The brand new EV2 is a pretty big deal for Kia, and the company at least in the UK, has some quite lofty sales targets. Kia told us that they are aiming for 12,500 to be sold in the UK alone next year and, to make things even more difficult, it's entering an ever increasingly busy space in the market. Some manufacturers got here sooner and have reaped the rewards, I mean just look at what Renault has achieved with the R5, it became the UK's best selling electric car in July 2026. Despite what we're being told by manufacturers and what consumers seem to prefer, it does seem that there is still demand for small cars, we just need to be sold the right ones.
Anyway, back to the EV2. Like Kia has been doing lately, the EV2 is being offered in a very simple and easy to understand way. There are technically two battery packs, but going forward only the one will be offered in the UK. This is for some rather boring battery sourcing reasons, but essentially Kia has two batteries available at launch for the EV2, either a 42.2kWh which is LFP or a larger 61kWh, which is NMC/NCM. Earlier this year, Kia did start offering the Standard Range model with the smaller of the two batteries in the limited run 'First Edition' trim. However, Kia has decided to only offer the EV2 in the UK with the larger 61kWh battery going forward.
One of the reasons for this is the Electric Car Grant offered by the UK government, which awards two levels of discounts on electric cars, either £3,750 or £1,500 depending on where the various components are sourced from. The smaller 42.2kWh battery is sourced from China, so it only gets the smaller grant, but the larger 61kWh pack comes from Hungary and is deemed to be more economical, so it qualifies for the larger discount. This means, that in the UK the Kia EV2 starts at under £25,000.
In terms of size and rivals, it's an odd one, as in photos, it looks a lot bigger, but it isn't that big. It is also going up against the Renault 4, Jeep Avenger, Citroën ë-C3 and the Fiat Grande Panda.
Design
Modern Kia models, especially the EVs tend to have a similar look, and that is miles away from being a bad thing. Out of the wider HMG group, the Kia designs are somewhat of a safer choice than, what you might find with Hyundai for example. For some people, the design of the Inster might be a bit too much and too bold, so the EV2 offers that safer option.
The whole car has a stocky and purposeful look, while still managing to looking quite dinky too. I do think that Kia has done a very good job here and there's very little to pick fault with. The drag coefficiency is rated at 0.29Cd and this is helped by active aero flaps on the front end, which channel cooler air where it is needed as well as improving the aereodynamics. The side is quite SUV like too, with plastic cladding around the wheels on all trim levels and quite a flat roofline, which does help improve the headroom in the back as well as the boot. The charging door is thankfully in a very good location, on the driver's side in the UK which makes charging at Tesla chargers very easy.
The Air also comes with standard black alloys, which are 16-inches in size, this then increases to some pretty large 19-inch alloys on the GT-Line and GT-Line S trims. I did thankfully have the time to take both the GT-Line S and Air out on the road for a good amount of time and the ride quality is noticeability better on the Air, thanks to the smaller size alloys with much more side wall. I couldn't help thinking some nice steelies would look rather nice, but maybe that's just me.
On the back, you could be forgiven for thinking that it looks a little bit strange, and thats mainly because all of the rear lights. Kia has moved all of the lights to the outer lower corners, which makes it look a little bit like the GWM Ora 03, which also has a rather plain and blank rear end. I think it works quite well on the Kia, and it also a rear wiper so good news there.
Battery, EV Platform, Range and Charging
As we looked at above, there are currently two batteries available, either a 42.2kWh LFP or a 61kWh NMC/NCM. Once the First Edition model has been sold out, only the larger battery will be available in the UK for the foreseeable future. This means that regardless of how much you pay for the EV2, it'll always come with that large battery, which for the money is very large indeed.
The EV2 uses a slightly modified version of the HMG E-GMP architecture, rather than running on 800V like the EV9 and EV6 it uses a 400V system, as we've seen on some of the more entry level models from Hyundai and Kia, such as the Ioniq 3, EV3, EV4, EV5 and to some extent, the PV5 too although this uses another variant called E-GMP.S, although it still runs at 400V.
Because it is 400V, it means when you do use a 400V charger, the car isn't having to do any voltage conversion, which usually results in sub 100kW DC charging performance on those 800V EVs.
Charging speed on the EV2 is competitive, rated for 118kW DC, which will mean 10-80% in 30 minutes. AC charging is up to 11kW, which means 10-100% in 5 hours 35 minutes.
The EV2 has its charging port on the driver's side in the UK on the front, just above the wheel arch, which means proper compatibility with the Tesla supercharger network, regardless if you use V2, V3 or V4 chargers.
As for range, things are very promising. On the base Air trim you get up to 275 miles of WLTP range, on the GT-Line this drops to 261 and then on GT-Line S this drops again to 257 miles. The First Edition trim, due to its smaller battery has 195 miles instead.
UK Pricing and Trim Levels
In recent years, Kia has been keeping trim levels very simple. Air is typically the entry point and then you move up to GT-Line and then GT-Line S. That structure and hierarchy is exactly what we have with the EV2. As I touched on at the start, there is the existing 'First Edition' as well, which is only available in a limited run, but going forward they'll only be three.
Pricing is outstanding for the EV2, it genuinely pushes the bar forward for affordable EVs. Yes, there are certainly cheaper small EVs out there, with the likes of the Fiat Grande Panda starting at £20,995, but that has under 200 miles of range. The Kia EV2 starts at £24,245 and has 275 miles of range. So far, as I'm writing this in August 2026, nothing else seem to come close to this.
Front Interior and Infotainment
Stepping into the Kia EV2 and you're greeted by an extremely well built interior. On the day, I drove the base Air trim, as well as the top spec GT-Line S, and the quality was exactly the same on both. These are cars with almost £10,000 in-between them.
The dashboard is quite unusually flat and is relatively far away from the driver, which does make the EV2 feel a bit bigger than its dimensions let on. The overall cabin is spacious, light and airy but feels cozy too.
On the Air trim you get cloth seats finished in grey with green accents, which are actually rather nice, I kind of prefer them to the leather effect material you get on the GT-Line and GT-Line S trims.
Elsewhere, two different steering wheels are offered too, either a thin rim design on the Air trim, which is nothing new, it is used on other Kia Air trims too. On GT-Line and above you get a two tone wheel, with quite a thick rim, which we've seen on other Kia models too.
Personally, having driven both the Air and GT-Line, the steering wheel that comes on the Air is more suited to the size car that the EV2 is. Because it is a smaller car, a more dainty wheel somehow feels more appropriate here and for lack of a better word, it just feels right. The chunkier wheel on the GT-Line trims looks fantastic, but feels slightly off and out of place somehow, but this is just my opinion, I would 100% recommend test driving the EV2 first.
As for the infotainment screen, it is very similar to what we have seen on other Kia models. There is one wide display unit, with three separate screens. One 12.3-inch touchscreen for the main infotainment system, one 12.3-inch driver display and then a seperate 5.3-inch display which is dedicated for the climate control.
The climate control can be expanded out to fill the main display, but also has some physical buttons too for fan speed, temperate and direction of air travel.
The built in ccNC software that Kia uses is second to none and is fast, responsive, massively customisable and feature rich. The built in sat-nav has integrated EV route planning, and while good is does lack filtering for custom CPO choice, but arrival SOC can be customised. There is also native wireless Apple CarPlay and Android Auto too and this can also be used wired, using a USB-C connection.
Also, Kia offers free seven years of Kia Connect coverage, with included OTA software updates too. There are some paid subscriptions, such as one to use the built in data connection on the car as a WiFi Hotspot, access to certain entertainment apps such as YouTube, LG Channels and more as well as some other services. While seeming like a cash grab, mobile data can be expensive, and other car companies do charge or it, including Tesla. But notably, Tesla don't allow it to be used as a WiFi Hotspot.
Rear Interior
The back seats are incredibly spacious for a car of this size, with plenty of space for two adults in back, plus the middle seat which might be a bit of tight squeeze but, generally the overall space in the back is very good. The only little thing to consider is that the Air trim doesn't have rear privacy glass or a middle cup holder/arm rest, so if those things bother you, the GT-Line might be a better choice.
Elsewhere, there's two USB C ports integrated into the seat backs and on the top trims, these are 100W in output, much like some of Kia's more expensive models.
Jumping up to the GT-Line S gets you V2L support with an adaptor to use the external Type 2 connector, or by using the internal 3-pin socket in the rear interior.
Boot Space
Boot space is good, its officially 362 litres with the seats up and 1,201 litres with the seats down. The space here is not class leading, but it offers a good usable space for a lot of families, with some space underneath the false floor.
Driving
The Kia EV2 is not a very big car at all, but it manages to go down the road in an extremely composed and grown up manor, which is not always the case in a small car. The suspension is very well damped and provides a comfortable ride on most road conditions.
I'd argue that the smaller alloys might be the ones to go for, simply for the fact that there is more side wall, which actually seems to make the ride that little bit softer and as a result, the road noise more refined too. In comparison, when driven back to back, the GT-Line trims do feel ever so slightly crashy.
The seats too on the Air trim are cloth and, while there isn't a massive amount of difference between them and the leather effect ones you'll find on the
As for the drivetrain, Kia has purposely kept the power output on the EV2 quite low. This has no doubt had a positive impact on the range, but also its ability to spin the front wheels, which thankfully didn't happen at all during the few hours I was driving the EV2. Apart from the First Edition, which actually has more power, all trim levels of the EV2 have 133bhp and can handle 0-62mph in under 10 seconds. Despite how these figures look, it is far from feeling slow and picks up speed very smoothly quite quickly too.
Efficiency on the EV2 is one of its main advantages, with the official WLTP rating for the Air coming in at 4.08mi/kWh. During my short test drive, I achieved over 4.2mi/kWh, but this would need a more in-depth and longer test to really make a decision on.
The Kia EV2 also features proper one pedal driving, which it calls i-Pedal with 3 different levels of strength. This might seem a bit daunting at first, especially for new EV drivers but after 10 minutes behind the wheel you can get a very good feel for it.
As for visibility, things are great. Being a small SUV like car, you do sit quite high up and naturally have a good view of the road ahead. The bonnet is quite long, windscreen curved and the back window is a decent size, complete with a rear wiper which is an absoulte must in the UK.
The ADAS systems seem quite well behaved, with lane assist, speed limit assist and lane keep being quite polite with their warning sounds. These can be easily disabled, with some easy steering wheel buttons, like you find on all HMG vehincles, so this is good.
Conclusion
The Kia EV2 is one of those cars which, if I'm being quite honest is quite annoying to review. Not because it is bad, no, far from it. It's because there is simply very little wrong with it. Kia has been producing hit EV after hit EV lately and doesn't seem capable of putting a foot wrong it seems.
Now, I will admit a good proportion of my praise here is down to the price. The Air trim, which retails for around £24,000 in the UK simply does not feel like a £24,000 car. You could easily think this was over £30,000 with how refined it is, the build quality and the sheer size of that battery too. If this car did start at over £30,000, then I would be feeling differently, but the value here is something quite impressive indeed.
Now, no car is perfect - that would be impossible. I do wish Kia would include heat pumps as standard on all trim levels, instead of essentially gatekeeping it to the top trims and then charging for it. The Kia PV5 has just been refreshed and now includes a heat pump as standard, so it is obviously something that customers need and are asking for. Also, the frunk is only included on the GT-Line trim and above, whats up with that?
Verdict
Good
- Extremely efficient powertrain
- Huge battery for not much money
- Incredibly competitive pricing
- Good range of colours
- Grown up and very refined driving dynamics
- Comfy ride on smaller 16-inch alloys
- Regenerative braking with one pedal driving included as standard
Bad
- No heat pump offered as standard, limited to GT-Line S and sadly still a paid option
- Interesting colours limited to Air trim
- Frunk only on GT-Line and above
- Ride is a little firm on top trims, due to overly large 19-inch alloys
Rating - 8.5/10
