A little late to the EV party – unusual for Kia given its continued success in Australia – the Niro EV is (on paper at least) a quality entrant in the strengthening EV pool. Trent Nikolic tests the entry-grade S to find out if its impressive claimed range stands up in the real world.
- Range is realistic in the real world
- Driving dynamics are solid
- Cabin quality is another strong point
- No ANCAP rating isn’t ideal
- Cost is still prohibitive
- Just revealed new model isn’t far away
Introduction
A compact electric SUV might seem something of a niche within a niche, but you’d have to accept it’s right in the sweet spot for EV buyers and people considering whether an EV works for them.
That’s precisely where the Kia Niro S sits, and given the propensity the global market has for SUVs, you do have to wonder why so many early EVs were hatches and sedans. Giving the market what it wants seems to me to be a smart tactic. And the market wants SUVs.
The Niro EV comes in two specification grades – S as tested here and Sport – and costs $67,490 and $70,990 respectively, both drive-away. So, the Niro Electric isn’t exactly cheap, especially given the physical size of it, but no electric vehicle is.
The current cost is something we simply have to factor in when testing them. If you’re considering an EV in 2022, you go into the purchase eyes wide open, willing to let go of the reality of the price premium over a similar, conventionally powered vehicle.
Competitors are growing by the month, but the ones that stand out the most are the Hyundai Kona EV, the MG ZS EV and the evergreen Tesla Model 3. Around that 60-grand mark, there’s a lot to dissect now, too, which is another factor that puts some pressure on the 67-grand 2022 Kia Niro S EV we’re testing here. Still, Kia boasts quality, reliability and standard-setting warranty, so there are swings and roundabouts in the purchase debate.
The Niro is a conventional, if somewhat stylish, compact SUV. The electric variant has a unique front end design, with a blanked-out upper grille section that doesn’t look silly or stylised for the sake of it. Rather, it’s an attractive way of delivering improved aerodynamics, and we think the overall design of the Niro Electric is understated and classy.
When you see one on the road, you have to look twice to work out it’s electric, and we think that’s a good thing. If you need to shout about owning an electric vehicle, maybe get a silly numberplate?
Interestingly, given the Niro’s delayed launch thanks largely to COVID, the Niro we’re testing here right now will be replaced in mid-2022 when the new model launches. In other words, this will quickly become the outgoing model, which isn’t really Kia’s doing either.
| Key details | 2022 Kia Niro S EV |
| Price | $67,490 drive-away |
| Colour of test car | Clear White |
| Options | None |
| Price as tested | $67,490 drive-away |
| Rivals | Hyundai Kona EV | MG ZS EV | Tesla Model 3 |
Inside
The Niro makes a – some might say weird – synthesised sound outside the vehicle to warn other road users and pedestrians that there is, in fact, a vehicle around them. Kia calls it ‘Virtual Engine Sound System’ or VESS, and it’s something you will definitely notice inside the cabin when you’re rolling around town. It’s a little weird at first, but you get used to it pretty quickly too.
That sound aside, sitting inside the Niro is pretty much like sitting inside any other Kia, which is a strong point the way we see it. One factor that needs to be noted is that while the Niro feels like a Kia, it doesn’t exactly feel like a mid-$60K car.
That’s more a function of the money going into things you can’t see and touch, which isn’t Kia’s fault any more than it is any other EV manufacturer at the moment. So, if you put aside any expectation that you’re going to get a sumptuous luxury interior, the Niro S is a pretty decent office.
The Niro is a little longer (wheelbase specifically) than the Kona EV it shares a platform with, and as such there’s plenty of room inside the cabin for family buyers. The front section of the cabin is comfortable and airy, with the driver able to get well away from the steering wheel and dash if that’s your preferred driving position.
So long as you don’t have overly tall occupants up front, there’s room for adults comfortably in the second row, despite the fact that the battery pack is beneath the floor. Rear seat passengers get air vents, which is effectively a must in Australia – but no charging ports for devices.
There’s useful boot space too – 451L with the second-row seats in use – so it works for families in that sense as well. Keep in mind, though, that there’s no spare wheel, just a repair kit beneath the floor, where you’ll also find the charging cable. That might concern those of you heading out of town regularly.
| 2022 Kia Niro S EV | |
| Seats | Five |
| Boot volume | 451L seats up / 1405L seats folded |
| Length | 4375mm |
| Width | 1805mm |
| Height | 1570mm |
| Wheelbase | 2700mm |
Infotainment and Connectivity
The Niro S grade gets a clear, quality 8.0-inch colour touchscreen and digital radio with regular AM/FM as well. A six-speaker sound system is standard, along with on-board satellite navigation that comes with 10 years of traffic information and mapping updates. Up front there are two USB charge ports and one USB input for smartphone connectivity.
Apple CarPlay – which is wireless – worked faultlessly for us on test, as did the proprietary navigation. Bluetooth was likewise reliable and clear. Android Auto is also wireless. The 7.0-inch digital instrument display is easy to decipher, there’s single-zone climate control, paddle shifters, an expanded drive-mode selector and a rotary gear shifter.
I’d prefer a conventional shift lever – I’m not a big fan of the dial in any vehicle – but that aside, the Niro’s strong point is that all the controls and switchgear work like any other regular Kia. That is, they are easy to understand, laid out neatly, and work as claimed. Kia is in a groove delivering tech that is easy to use and works, and the Niro certainly benefits from that.
Safety and Technology
The Niro features seven airbags, seatbelt reminders for each seat, driver attention monitoring, and autonomous emergency braking (AEB). The base S model we’re testing doesn’t get speed sign recognition or blind-spot monitoring. They are standard on the Sport model, which sits above the S.
Niro Electric doesn’t get a five-star ANCAP rating, unlike the Hybrid and PHEV variants, which wear the five-star badge from testing in 2016.
Niro S gets ABS with electronic brake distribution and brake assist, electronic stability control, traction control, hill-start assist, and vehicle stability management. The AEB system comes with forward collision warning for car, pedestrian and cyclist. There’s also lane-keep assist, lane-following assist, manual speed-limit assist, auto headlights, fog lights and DRLs.
Rear lights are LED combination. Rear parking sensors are standard, along with a rear-view camera and dynamic parking guidelines. ISOFIX points are at the two outer seats and there are three top-tether points.
| 2022 Kia Niro S EV | |
| ANCAP rating | Untested |
Value for Money
The Niro is covered by Kia’s seven-year/unlimited-kilometre warranty, with the battery specifically covered for seven years and 150,000km. Servicing is required every 12 months or 15,000km, and there is capped-price service available. Maintenance costs run to $1164, $1728 and $2803 over three, five or seven years respectively.
To the all-important subject of electricity use, then. Kia has opted for the same mechanical package as that used by the Hyundai Kona Electric – that is a 150kW/395Nm electric motor, driving the front wheels, taking its charge from a 64kWh battery pack. The WLTP-claimed range is 455km on its test cycle. There are four drive modes available, but for the duration of my test run I switched between Eco and Eco+ to maximise efficiency as best I could.
Eco+ limits top speed to 90km/h, so when I fired onto the freeway to run from 80km/h up to 110km/h, I switched out of Eco+ and back to Eco. Around town, though, Eco+ was fine. Interestingly, I didn’t notice a massive difference in terms of throttle sharpness or response when using Eco+ mode, but the braking was definitely more aggressive. With a full charge, waiting to drive off in Eco mode and no AC running, the Niro showed us a range of 472km on two occasions.
My test loop took in 251km for my specific consumption run, with just over 100km of that loop on the freeway. At the end of that run, my average energy use was 14.8kWh/100km, indicating a range of 432km in the real world. The display showed 214km remaining – not bad at all. Keep in mind that the average consumption is obviously higher on the freeway, but that’s countered by stronger efficiency around town, where EVs do their best work. In any case, though, the Niro is an effective electric SUV, even on the highway.
Plugged into our wall box at home, the Niro was taking in 7.4kW, showing five-and-a-half hours to a full charge from 49 per cent. That sort of discharge rate pretty accurately mimics what the average buyer will do, rarely letting the battery get down as low as 20 per cent, for example, but instead topping up each night when the EV is back in the garage.
Even if you did let the Niro drop into that 20 per cent charge range when you get home from work, it would easily be back to 100 per cent the next morning when you were ready to leave for work. You do need a proper wall box, though. A regular power point won’t work for you (outside an emergency) if you’re an EV owner.
We’re working with our home energy provider to get some more detail on how much it’s costing us to charge EVs either during the day or overnight, and will get that info to you as soon as we can. That will be indicative only, of course, because we all pay different rates for our electricity from provider to provider and state to state.
Given we don’t try to hyper-mile EVs that we test – unless specifically forming the basis of the test with that theory – the Niro’s return is impressive and realistic even for those of you who are a one-car family. We’re getting to the point where range isn’t the issue it used to be, and the commentary will shift more to energy usage and charging times. As well as availability of public charging infrastructure, too, of course.
The Niro handily keeps a record of power use in the infotainment system, and accessing that showed us plenty of averages between 13.0kWh/100km and 16.0kWh/100km from distances between 15km and 142km. The heaviest usage we could find was 20.2kWh/100km for an 8km run – heavy right foot there. The most efficient data showed two (admittedly short) 19km runs with averages of 11.5kWh/100km.
| At a glance | 2022 Kia Niro S EV |
| Warranty | Seven years / unlimited km |
| Battery Warranty | Seven years / 150,000km |
| Service intervals | 12 months / 15,000km |
| Servicing costs | $1164 (3 years) | $1728 (5 years) | $2803 (7 years) |
| Battery capacity | 64kWh |
| Electricity cons. (on test) | 14.8kWh/100km |
| Claimed range (WLTP) | 455km |
Driving
The commentary around EVs is largely starting – thankfully – to move away from how fast they are. In effect, they are all pretty fast, and even the slower variants are sharper than most regular engines, and certainly sharper than you’ll need around town. If you want to keep your licence, in any case.
In moving away from discussion about how rapid an EV is, we can start to look at how they use their available charge, how efficient they are across various driving conditions, and how realistic they might be for a buyer in the real world. That’s the key, too, and I write it in every EV review I do. EVs make sense for some buyers in 2021 and heading into 2022. They don’t make sense for every buyer yet, and we’ll endeavour to assess exactly who they will work for and how effectively.
On that front, the Niro EV is impressive, and you can look at its energy usage specifically in the Value for Money section above if you skipped ahead. In short, though, its real-world range is robust, and its energy usage is solid when compared to other EVs currently on the market. With a range beyond 400km, it will make sense for a lot more buyers than an EV that covers 250km or less. There is the subject of price, of course…
Back to the driving. Unlike most new Kias that arrive in Australia, the Niro hasn’t had the benefit of a local suspension tune, thanks largely to COVID-related delays with shipping and availability. It’s not a deal-breaker the way I see it, but it does illustrate how clever the local engineering team is when it comes to making a good platform even better, and even more suited to our local roads.
There’s no hiding the heft of the Niro EV – or any EV for that matter. 1791kg is portly for this segment, but the Niro does a decent job of concealing as much of that bulk as it can. It doesn’t feel heavy through the steering wheel when you’re driving, but it does feel its weight if you have to take a sharp hit at speed.
It’s here you can feel the suspension work hard to bring that hit quickly under control. Everywhere else, though, the Niro EV has that point-and-shoot fun factor that makes an EV such an enjoyable platform to use to dart around town.
I also liked the way you could work through the drive modes to find the one that suits you the best. EVs make the most sense to me in their most economical modes, certainly those that don’t purport to be performance cars anyway.
Around town, the most miserly ECO+ mode worked nicely on test, and even though it’s not as spritely off the mark, I reckon it’s the one I’d be using if I owned the Niro. Simply to make the most of the available charge. It’s still sharp enough in this mode to get off the line quickly, it rolls on easily enough once you’re already moving, and it certainly doesn’t feel sluggish.
On the highway, I was impressed with how quiet and refined the Niro remained. Obviously, without the associated mechanical symphony that comes with an internal combustion engine, it’s quiet. No surprise there. However, up to 110km/h, every surface aside from aggressive coarse-chip yielded little in the way of tyre or wind noise. The tyres did make some noise on the roughest surfaces, but everywhere else, the cabin was calm and comfortable.
| Key details | 2022 Kia Niro S EV |
| Engine | Single electric motor |
| Power | 150kW |
| Torque | 395Nm |
| Drive type | Front-wheel drive |
| Transmission | Single-speed |
| Power to weight ratio | 83.7kW/t |
| Weight | 1791kg |
| Towing capacity | 300kg braked and unbraked |
| Turning circle | 10.6m |
Conclusion
The Niro’s impediment, like nearly every electric car, is price. Yes, it’s an older platform, and there are more technologically advanced offerings available, but for mine that doesn’t take the Niro off the consideration set. When we speak to potential buyers about EVs, the main issue is cost, and there’s no hiding the high asking price for the Niro.
However, if you accept the price and then look deeper, the driving range is realistic and solid, the driving experience excellent, and the quality of execution also impressive. If you’re considering an electric car, the Niro makes a decent case to be on your shopping list.
We enjoyed our time with it, and were impressed with its real-world performance and driving quality. The Niro certainly makes a convincing case for those of you with the requisite budget to consider an EV purchase.
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