Kia e-Niro is an affordable electric SUV which has been on the market since 2019. It has two battery variants: e-Niro 39 kWh and e-Niro 64 kWh. Big battery option also comes with a more powerful engine producing 204 HP. Niro EV with the small battery pack only produces 136 horsepower.
The 2022 Niro EV -as Kia America calls it- is only available with the 64-kWh battery, starts at $39,999. Newest and cheapest e-Niro in the Europe has a price around €35,000. It is rebadged with the new Kia logo, but exterior-wise nothing has changed in the new year model.
Performance
e-Niro has a single electric motor located in the front. 39 kWh version can produce 136 HP, while bigger battery model has 204 HP. It is enough for getting from 0 to 100 km/h in 9.8 seconds with the e-Niro 39 kWh and 7.8 seconds with the 64-kWh version. Torque figures are the same at 295 Nm.
Design and Features
Kia e-Niro has been using the same exterior design since its launch in 2019. It has a textured and also fully closed front grille, charging port is also located in this area.
Kia used hard plastic materials when designing the lower parts of the interior. It feels cheap and doesn’t look sturdy. It can be acceptable for a price tag equivalent to ordinary gas-powered Niro’s, but battery powered e-Niro is not cheap and spending all those money to find cheap materials on the inside will definitely disappoint some drivers.
Base model e-Niro 2 has an 8-inch infotainment display, while upper trims e-Niro 3 and e-Niro 4+ comes with a 10.25-inch touch display. These two trims also include wireless charging pad for smartphones. 7” digital gauge cluster and Android Auto & Apple CarPlay support are standard for all trims.
Range and Charging
Both e-Niro 39 kWh and e-Niro 64 kWh support 100 kW DC charging and they can be charged from 0 percent to 80 percent in 54 minutes. The new Kia e-Niro 4+ is the first model to include an 11-kW AC on-board charger, it takes only 7 hours to fully charge the car. Other variants only have a 7.2 kW charger which is enough to get from 0 to 100 percent charge in 9 hours.
e-Niro can travel 289 kilometers with a fully charged 39 kWh battery. Range estimates increase to around 455 km when you choose the 64-kWh battery option. e-Niro is not the fastest or the most comfortable car, but it does offer quite a good range for the price.
