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The Kia EV5 SUV offers lots of space, a user-friendly cockpit, up to 329 miles of driving range, and it looks like a proper electric off-roader – although it’s only available with front-wheel drive initially.
We’ve had the large Kia EV9 SUV and the compact Kia EV3 SUV, and now we have the family-focused Kia EV5, which predictably slots between these two EVs, being a similar size to the Kia Sportage (although it looks and feels bigger). Many design and engineering aspects of the EV5 are shared with the EV9 and EV3, so is this a winning formula?
The five-seat Kia EV5 slots in between the EV3 and the EV9 in terms of size, with the EV3 measuring 4,300mm in length, the EV5 is 4,610mm, and the EV9 has a 5,010mm length. This results in the EV5 offering lots of space, including generous rear legroom with a flat floor, and a 566-litre boot, which increases to 1,650 litres with the rear seats down (which fold completely flat providing a bed-like space). There’s a large compartment under the boot floor and a 44-litre front trunk, with the interior featuring a large storage space underneath the floating centre console.
The EV5’s design style also fits in between the EV3 and EV9, in terms of both the exterior and the interior, but the EV5 looks more like a proper off-roader, although all trim levels of the EV5 are front-wheel drive only at the moment.
The EV5 is built on Kia’s Electric Global Modular Platform (E-GMP), with a 400-volt electrical architecture. All three EV5 trim levels have the same 81.4kWh Li-ion polymer battery and 214 bhp of power.
The Kia EV5 driving experience feels reasonably sharp and direct, with suspension that feels like it’s aiming to balance ride comfort with body control. Handling is what you’d expect from a C-segment SUV, and performance is perfectly sufficient, but not scorching – however an EV5 GT, with all-wheel drive and more power, has already been announced.
The Kia EV5 feels like an SUV to drive and gives the impression that it can go anywhere, but don’t try this, because all versions of the EV5 are currently just front-wheel drive. Aside from the resulting lack of off-road capability, this also means that grip on tarmac roads doesn’t match that of an all-wheel drive chassis, and the handling isn’t as rewarding as a rear-wheel drive layout.
But if you ignore the fact that you’re in an SUV without the off-road ability of an SUV, pretty much everything else ticks the boxes for a family-friendly car at this price point.
One of the highlights of the EV5 (and all electric Kia models) is the brilliant cockpit. In addition to the three screens – a 12.3-inch driver display screen, a 5.3-inch climate control screen and a 12.3-inch central touchscreen – there are physical buttons. Compared to the many new EVs that just have a touchscreen and no physical buttons, the EV5’s dashboard is a delight.
There’s a button at the bottom of the steering wheel to instantly change drive mode (giving the options of Normal, Eco, Sport, MyDrive and Snow). There are also steering wheel-mounted paddles to change the level of brake regeneration. There’s a button on the steering wheel that you can press once to switch off the lane departure system, and you can press the volume control on the steering wheel to silence the speed warning.
In the middle of the dashboard there are physical switches to change the cabin temperature and the fan speed. On the inside of the driver’s door there are buttons for the heated seat and the heated steering wheel. There are even physical buttons on the door panel to adjust the mirrors.
All these physical buttons mean that you don’t have to go searching for these controls in the touchscreen, making the EV5 more user-friendly and safer.
There are more buttons for the main touchscreen controls such as Home, Map, Search, Media, Custom and Set Up, but these are haptic buttons, so they don’t click to give you feedback.
One small detail that could be improved is the position of the climate screen, which sits between the driver’s instrument display and the centre touchscreen, and is partially obscured by the steering wheel. Some previous Kia models have had climate controls positioned under the touchscreen, which is a better solution.
And one other issue is the satnav mapping, which has very few details, and is very dark; Apple Maps is much clearer.
The gear selector is located on the bottom right-hand side of the steering column, together with the start/stop switch, which frees up lots of storage space between the front seats.
Another useful feature of the EV5 is that if you’re sitting in traffic and the car in front of you pulls off, the car warns you, just in case you’re starting to lose concentration due to the delay.
The Kia EV5 has a WLTP combined electric driving range of 313 miles with 19-inch wheels as tested, but this increases to 329 miles on 18-inch wheels. After a week on test the real-world range was averaging 265 miles. The EV5 has a WLTP consumption figure of 3.5 miles/kWh.
The EV5’s maximum rapid charging rate is 127 kW, which is less than half the speed of the EV6, which can ultra-rapid charge at up to 258 kW. The EV5 should be able to DC charge in 30 minutes for a 10% to 80% charge. AC charging at 11kW should give a 10% to 100% charge in 7 hours 20 minutes.
The EV5’s charging port is on the driver’s side front wing, which is the same position as the EV3 and EV4, although the EV6 and EV9 have the port near the driver’s side rear light, which in our opinion is a more convenient location when reversing in to a charge point.
Vehicle-to-load (V2L) capability is a feature on all EV5 ‘GT-Line’ and ‘GT-Line S’ models, allowing you to power items of electrical equipment from the car.
Kia EV5 prices range from £39,345 – £48,720, with the ‘GT-Line’ priced at £42,645. There are three model grades: ‘Air’, ‘GT-Line’, and ‘GT-Line S’ – all have the same battery size, power output, and front-wheel drive, with different equipment. Only the ‘GT-Line S’ comes with the option of a heat pump. ‘GT-Line’ grade, as tested, is expected to be the most popular trim level of the EV5.
The EV5 will also be available in future with all-wheel drive, as well as a performance-focused ‘GT’ edition.
The Kia EV5 ticks virtually all of the boxes for a family-friendly electric C-SUV. It looks the part on the outside, the cockpit is a masterclass in user-friendliness, combining screens and physical buttons, and it offers lots of space. The driving experience is what you would expect from an electric SUV of this size, but note that the EV5 is only available with front-wheel drive initially. This is likely to be perfectly fine for many people, but the EV5 looks like it could be very capable off-road with a 4×4 drivetrain (which is coming soon).The EV5 as tested has a WLTP combined electric driving range of 313 miles, which is decent, but the maximum rapid charging rate of 127 kW is less than half the speed of the EV6, which can charge at up to 258 kW. So the Kia EV5 is as expected in terms of slotting between the EV3 and EV9 and is awarded a Green Car Guide rating of 9 out of 10.
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