Hyundai and Kia share one corporate dinner table, and Kia has bragging rights tonight.
The brands are each about to roll out new compact electric vehicles (EVs) with distinctive styling. The EPA has tested both. Kia’s version – already the sportier of the two — came out with a longer range.
About the EV6
The 2022 Kia EV6 is a small hatchback due to reach dealerships early in 2022. Kia hasn’t named a price yet, but we expect it to start around $45,000 in order to compete with other recent EVs like the Ford Mustang Mach-E and VW ID.4.
It’s gorgeous. Sketched with a design language Kia calls “digital tiger,” the EV6 combines a sleek nose with a bulging hood and a rakish, rear-sloping roofline. Set low on big wheels, it looks ready to pounce.
According to the EPA, it will pounce for a fairly long time. The EV6 achieved an EPA rating of up to 310 miles of range – seven miles more than the boxier Hyundai Ioniq 5 with which it shares most of its mechanical parts.
Range Numbers by Trim Level
The EPA has released figures for most models of the EV6.
The entry-level EV6 Standard Range uses a 58-kilowatt-hour battery pack and a single motor making 168 horsepower, powering the rear wheels. The EPA says that version is good for 232 miles of driving between charges.
Buyers will be able to step up to a Long Range rear-wheel-drive (RWD) model with a larger, 77.4-kWh battery pack rated for 310 miles. There will also be a Long Range All-Wheel-Drive (AWD) model with a motor for each axle, making a total of 321 horsepower. It earned a rating of 274 miles. A First Edition version of the Long Range AWD model rides on larger, 20-inch wheels and pays a slight range penalty for them. It is rated for 265 miles.
One Still to Come. The Exciting One
If you’ve been paying attention to the EV6’s rollout, though, you’re waiting for numbers on one more model. Sadly, we don’t have them.
Kia plans a high-performance EV6 GT, in all-wheel-drive, topping out at 576 horsepower and leaping from 0 to 60 mph in 3.5 seconds. The EPA hasn’t published test results for that one.
Class of 2022: All the New and Redesigned Cars, Trucks, and SUVs
