Following the success of Kia’s EV6 crossover and EV9 three-row electric machines, the Korean brand is filling out the lower end of its electric vehicle lineup with the new smaller E-GMP platform EV4 sedan. About the same size as a current Honda Civic, the EV4 is probably all the car that most Americans really need in their driveway. If you haven’t yet been seduced by the siren song of crossover, and still find yourself enjoying a normal-sized sedan, the EV4 might be for you.
This new addition to the lineup takes EV6 styling and shrinks it about 10% to make a quite attractive machine. While this car is dimensionally a compact on the outside, Kia pushed the wheels to the extremities to help deliver the larger interior space of the segment above. You’ll see the EV4 sedan in Kia showrooms later this year, but unfortunately the stately-looking hatchback is reserved exclusively for European consumption.
Kia
The EV4 is a sensible machine for sensible Americans, as it packs decent range, comfort, and tech into a good looking package for a reasonable amount of money. There isn’t a flashy 0-60 time or Nurburgring lap to watch here, it’s just a regular sedan but electric. If you’re honest with yourself you don’t really need to set a lap record going to grab groceries, do you? If you said “of course not” then this is aimed right down your barrel, buddy.
Sedan sensibility
The “base” model EV4 will come with a sensibly-sized 58.3 kWh battery pack, good for 254 miles of range on the optimistic WTLP test cycle. You can probably expect around 225 miles of real-world range here in the U.S. The car’s 400v architecture is a cost-savings measure over the EV6’s 800v system, and means that the smaller car can’t charge quite as quickly. It’ll take you around 29 minutes to charge from 10% to 80% on a DC fast charger, or about 5 hours and 20 minutes on a home level 2 charger from 10% to full. It’ll run from 0-60 in a warm-enough 7.4 seconds, thanks to the car’s 201-horsepower front-wheel drive electric powertrain, presumably a familiar unit from the current Niro EV.
If you pick the optional “Long Range” battery, you’ll get a full 81.4 kWh of juice for an estimated 366 miles on the WTLP cycle. Again, the U.S. numbers will probably be a bit more realistic, but still should deliver at least 330 miles with ease. Kia says when you plug in to a DC fast charger, the larger pack needs an extra two minutes to get to 80%, but almost two full hours more to top up on home level 2 charging. The larger battery doesn’t come with any additional power output, but the weight will temper the car’s acceleration slightly, pushing the 0-60 sprint out to 7.7 seconds.
Kia will kickstart EV4 production in March, fulfilling local Korean market orders first. There isn’t any firm word on exact pricing or exactly when the cars will start arriving at U.S. dealerships. The EV4 will definitely undercut the EV6’s $43,995 base price, and if we understand Kia the way we think we do, it should be priced a bit below Hyundai’s $38,900 Ioniq 6 as well. In any case, if you don’t want to be seen in a $42,490 Tesla Model 3 right now, and don’t much care about acceleration, this seems like it will be a nice affordable alternative.
