EV NEWS: The future is electric!

The new Kia EV6 brings long-range, zero-emission, 800V rapid charging, and distinctive styling to the crossover SUV market. As Kia’s first car to be manufactured on the company’s new Electric-Global Modular Platform (E-GMP) for battery electric vehicles (BEVs), the EV6 exhibits a futureoriented EV design characterised by high-tech details, including multiple selections of long-range, zero-emissions powertrain configurations.

The EV6 offers buyers a choice of various battery and powertrain configurations, including a long-range version with a 77.4 kWh battery, and a standard-range version with a 58.0 kWh battery. The EV6 GT-line is available with both battery options and offers a choice between a single motor (two-wheel drive) or dual-motor (all-wheel drive), while the EV6 GT features the long-range battery and dual-motor only. The 430 kW dual-motor EV6 GT with a maximum 740 Nm torque, accelerates from zero to 100 km/h in an eye-watering 3.5 seconds and can attain a top speed of 260 km/h. Apart from the GT performance version, the other derivatives can be optimised for either range or performance.

The EV6 offers 800V and 400V charging capabilities, without the need for additional components or adapters. Using a 350 kW DC public charger, the car can charge from 10% to 80% in only 18 minutes, or a top-up charge of 100 km of driving range in less than four-and-a-half minutes when pairing the two-wheel-drive with the 77.4 kWh battery option.

Like the Hyundai IONIQ 5, the car’s vehicle-to-load (V2L) function can supply up to 3.6 kW of power and is capable, as an example, of powering a 55” television and air conditioner simultaneously for more than 24 hours. The system is also capable of charging another EV, if needed.

The EV6 is the first of 11 new BEV models promised from Kia by 2026, with seven to be built on the new E-GMP architecture, and four on the old internal combustion engine-optimised architecture. The EV6 also marks the onset of Kia’s painfully conservative mid-to-long-term strategy for battery electric vehicles (BEVs), plug-in hybrid electric vehicles (PHEVs) and hybrid electric vehicles (HEVs) that will make up 40% (1.6 million units) of Kia’s total sales by 2030, of which only 880,000 units will be BEVs. To put this into perspective, Tesla will sell more than 880,000 BEVs this year and aim to sell 20 million BEVs in 2030, which means that KIA is virtually guaranteed not to become a top global BEV seller over the next decade. That is a pity considering the EV6 shows all the potential to become a true Tesla rival.

The Kia EV6 will go on sale in select global markets commencing in the second half of 2021, with online reservations having begun at the end of March in select markets.