Kia has recently introduced its new compact electric SUV. The EV3 is going to have a target starring price from under £30,000 and it should lure buyers in who might have been looking at the MG4, Volkswagen ID.3 and the Cupra Born. With this new EV, which is the company's third - it is bringing some of the advanced tech seen in the larger and more premium EV9. That can clearly be seen in the design and styling, with a lot of references to its larger brother. That design is also very similar to the concept we saw in 2023.
Kia is hoping to sell around 200,000 EV3 units per year with half of those coming from Europe. The EV3 is very similarly sized to the Kia Niro, with a length of 4,300mm. It is also slightly wider than the Niro too, at 1,850mm. However, despite being a very similar size to the Niro, for now at least Kia is going to have both in the lineup.
For the EV3, Kia will offer two different battery packs, one 58.3kWh pack with 255 miles of range. The other one is 81.4kWh and will offer a range of 373 miles. Looking at the competition, that range is super impressive, as the Volkswagen ID.3 manages 339 miles on its longest range model. Both of those batteries are nickel-cobalt-manganese (NCM) batteries.
The EV3 sits on a modified version o the E-GMP platform, which is used on the Kia EV6, Kia EV9, Hyundai Ioniq 5, Hyundai Ioniq 6 and the Genesis GV60. However, while those cars use a 800V architecture, Kia has used a 400V architecture on the EV3 which means the charging speeds aren't as headline grabbing. The other E-GMP cars can charge at up to 350kW, but the EV3 can charge at up to 102kW for the base model and 128kW for the longer range version.
Inside, the EV3 has two large 12.3-inch touchscreens and a smaller 5.0-inch display inbertween them. Like Hyundai, Kia has resisted the temptation to put everything on the touchscreen, so buttons still remiain for the essential controls. Like the other E-GMP cars, the EV3 will have over-the-air updates.
Kia isn't slowing down when it comes to EVs, the larger EV5 SUV will launch in a few years, as will a EV4 saloon and then an even smaller EV2 car too. The EV3 will go on sale first in South Korea and will come to the UK and Europe later in 2024.
