Baby Kia: Accessible Electric Mobility
Hello dear Wonderers,
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With the current gut-wrenching rise in fuel prices European consumers are desperately looking for solutions. Could going electric be the answer to their ordeal after all? The launch of the KIA EV2 is almost prophetic in that sense, it provides buyers with a practical and more or less affordable car to leave combustion behind.
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The EV2 is the entry-level offering from Kia in a lineup that has boomed in the last two years. From the slightly bigger brother EV3 to the monster 7-Seater EV9, Kia has an SUV for every taste. Starting at prices just over €25.000 the EV2 seems to offer exactly what a lot of European buyers are looking for: a small family car with electric specs that aren't world shocking but good enough for every-day life. Available as a four or five seater, a choice unheard off in this segment, the car has a decent booth of up to 400 liters of luggage space. Depending on the budget drivers want to spend, it will be far from a naked daily driver with a long list of features that are usually reserved for one or two segments higher. Bear with me for a minute: Vehicle to Grid ready, Harman Kardon sound system, motorway assistance, forward collision warning, remote parking through the key, a 22 kw charger,... the list goes on and on.
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On the electric front the car relies on Kia's two pronged strategy, mixing 400 volt systems for the lower end vehicles with an 800 volt architecture for the bigger cars of the lineup. We might dream of an EV2 type charging up in only 10 minutes, but the rules of economics are what they are. 400V components are cheap and plentiful and allow manufacturers to bring cars to market that are practical and affordable for the public while still relatively margin generating. With two battery options Kia is following the path of many of its competitors. The smaller 42 kwh has a LFP chemistry while the bigger 61 kwh is NMC. All this means that the car will have decent enough range but you won't be super happy going road-tripping with it. Both the range of 200 to 350 km in real world conditions and the half hour wait to get charged back up will mean packing an extra suitcase of patience. With the 22 kw optional charger you will be more than happy with it as an around-the-town daily though. A weekly one hour visit to the supermarket will get your battery back up past 70% in most cases.
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More info on Kia Media
Grtz
Pieter
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