A remanufactured motor instead of a new one — SEG Automotive says its Redrive program can cut that bill by up to 30 percent. That sounds like ordinary parts marketing, but for Hyundai Kona Electric and Kia Niro EV owners it lands differently: it's a concrete answer to a problem many of them have already heard — and likely already heard coming from their own car. By the end of 2026, the German company plans to add first-generation motors from these two electric crossovers to the program, rated at 100 and 150 kW — 134 and 201 horsepower. Exact pricing for the Korean models isn't out yet.
And the reason isn't theoretical. For early Kona Electric units, Hyundai issued a technical service bulletin covering abnormal drive motor noise: for certain 2019–2021 model-year cars, the procedure calls for diagnostics and, depending on the result, replacement of the electric motor or the reduction gear. Kia has a similar bulletin for the first-generation Niro EV, also describing a motor and gearbox check when unusual noise shows up.
InsideEVs puts a dealer replacement of the faulty unit at $2,500–5,000 for these cars. A third of the car's entire value — for one component. That's not an official Hyundai or Kia rate, just a benchmark from the American outlet, so it shouldn't be applied directly to every market.
The Redrive scheme already covers the Tesla Model S and the Renault Zoe. A repair shop gets a remanufactured unit, installs it, and the removed one goes back to SEG for overhaul. The company replaces defective and outdated components and claims up to 30 percent lower cost for comparable technical performance. It's part of a broader EV trend: repairing an expensive component instead of swapping the whole assembly is already reshaping how electric cars get serviced, even as complex repair bills remain one of the more noticeable costs of EV ownership.
SEG will unveil its new solutions at Automechanika Frankfurt, running September 8–12, where the company has officially confirmed a Redrive display. For Kona and Niro owners, the number that actually matters — retail price for a remanufactured motor and the list of shops able to do the swap — will come later. Until then, that 30 percent figure should be read as a program-wide target, not a guaranteed discount for every owner.
