Kia launched its new EV6 today to the World’s press and Motorhub was there. Kia says the EV6, due in Ireland in the last quarter of 2021 (possibly September), represents Kia’s new EV sub brand and is the Korean firm’s first BEV built on new dedicated EV platform. Kia says designing an inspiring space was at the heart of the project and to our eyes the car looks bang on the money. With a number of battery options and a maximum capacity of 77.4kWh the EV6 can offer truly impressive range of 510km.
Kia’s new ‘Electric-Global Modular Platform’ (E-GMP) is very important for the brand. It is shared with its sister company Hyundai where it underpins their new Ioniq5. The EV6 features a 2.9m wheelbase (gap between front and rear wheels) and this delivers a mid to large SUV-sized cabin in quite a compact exterior. The exterior styling using Kia’s new design language ‘Opposites United’ reflects the very latest in design and combines fastback and crossover styling even with a hint of hatchback thrown in. Jochen Paesen, Vice President for Interior Design, commented: “People are first attracted by the exterior of cars, but they eventually fall in love with the interior – where they spend most of their time. So, designing an inspiring space for the EV6 was the most important thing for us. We believe EV6 can inspire customers by boosting their creativity.”
Inside the cabin is high tech but as one spokesman cheekily put it “It not just about putting a big screen on the dashboard” (ed. a little dig at Tesla). That said the EV6 has two 12 inch displays. The screens are merged in to an integrated curved glass dash display that also features an augmented reality ‘AR’ HUD (head up display). Elsewhere on the dash LCD soft keys let you use touch to controller to access other functions. Kia’s very cool sounding ‘Zero gravity’ seats are designed to optimise and evenly distribute pressure. The boot’s capacity is good at 520 litres, expandable to 1,300 litres. The car also features a ’Frunk’ (front trunk) that gives an additional 52 liters stowage space for 2WD models and 20 liters for AWD models.
Clever and Green. The materials used in the interior feature lots of recyclables and vegan friendly materials like flax seed. In terms of plastics used Kia told us there is the equivalent of 111 empty plastic water bottles per car. The EV6 is far from a simple car, its Advanced Driver Assistance System includes Highway Driving Assist 2 and Remote Smart Parking Assist.
Kia told Motorhub ‘time (charging time) is the most precious resource for everyone’. Kia says it has created more time for users with the EV6’s high speed (super-charging) charging capability. Kia says a 10 to 80% can be had in just 18 minutes. The EV6 features a very fast 800 volt charging system and this allows the car’s battery to accept lots of power in a relatively short time. Th eEV6 is capable of gaining 100km range in just 4.5 minutes! Kia gave journey examples of Paris to Amsterdam or Los Angeles to Las Vegas without charging.
EV6 has the ability to return its power as an emergency source – this is often called ‘Vehicle to Load’ (V2L) power source to your home 3.6 kW delivery or 24 hours of TV power. The EV6 can tow with a 1600kgs towing capacity. The EV6 offers a battery choice including long-range (77.4 kWh) and standard-range (58.0 kWh) high-voltage battery packs. EV6 GT-line is available with both long-range and standard-range battery packs, while EV6 GT features the long-range battery pack only.
In its high power form the dual motor EV6 GT delivers 585hp/740nm. The sprint from 0-100km/h takes just 3.5 seconds. The high performance EV6 GT over a 400 metre drag race wiped the floor with a host of fast and Supercars like the Lamborghini Urus, Mercedes-AMG GT, Ferrari California T, Porsche 911 Targa 4 and was only beaten by a McLaren 570S!
‘Sustainable mobility solutions’ was of course the jargon phrase de jour from Kia during its press launch of the EV6. The new electric car is the symbol of its future direction. There will be seven models off this new platform (EV1-9 was mentioned). Kia says it is optimistic and inspired to help change the world to a better place – in other words we’re joining the zero emissions race because that’s where the is a future for car production. Internal combustion engines (ICE) vehicles will be phased out slowly over time. Kia by 2030 will have 40% of its cars as ‘eco vehicles’ (HEV/PHEV) and this percentage will increase. Kia says ICE vehicles are still very much in demand throughout the world and Kia will continue to invest in hybrid and PHEV technology for those markets too. The EV6 represent a new range of vehicles under its new sub brand of ‘EV’. Kia plans to strengthen its EV lineup with 11 new BEV models by 2026 – seven built on E-GMP architecture, and four derivative EVs based on existing models.
“EV6 is the embodiment of the new Kia. It is born to inspire every journey, through bold design, progressive engineering, innovative technologies, and exciting electric performance,” Ho Sung Song, Kia’s President & CEO said. “EV6 also represents the beginning of Kia’s long-term commitment to sustainable mobility, accelerating the transition not only to clean transportation, but also products, materials and manufacturing.”
The EV6 will be produced in South Korea. It will go on-sale in select global markets starting from the second half of 2021, with online reservations beginning from March 30 in some markets.
