Are you in the market for a family-sized crossover with seating for seven? The Telluride may be right up your alley. Those who prefer electric propulsion can very well give the EV9 a chance, Kia's first electric sport utility vehicle with three-row seating.
Scheduled to start production at the South Korean automaker's West Point assembly plant in Georgia in early 2024, the EV9 will go on sale by the end of 2023. Full pricing information will be announced closer to the zero-emission crossover's on-sale date.
Be that as it may, we already know that four trim levels are in the offing for the 2024 model year. These are the Light, Wind, Land, and GT-Line. Kia has also confirmed two battery sizes with either single-motor RWD or dual-motor AWD configurations. The most driving range you can expect from the EV9 is 300 miles (483 kilometers) for the single-motor setup with the larger battery.
How large? According to Kia, that would be 99.8 kWh and 201 horsepower for the rear-mounted electric drive unit. Somewhat curious, the standard battery (76.1 kWh) is connected to a slightly more powerful electric drive unit (215 horsepower). Opting for dual-motor AWD unlocks an estimated 379 horsepower and 516 pound-feet (700 Nm), as well as torque vectoring. Going for all-wheel drive further unlocks an additional drive mode (Snow).
All configurations available for the 2024 model year come with Normal, Sport, the customizable My Mode, and Eco drive modes. Based on the Hyundai E-GMP electric vehicle architecture of the EV6, the EV9 further sweetens the deal with an 800V electrical architecture for ultra-fast charging. Kia quotes under 25 minutes from 10 to 80 percent, a maximum charging speed of 236 kW on direct current, and 11 kilowatts for the on-board charger.
Photo: Kia
Available with seven- and six-seat layouts, the largest electric passenger vehicle ever from Kia offers up to 81.7 cubic feet (make that 2,313 liters) of cargo space with both the second and third rows down. With all three rows up, the estimate is 20.2 cubic feet (572 liters) behind the third row. By comparison, the V6-powered Telluride has 21 cubic feet (595 liters) of cargo space behind the rearmost seats.
Standard features include a charging pad for your mobile device, tri-zone automatic climate control, Digital Key 2 technology, lots of advanced driver assistance systems, and 19-inch alloys. In boost mode, the EV9 is capable of hitting 60 miles per hour (97 kilometers per hour) in 4.5 seconds. But only if you subtract the first foot of rollout, that is.
Advertised with a ground clearance of up to 7.8 inches (19.8 centimeters), the EV9 for the US market can tow up to 5,000 pounds (2,268 kilograms) with dual-motor AWD. All in all, the family-sized electric crossover seems rather promising.
The only big question mark remains pricing, which may put many prospective customers off. For example, back in July 2023, Kia confirmed £64,995 (a whopping $82,775 at current exchange rates) to be the starting price of the EV9 in the United Kingdom. Back then, the performance-oriented EV6 GT was £2,350 more affordable.
After a 1:43 scale model of a Ferrari 250 GTO sparked Mircea's interest for cars when he was a kid, an early internship at Top Gear sealed his career path. He's most interested in muscle cars and American trucks, but he takes a passing interest in quirky kei cars as well. Full profile
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