Photo: Kia America
Consumer Electronics Show (CES) has increasingly become the cool place for carmakers to show off their cutting-edge tech. Kia is no exception, as the Korean carmaker is now offering the US public the possibility to test its Connected Home platform and how it integrates with the EV9's bi-directional charging features.
If you're lame but want to be seen as cool, you'd probably try to hang out around places that cool people attend. In the case of the automotive industry, you want to go to technology shows because all the cool tech is there, and you want people to believe you have some cool tech of your own. That's, in a few words, the explanation why carmakers shun auto shows lately but flock to Las Vegas every year to show off that they could be cool, too.
This year, we could say, was the year of artificial intelligence, as carmakers attending CES raced to show how well they integrated ChatGPT into their car dashboards. After years when using voice commands has been dumber than teaching manners to a cat, it's invigorating to know that the voice in the car's speakers might actually understand what you want. Who knows? This might work one day, and our cars will become our closest confidantes.
Until then, it's refreshing to know that some carmakers are also into car stuff, like Kia, for instance. The Korean carmaker used the Convention Center floor in Las Vegas to show off a plethora of EV concepts, including the Concept EV3 and Concept EV4. Kia PBV (Platform Beyond Vehicle) was also one of the essential things Kia wanted to show to the American public.
However, Kia's ambitions are to come closer to customers not by showing futuristic concepts but by explaining what it can do for people today. Kia used the Connected Home concept as a motif, integrating all the exhibits in Vegas. Inside this intelligent "home," Kia provided live demonstrations of how the Kia EV9's future vehicle-to-home (V2H) capability and Wallbox Quasar 2 bidirectional charger might integrate with an intelligent home.
The Wallbox Quasar 2 is an innovative 11.5-kW DC charger that would allow the Kia EV9 (or another EV with compatible bi-directional charging tech) to charge and, at the same time, the EV to act as a mobile power source. Quasar 2 is designed to automatically initiate charging once plugged into the EV9 and, in the event of a power outage, can switch the direction of current to draw power from the EV9 into the home.
Certainly, the EV9's battery has more capacity than any home battery storage system, including Tesla's Powerwall. This is enough to keep the lights on for days in a power outage. Once power is restored, the Quasar 2 switches back to charging the EV9. Similar to Tesla Powerwall, the Quasar 2 system can also intelligently identify opportunities for the EV9 to supply power to the home at times of high electricity rates.
This year, we could say, was the year of artificial intelligence, as carmakers attending CES raced to show how well they integrated ChatGPT into their car dashboards. After years when using voice commands has been dumber than teaching manners to a cat, it's invigorating to know that the voice in the car's speakers might actually understand what you want. Who knows? This might work one day, and our cars will become our closest confidantes.
Until then, it's refreshing to know that some carmakers are also into car stuff, like Kia, for instance. The Korean carmaker used the Convention Center floor in Las Vegas to show off a plethora of EV concepts, including the Concept EV3 and Concept EV4. Kia PBV (Platform Beyond Vehicle) was also one of the essential things Kia wanted to show to the American public.
However, Kia's ambitions are to come closer to customers not by showing futuristic concepts but by explaining what it can do for people today. Kia used the Connected Home concept as a motif, integrating all the exhibits in Vegas. Inside this intelligent "home," Kia provided live demonstrations of how the Kia EV9's future vehicle-to-home (V2H) capability and Wallbox Quasar 2 bidirectional charger might integrate with an intelligent home.
The Wallbox Quasar 2 is an innovative 11.5-kW DC charger that would allow the Kia EV9 (or another EV with compatible bi-directional charging tech) to charge and, at the same time, the EV to act as a mobile power source. Quasar 2 is designed to automatically initiate charging once plugged into the EV9 and, in the event of a power outage, can switch the direction of current to draw power from the EV9 into the home.
Certainly, the EV9's battery has more capacity than any home battery storage system, including Tesla's Powerwall. This is enough to keep the lights on for days in a power outage. Once power is restored, the Quasar 2 switches back to charging the EV9. Similar to Tesla Powerwall, the Quasar 2 system can also intelligently identify opportunities for the EV9 to supply power to the home at times of high electricity rates.
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