To say that Kia has been on a roll in India since it sold its first car in the country would be an understatement. Every model that the South Korean automobile major has launched has been a success and it will be hoping to maintain the strike rate with its first EV offering—the somewhat unimaginatively named EV6 (a first cousin of the Hyundai Ioniq 5).
The EV6 will be imported in limited numbers, so you can’t expect Seltos-level sales figures but I have a feeling that every one of these units will be spoken for because the EV6 is a fabulous car.
Take, for instance, its 800-volt technology, which will allow you to charge it at ‘superchargers’ of up to 350 kWh (whenever they’re actually available in India, that is).
Still, this is significant because the 77.4 kW battery can be charged very quickly (10 to 80 percent in 18 minutes), and only cars like the Porsche Taycan and Audi e-tron GT have the same tech—and they’re way more expensive.
Naturally, the EV6 can also be charged at slower chargers– it’ll take about eight hours to charge fully with a home charger.
Good looking car
It looks amazing—futuristic, sporty and aggressive all at once.
Kia has gone down a different path while styling their version of the Hyundai Ioniq 5 and the design team has done a brilliant job.
The 4.68-metre car —yeah, its long— is sporty and is an interesting mix of a coupe, an SUV and a crossover. The hood is wide and muscular, and the 19-inch wheels being placed right at the extreme ends enhance its sense of length.
The matte finish is outstanding (the glossy versions are great too) and the standout touch is the character line that swoops upwards into the wheel arch and then connects with the single-strip LED tail lamp unit.
Also read: Kia India opens booking for EV6; here's all you need to know about the all-electric crossover
Interiors and spacing
The cabin is brilliant, too—well designed, feature-rich and spacious. There’s enough space for five adults, and the boot offers 520 litres of space with the second row of seats up; the bonnet also has a small “frunk” for cables, small handbags and suchlike.
The cabin has lots of storage space, including a very useful one under the centre console that can hold a backpack. Kia claims that it recycles over 100 plastic bottles for material that goes into the cabin, and that the seats are “vegan” leather— scores on sustainability as well.
The features list is long and impressive–a sunroof, wireless charging, 64-colour ambient lighting, twin 12.3-inch screens for infotainment and the instruments, a heads-up display, climate control, eight airbags, ventilated and powered front seats, a 14-speaker Meridian audio system, hands-free tailgate and much more. I’d be out of space if I were to list them all.
You’ll definitely not want for anything when you’re sitting in this car. Oh, and the EV6 has vehicle-to-load and vehicle-to-vehicle capacity, which means you can charge another EV with it or power appliances in your house in the event of a power cut.
What about safety features?
They are aplenty as well and they’re standard on the GT-Line spec cars that will be sold here.
You get lane-keep assist, forward-collision avoidance, hill-start assist and a driver drowsiness warning system, blind-spot monitoring, a rear cross-traffic alert and a smart park assist function.
The EV6 hasn’t yet been Global NCAP tested but since the Hyundai Ioniq scored five stars in that test, it’s safe to assume the Kia will too.
The EV6 will come in two iterations in India–the GT-Line spec rear-wheel drive and all-wheel drive versions. Both have the same 77.4 kWh battery, but the AWD version makes more power and torque—345 bhp/620 Nm to the RWD’s 226 bhp/330 Nm— in addition to having all-wheel drive and two motors (the RWD has one).
Kia claims a range of 528 km, but in the real world, you’ll probably see about 470 km, depending on your driving style. You have access to paddles on the steering wheel and three driving profiles, which alter the energy the car uses and recovers but it is more than capable of figuring out all this automatically.
And the EV6 is quick – sportscar quick. The range-topping AWD model will rocket to 100 kph from standstill in a smidgen over five seconds, pinning you well back into your seat as it does so.
It’s eerily silent (naturally) doing all this and I certainly missed the roar of an IC engine but Kia has you covered in this regard. You can pick between three artificial engine noises if you like.
Let’s talk about performance
Acceleration and top speed aren’t just what the car is good at either. It’s a brilliant all-rounder, feels easy to drive at all speeds, and if you turn the braking regeneration levels to maximum, you can drive with just the accelerator. As soon as you lift off, the braking regeneration takes over and begins slowing the car down. It does take some getting used to but once you get the hang of it, you’ll probably never want to go back to using two pedals.
Start throwing the EV6 into corners and you’ll be quite astonished at how well it grips and powers through. The sportiness quotient is truly great. For something this big, lengthy and heavy, it handles brilliantly, with barely any body roll even under hard cornering.
It’s also rock steady in a straight line and high-speed lane changing doesn’t bother it one bit. The steering is also full of feedback and weight, which is not usually the case in an EV (or, indeed, in a lot of IC cars), and the brakes are very sharp, too.
The suspension is on the stiffer side, without being unsettling. I found the balance between sportiness and plushness to be rather good.
Honestly, if all-electric vehicles are as fun to drive as the EV6, then enthusiasts will have nothing to worry about. It’s definitely the most entertaining Kia you’ll be able to buy in India. It’s a winning combination of design, performance, practicality and features, and even though it will not be cheap (expect a starting price of around Rs 65 lakh), I’m sure it’ll find plenty of takers (the initial lot of imports will be restricted to 100 units).
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