Kia to rollout electric minicar late 2011

With electric vehicles (EV) slowly, but surely, kicking off, Kia has decided to launch one of their own and is expected to rollout the vehicle by the end of 2011. No word on what the name of their EV will be, but the project has been dubbed with the codename “TAM”. Kia’s EV is also expected to be based on Hyundai’s i10 BlueOn electric minicar (pictured above).

What this means in terms of specs is that potential buyers can expect a 16-kWh lithium-ion battery, a 49 kW (66 horsepower) electric motor and will be a sub-100 mile electric minicar. We don’t expect Kia to follow these specs right down to the last detail, but at the same time if they are indeed basing this off the i10 BlueOn, it shouldn’t differ that greatly either.

Project “TAM” will be a low-volume production, with Kia setting an output of about 2,000 units in 2012. No word on how much it will cost or if it will be available outside of South Korea.