Kia’s EV6 is the brand new benchmark for inexpensive electrical automobiles | Engadget

We obtained our first good have a look at the EV6 final March and, almost a yr later, lastly obtained to take a seat in it, drive it, and push each button within the cabin final week throughout a day-long press occasion in Northern California. It’s the primary Kia car to be produced beneath the corporate’s new Plan S electrification technique and is predicted to be joined by almost a dozen different new EV fashions by 2026 – with Kia noting that “All dedicated Kia EVs will begin with the ‘EV’ prefix, followed by a number that indicates the car’s size and position in the lineup, not its chronological place in the launch cadence.”

And that’s simply autos constructed on the Hyundai Group’s (which owns Kia) E-GMP battery-propulsion platform. When the EV6 arrives in all 50 states later this spring, it’ll be going up in opposition to the likes of the Ford Mustang Mach-E, the Volkswagen ID.4, the Tesla Model Y, the Ioniq 5 and Nissan’s Ariya — to not point out Kia’s personal Niro EV and its brother from a Hyundai mom, the Kona EV — additionally in all probability the Toyota bZ4X and Subaru Solterra once they finally arrive as nicely.

The EV6 will probably be made out there in three trim ranges: Light, Wind, and GT-Line. Technically there’s a fourth model, the First Edition, however the 1,500 models in that introductory lot bought out in one thing like 11 hours so your possibilities of catching one on the market on the native dealership are fairly low.

The EV6 Light is Kia’s introductory trim degree, retailing for $40,900 and providing efficiency to match. Its 58 kWh nickel-cobalt-manganese battery powers a 168k W rear motor to provide 167 horsepower. That interprets into an 8-second 0-60 with an electronically restricted 115 MPH prime pace and an EPA-rated vary of 232-miles. In phrases of effectivity, the Light will internet you round 136 eMPG within the metropolis (thanks, regenerative braking!) and 100 eMPG at freeway speeds. Like its better-appointed brethren, the Light employs MacPherson struts up entrance and a multi-link suspension within the rear.

Its drivetrain, sadly, can solely deal with a 400V charging structure which lengthens the quantity it takes to completely recharge it. It’s not horrible, thoughts you, with a full cost off a 50W DC quick charger taking simply over an hour — and a cool 18 minutes if you happen to’re fortunate sufficient to snag a 350W station. At house, utilizing a 240V / 48A connection (ie a home-charging field), you’re slightly below 6 hours for a full cost however with a typical 110V / 12A socket (like what you plug your espresso maker into), that’s going to take days. Literally it’d have to take a seat on cost for greater than a weekend — 51 hours and 5 minutes particularly, in response to Kia’s numbers — to max out its battery capability. You’re not going to see the identical delays with both the Wind or GT’s on account of them utilizing the identical 800V-style drivetrains that we’re beginning to see on higher-end EVs like GM’s Hummer EV, the Porsche Taycan, Audi’s E-Tron and even the Mach-E.

What’s extra, the Wind (beginning at $47,000) and GT (beginning at $51,200 and topping out at $55,900) each supply bigger 77.4 kWh packs in addition to the choice of getting each entrance and rear motors, enabling AWD. You’re 310 miles of vary with a 7.2 second 0-60 and 117 MPH prime pace with the RWD iterations; 274 miles of vary and 5.1 second 0-60 for the AWDs. The AWD notches 134 eMPG in cities and 101 eMPG on freeways, although the AWD’s effectivity takes a noticeable hit, 116 eMPG and 94 eMPG, respectively.

In phrases of charging, the Wind and GT would require 73 minutes for a full cost on a 50W DC connection (and once more, 18 minutes with a 350W port which offers roughly 217 miles of added vary), about 7 hours on a 240V plug and a whopping 68 hours utilizing 110V. They’ll additionally supply one other first for Kia, V2L (car to load) capabilities just like the Ford F-150 Lightning that means that you simply’ll have the ability to use the EV6 as an enormous, rolling battery to energy varied equipment, 110V energy instruments and varied home items within the occasion of a blackout.

Aside from the trim ranges and powertrain variations, the varied EV6s are virtually an identical from the skin given the frequent E-GMP underpinnings. Each measures 114 inches on the wheelbase (similar because the Telluride SUV) with an general size of ~184 inches. The crossover is 74 inches extensive and 60.8 inches tall. The EV6 might appear to be a svelte sports activities coupe from its promotional pictures however in actual life, that is one chonky boi — not fairly as tall because the Mach-E however simply as broad and sporting beefy 19-inch rims (dubs are optionally available on the GT). It actually fills out a typical parking house, although Kia is providing a cool valet function (optionally available on Wind, commonplace on the GT) with the EV6 that means that you can line up the car with a parking house, get out of the automotive after which use the important thing fob to remotely again it into the spot.

The EV6 has a rattling comfy inside. Its cabin is disconcertingly quiet with the doorways closed and home windows up. There’s a complete of 102 cubic toes of house contained in the EV6, 24.4 of which is devoted to storage within the rear cargo space (50.2 cubic toes if you happen to fold the seats down). You’ve obtained loads of head and leg house no matter whether or not you’re sitting within the entrance or again, although you would possibly must slouch a bit to suit three units of shoulders throughout the rear bench seat. On the plus facet, there isn’t any central drive shaft operating beneath the cabin (thanks, e-motors!) so there’s no hump to endure if you happen to’re sitting within the center.

Kia additionally sprinkled USB and USB-C ports all through the entrance and rear seating areas so that you received’t must stretch very far to plug in. Heck there’s even a wi-fi charging pad on the entrance armrest (subsequent to the engine begin button and drive selector). My solely bugaboo with the seating structure was a minor one: the entrance seats make use of a relatively elaborate headrest that tends to obscure the ahead going through view for individuals within the rear of the car and, conversely, block out a noticeable portion of the rearview mirror.

Blind spots usually are not actually a fear, nevertheless, seeing what number of cameras Kia managed to pack into the car. For instance, whenever you have interaction your flip sign, a dwell rear-facing video feed from the facet mirror pops up on the motive force’s instrument cluster so that you don’t minimize off bicyclists or merge into the trail of a tractor-trailer. You’ve additionally obtained a slew of 21 completely different ADAS (driver help) options together with rearview cameras for parking, lane retaining help, lane departure warnings, automated excessive beams, and ahead collision avoidance.

I used to be particularly impressed with the EV6’s degree 2 freeway autonomy driving function, Highway Driving Assist 2. Just click on the suitable button on the steering wheel and the adaptive cruise management will routinely middle the car within the lane, sustaining its course and pace even by means of turns. There have been a handful of instances when the system and I (and the automotive within the subsequent lane over) mildly disagreed when a flip within the street both started or completed however so long as I stored my arms on the wheel, minor course corrections have been no large deal.

If something, the decreased must maintain my eyes on the street allowed me adequate time to determine easy methods to work the relatively complicated central infotainment system. The EV6 comes geared up with a 12.3-inch coloration TFT touchscreen navigation show unit mounted into the middle console. It presents AM/FM/Sirius radio operating by means of a Meridian sound system, Bluetooth connectivity, a WiFi hotspot, and Android Auto/Apple Carplay — ugh, the telephone has to to be bodily tethered to allow Carplay/Auto? Really? This is what we’re doing in 2022?

I’m a fan of the bodily quantity and temperature management knobs that Kia integrated into the design, not a lot a fan of the decrease, secondary touchscreen which alternates between a fast choice bar for the media, navigation, and local weather menus. The downside is that the button house that flips performance between the menu choose display screen and the devoted local weather management menu shouldn’t be nicely outlined or actually delineated in any significant method (I actually thought it was the button for the hazard lights till a Kia PR rep confirmed me in any other case) so until you both know what you’re particularly searching for or faucet it at random, there’s no direct option to change the cabin temperature, modify the fan speeds or activate the defogger — or, conversely, rapidly entry the navigation map or radio. And asking the onboard digital assistant for assist in doing so was like speaking to an (much more) incompetent Siri; there was no quantity of enunciation that might get this factor to grasp the phrases that have been popping out of my mouth.

There was one function that actually stood out to me, simply redeeming the secondary touchscreen’s studying curve, and that was the AR show. It is totally good. I gushed about Kia’s use of AR again in 2019 after I drove the Niro EV. That one appeared extra a proof-of-concept with its little pop up display screen mounted on the steering shaft. The EV6’s, as a substitute, is a much more completed and polished product beamed instantly onto the entrance windshield with startling readability. The car’s pace, the street’s pace restrict, the standing of varied cruise management options, and upcoming turns all seem like floating a couple of automotive size forward of you. It’s a improbable, streamlined various to the, in my view, overly busy structure of the motive force’s cluster. The info is usually a bit difficult to learn when sporting sun shades (particularly the polarized selection) however aside from that, the show is well comprehensible no matter how shiny or darkish it’s outdoors and could be adjusted to account for the motive force’s peak and viewing preferences.

Of course all these technological bells and whistles can be rendered moot if it dealt with just like the decrepit Elantra I normally drive. Thankfully, the EV6 doesn’t. It isn’t as overtly aggressive because the Mach-E, neither is it fairly as nimble by means of turns because the Polestar 2 — it actually isn’t close to as pretentious because the Model Y — and the EV6 doesn’t must be. Kia, from what I gathered from the corporate’s pre-drive presentation, is positioning the EV6 to be a Gen Z household sedan, a Taurus SHO for millennials, and for that I applaud them. Cranking by means of hairpins on the 175 and opening up the throttle alongside quiet stretches of the 101 have been enjoyable and all however this automotive shouldn’t be constructed for racing — it’s not going to suck the fillings out of your tooth whenever you flooring the accelerator, you’re not going to be taking road bikes on the within by means of turns in it. What the EV6 will do is assist ferry your anklebiters to soccer apply earlier than you run errands round city for the afternoon — possibly even take the household out glamping on the weekend — and do it in consolation, type and security.