Hyundai Creta Electric 3,000km Review: The EV I Didn't Expect to Like

With rising fuel costs and the introduction of ethanol-mixed petrol blends, the cost of running an ICE vehicle is becoming increasingly difficult to ignore. Many Indian buyers are beginning to ask the same question: Is now finally the right time to switch to an electric vehicle?

Among the latest contenders in the league of mid-size EVs is the Hyundai Creta Electric, a nameplate that carries the trust of Hyundai and the popularity of one of India's best-selling SUVs. Instead of building an EV from scratch, Hyundai has chosen to electrify the familiar Creta platform, promising the practicality and comfort buyers already know while introducing the benefits of zero-emission driving.

But does it really deliver on those promises?

After spending nearly 3000km behind the wheel of the Hyundai Creta Electric across peak Gurugram city traffic, Delhi NCR highways, and everyday driving conditions, I set out to answer the questions that matter the most to prospective buyers. How comfortable is it for daily use? What kind of real-world range can you actually expect? Is the performance engaging enough to justify the switch? 

And perhaps the biggest question of all—is it worth paying the premium over the petrol or diesel Creta? Since, in its top-spec Long Range Executive variant, which we were driving, the cost can climb up to a whopping 26 Lakhs Indian Rupee.

In this comprehensive review, I'll take you through every aspect of the Hyundai Creta Electric, starting from its design, cabin quality, features, and driving dynamics to charging experience, ownership costs, and real-world practicality, to help you decide whether it's the right electric SUV for your garage.

What’s Good

Range and Performance

The Hyundai Creta Electric is offered with 42kWh and 51.4kWh battery packs, having claimed ranges of 420km and 510km respectively. Since I drove the 51.4kWh battery pack, I’ll be sharing my overall experience with you.

The 51.4kWh battery pack does offer more kilometres on paper and in real-world conditions as well, and I feel it is more suitable for daily commuters. The battery-management system is quite good, and even if you drive it harshly and with extreme power output, it will still manage to return good range.

During my daily driving, and taking it to the Delhi-Dehradun Expressway, I was easily able to extract a real-world range of around 400- 420 km (though it claims to be 510km). It could even stretch to 450km, if the heat and the climate had been a bit in my favour.

Now, let’s dive into the driving experience and the performance aspect, as there is enough torque rush on offer. Hyundai offers three driving modes in the Creta Electric. There are ECO, Normal and Sport modes. In each mode, the performance of the motor altered drastically, and it was pretty evident as well.

While I mostly kept it in ECO mode during daily Noida-Gurugram commutes, it performed decently. I did not feel Creta Electric in ECO mode to be as lethargic as some other EVs feel in ECO mode, and I definitely recommend keeping it in this mode if you want more kilometres from the battery.

Now, while I was going on the Delhi-Dehradun Expressway, I kept the Creta Electric in NORMAL mode. On a long stretch of roads, I feel the Normal mode is far better to keep it in so that it cruises effortlessly, giving you decent range.

With a travel time of almost 4 hours every day, I hardly engaged the Sports mode. However, I accidentally engaged it, and the character of the Creta Electric changed instantly. From a people’s mover and a family car, it instantly became a sporty SUV. The Creta Electric became very powerful since the torque rush is there at a slight tap, and it just pulls and pulls and pulls, and easily did a 100 km/h sprint under 10 seconds.  

Also Read: Renault Triber 1000km Review: Ideal Family Car?

Features

Let's talk about the features now.

So, firstly, as soon as I opened the door, the Creta Electric comes with a welcome function wherein the front driver's seat. goes back, and after getting in, it moves forward towards the configured settings. Along with that, the 8-way electric seats are pretty easy to operate, and I feel the memory seats are very helpful in Indian conditions, as somebody or other changed my comfortable driving seat position.

Talking about the dashboard and the cabin ambience, it is more or less the same experience here as the regular Creta, but here are some noticeable differences.

In the Creta Electric, there is no gear knob in the centre console, as it is shifted to a column-mounted shifter. Moreover, it comes with a floating centre console with multiple functionalities and a good amount of storage space on offer.

The centre console has the drive mode selector, an electronic parking brake, and buttons for the parking camera, along with front seat ventilation. The front ventilated seats turned out to be one of the best features that I liked in the humid climate of Gurugram and Noida.

You get steering-mounted controls for the infotainment system and ADAS, and this time the positioning has been a bit reversed. Moreover, I had the paddle shifters as well for the regenerative braking. Along with that, you also have one-pedal driving. Engaging it was quite easy, as if you maximise the plus side, the one-pedal driving will turn on. 

I will tell you, a unique feature offered with the paddle shifters in the Creta Electric. If you put it in neutral, completely, with one pedal off, and if I long-press the regen paddle plus, then for as long as I need the regeneration, the car will only regenerate for that long. To date, I have not seen any other automaker offering this feature except for the Hyundai Creta Electric.

Since it is 2026, and Hyundai is always at the forefront in offering an immense amount of features, it offers a 10.25-inch infotainment screen. You do get Android Auto and Apple CarPlay, but you get wired connectivity. The response of the touchscreen is the same as you would get in the regular i20 Creta. However, for wireless Android Auto and Apple CarPlay, Hyundai offers an adapter for it, which you can buy at any Hyundai dealership.

Along with that, for charging your smartphone, you will find a wireless charging pad, a Type-C port and a 12-volt socket. Moreover, there is also a USB Type-A port, and overall, the Creta Electric is indeed loaded with tons of comfort and convenience features.

Now, I will share my experience with the ADAS features. Since Hyundai focus a lot on safety features, there are plenty of active and passive safety features, and some of them, I personally feel, are quite useful and should be there in every budget car available in the market.

The Hyundai Creta Electric comes with Level-2 ADAS, including adaptive cruise control, lane keep assist, lane departure warning, a 360-degree parking camera, and others. While I was on the Delhi-Dehradun Expressway, I tried using multiple ADAS features like adaptive cruise control, lane keep assist, lane departure warning, blind spot assist, and others. 

Engaging them was not a hassle at all, and I truly feel the adaptive cruise control and lane keep assist are helpful in daily driving situations. It helped in maintaining a decent distance between the vehicle ahead, and the auto emergency braking was not intrusive.

Ride and Handling

Since the battery in the Creta Electric is placed on the floor, the dynamics of the car change, and I'll tell you what changes are in this. The battery in the floor offers a lower centre of gravity, and while I was descending from an overpass, or around the corners, if you take it at a slightly high speed there, around 60-65 km/h, which I don't recommend, but still, if you curve at that speed, then you won't have much of an issue and it feels planted.

If I compare it with the ICE Creta, the difference in grip and handling is purely noticeable. Secondly, if I compare it with the regular internal combustion engine car, it is front-centre biased as the engine is placed in the front.

But what happens over here in the case of an EV is that your base is set up with the battery, and the main weight is there at the front-set motors. So, that weight distribution becomes quite linear in this case. I was not expecting the Creta Electric to be this calm and composed during my daily 90km commute.

Yes, the driving dynamics are quite sorted in this car.

Design

Let’s start with the design first. The front profile of the Creta Electric is similar to the regular ICE Creta, but it is closer to the N Line, not to the regular Creta. You have connected LED DRLs, LED indicators that come with a dynamic swipe function, which greatly enhances their looks, especially at the time of usage and at nighttime.  

Secondly, the front parking camera is very neatly integrated, and you won't see any protruding parts here. The Hyundai Creta Electric has a quad-beam LED Projector headlamp, which sounds like a big deal but doesn't work like one. I was left wanting for a better throw of light.

Another highlight from the front of the car is the vents, located near the ADAS Radar; they open up for the battery to breathe better and for cooling. Overall, I feel the front design of the Creta Electric has been kept simple, and I really liked the clean approach.

While the storage capacity in the frunk isn't massive, it is still substantial enough to be useful. It allows you to store a decent amount of luggage, providing extra cargo volume.

Now, coming to the side profile, since the Creta Electric is based on the Creta N line, I get 17-inch tyres if I compare it to the 18-inch tyres in the N line.  I personally like the design of this alloy wheel a lot. Along with that, you are going to get all four disc brakes.

To further enhance its sportiness, you get a black cladding running throughout along with blacked out A pillar, B pillar and C pillar.  Regarding the door handles, these are continued from the Creta N Line, and these are not finished in chrome, unlike the ICE version. It has a regular styling that you get for the door handles. The doors open wide enough, making the ingress and egress quite easy in this car for you.

If I come to the rear door, it opens quite wide. Here you get sun shades, which I feel is a very good feature. These sun shades helped me a lot during the heatwave in Gurgaon.

Coming to the rear, it is significantly similar to the Creta N Line, as I mentioned earlier. Here, you will get the subtle ‘CRETA ’ and ‘ELECTRIC’ badging.

The bumper on the Creta Electric continues the square pixel-type design language seen on the Ioniq 5. This pixel styling is also used to neatly integrate the reverse lamps into the bumpers.

Talking about boot space, the space here is good, and the loading lip is also not too high. So it was quite easy for me to put things in and take them out while I brought the goods to my shop. If I talk about the spare wheel, then a full-size spare wheel is available here. But it is not an alloy.

Now let's talk about the interior space and see what the comfort is like inside this car.

Interiors and Seating Comfort

Now, if I talk about its interior space, then yes, one thing I would like to mention is that getting in is quite easy. I can sit quite comfortably in the rear seats.

First of all, let’s discuss about the kneeroom, legroom, and headroom. Since my height is around 5’10’’, the kneeroom is good. Legroom is good. Under-thigh support, I feel, is also decent. However, the headroom is okayish, meaning that if a taller passenger sits, around 6 feet, there might be a slight issue.

Talking about the amenities, and since I drove the Creta Electric, not the regular Creta, here, I had a tray, along with a cup holder. I kept my iPhone while travelling and comfortably watched reels and a movie while I was being chauffeured. There is an armrest as well, and this armrest gives me good support, and overall, it gives me a comfortable experience.

I didn't have any issues on the long trip while I was sitting for quite a long time in the rear seats on the return journey. So I was pretty much enjoying my space. As earlier mentioned, the sun blinds helped me further in cutting the sun. Additionally, with the panoramic sunroof and this semi-dark upholstery, doesn't make you feel claustrophobic within the bluish tone.

So now, if I talk about its comfort features, what features are you getting at the back?

• You get a tray.
• You get rear AC vents.
• You get two types of C charging sockets, and you can also keep your phone there.

So overall, I enjoyed the space. In the Creta electric, if you are a regular Creta user, then you will also find this space quite good. Since there is one thing I would like to tell you that no one has told you, that even though the battery is placed on the floor, it is not on the Born electric platform, and it is positioned within the regular Creta. Here, in the centre, the hump of the tunnel feels a bit protruding inside it.

So, there is not that much space for my shoe as there is no flat floor on offer, compared to these born electric vehicles (BEVs) that you get, like its competitor MG Windser EV or Mahindra B6, or Mahindra XEV 9e.

As a result, three passengers might fit a bit tightly in its rear seats. But I recommend that it is best for four passengers, two in the front and two in the back.

Now, since I wanted to increase my legroom and kneeroom, there is a magic button. In this, you get boss mode. So I adjusted the co-driver seat electrically from two dedicated buttons present on the side while I was in there as a rear passenger prince.

Charging

Regarding the charging process, the port is conveniently positioned at the front, which allows me to park the vehicle straight in while plugging in. The Creta Electric supports both AC and DC charging. There is an indicator to monitor the charging status. When it blinks green light, it signifies active charging, whereas a blinking red light indicates a malfunction. This fault light could mean there is an issue with the charger itself or that the session has been interrupted.

The vehicle comes equipped with a portable charger suitable for home use. If you choose to charge using a standard 16 Amp socket, this device makes it possible. I often did home charging as well, and in my experience, replenishing the battery from 45% to 90% required approximately 13 hours. It typically operated between 2.5 kW and 2.7 kW.

Though slow charging takes more time, it is quite effective and gentle on the battery, making it an ideal option for overnight sessions.

Braking

Now let's talk about its brakes. So yes, I found the brakes quite good compared to the regular Creta ICE version because I felt a slight soft braking on the inside. You are getting four ventilated disc brakes inside, along with ABS with EBD, and other safety features, and the braking felt like a good plus point to me. In panic braking situations, it was not underconfident.

What’s Bad

Features

Though the Creta Electric has a new steering wheel, the right side had the controls for the infotainment screen and on the left, I had the controls for the instrument cluster, along with ADAS functions. However, I felt this time, it is a bit of a reversed case compared to the ICE Creta, and it took some time for me to get used to it.

Moreover, the Creta Electric has paddle shifters, which help you with regenerative braking. I found one drawback in that. In this car, what happens from the inside when paddle-shifters are offered in an ICE car, then on the right, you get plus, which upshifts, and on the left, you get minus, which downshifts. But in this, you have been given a plus on the left and a minus on the right.

So in the beginning, I had a lot of trouble adjusting to this. I am pressing plus. Why is it becoming minus? Later, I realised that, okay, in this, there is a plus on the left. Yes, you might face a slight issue initially.

Since you get dual-zone climate control, I wish the climate control could have been a bit stronger. During scorching heat, the climate control tripped twice. And it cools a bit less under extreme conditions. So yes, I would have been happier if I had got a stronger AC.

As I mentioned earlier, the Creta Electric has a 360-degree parking camera as well. I feel the quality is quite average for a car of its price and segment, and I expect Hyundai to upgrade it with a better camera setup in its upcoming update scheduled to happen in 2027.

Interiors

One thing I would certainly like to mention is that the seats of the Creta Electric do not offer that much comfort if I compare them with the regular Creta. The bolstering support could have been improved, and on longer runs, you might need an extra cushion for back support also.

Moreover, another downside of the Hyundai Creta Electric's clean design is the column-mounted gear selector.

Though it cleans up the design and makes it look sophisticated, I found this a bit protruding. When I put my water bottle here, it often happens that the car goes into neutral. So this use case happened to me three or four times. It took me some time to get used to it. How much of a gap do I have to place my bottle? So this might hinder you a bit in the beginning with this.

Steering Wheel Feel and Feedback

As the Creta Electric gets an EPS unit, I feel the feel and feedback of the steering could have been improved. During my daily Noida-Gurugram commute, it feels lightweight, and you won't have much trouble. 

But things changed when I took it on the expressway. Despite having 17-inch alloy wheels,  if I needed to overtake on the highway, the grip levels were decent, but I did not feel any added weight on the steering wheel. It felt quite disconnected, and it really dulled down my experience.

Also Read: Skoda Kushaq 700km Review: Still a Driver’s Delight?

What is the price of the Hyundai Creta Electric?

So let's talk about its price. So its base variant starts from ₹19.10 lakh (on road, Noida), and you are getting two battery packs in this. Like 42 kWh and 51.4 kWh, so this top-of-the-line 51.4 kWh battery pack, which I was driving, is priced at ₹26.07 lakh (on-road, Noida).

Should You Buy the Hyundai Creta Electric?

Now the main question is, should you buy the Hyundai Creta Electric or any other EV SUV?

Talking about that, at the ₹25 lakh price point, you are getting multiple SUVs. You have the Tata Harrier EV, and around ₹20 lakh, you get the MG Windsr EV. You have the Mahindra BE6, Mahindra XEV 9E, and you have the Mahindra XEV 9S. Additionally, you have the Vinfast VF6 and the VF7. 

You are getting a lot of choices, and within those options, the Hyundai Creta Electric makes for a very solid deal. The Creta Electric proves itself as a complete no-nonsense car. It has simple electronics inside, and its battery backup is also quite good. 
However, there are a few drawbacks to this.

For example, its headlights are not that strong. The ADAS features sometimes become intrusive in this. Along with that, you miss out on wireless connectivity for Apple CarPlay and Android Auto, which should have been there, but you can do that with an adapter. But that is not much of a pain point.

The main pain point comes from its charging infrastructure and the charging network, which is still growing in India. While I was on the expressway, there weren't many chargers. And in the coming time, chargers will come; when they will come is a different topic.

But I would certainly recommend that if you want a no-nonsense, simple, practical, fun EV for city driving, then you can definitely consider the Hyundai Creta Electric.