little bit of Ioniq 5 here with the pixelated tailights running across the middle of its tailgate. So while the Inster might not be a large vehicle by any means, it probably won’t go unnoticed on the road.

Inster EV cabin

The Inster’s cabin takes heavy inspiration from the Casper, but with a few tweaks here and there. The styling is unconventional to say the least with a rather chunky central console and three-spoke steering wheel. There’s a 10.25-inch infotainment system, complimented by the 10.25-inch digital driver’s display, but you still get a ton of physical buttons and dials.

Just like the Ioniq 5, you get a walk through access in the front row, and there’s a lot of flexibility on offer throughout the Inster’s cabin. All the seats can be folded flat, including the driver seat, and Hyundai even offers a front bench seat option for people who may need it. 

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Hyundai is offering various themes for the cabin, including a Black, and a dual tone Khaki Brown and Newtro Beige theme. The cabin also makes use of a few sustainable materials like recycled polyethylene terephthalate (PET) from bottles and bio-polypropylene material extracted from sugarcane.

As for features, you get the aforementioned dual 10.25-inch screens, ambient lighting, heated and ventilated seats, ambient lighting, keyless entry, auto AC, and connected car technology. It even gets a proper ADAS suite, including features like blind spot monitor, forward collision avoidance, lane keep assist, high beam assist, and adaptive cruise control.

If it makes its way to India, expect a few of these features to be deleted, likely including the ADAS suite.

Inster EV powertrain

The Inster EV comes with two battery options: a 42kWh battery (base) or a 49kWh battery pack (long range). The base variant gets a 97PS/147Nm electric motor, while the long-range variant gets a 115PS/147Nm motor. The former has a claimed range of more than 300km, while the long range variant claims to do up to 355km (with 15-inch wheels) on a single charge. 

There’s a standard 11kW onboard charger on offer, and it also supports DC fast charging. So it takes just 30 minutes to charge from 10% to 80% when plugged into a 120kW DC fast charger. 

It also boasts vehicle-to-load (V2L) technology, which essentially turns the car into a portable powerbank and you can use it to charge electronics or even electric cycles and scooters. 

Inster EV launch details

Unlike the Casper, which is a Korea-specific product, Hyundai intends on going global with the Inster EV. It’ll first arrive at its home ground, followed by Europe, Middle East, and Asia Pacific markets. So while there isn’t a confirmation, we won’t rule the Inster (or a similarly sized EV) out for a launch in India.

Given that Hyundai currently has no mass-market EV in India, a product like this would make a lot of sense to rival the likes of the Citroen eC3 and Tata Punch EV.