This is the Kia EV5, and while it’s not a new car, it is a new car. See, it’s been on sale in much of the Asia-Pacific region since late 2023, but is yet to join its unimaginatively-named siblings like the EV3, EV6 and EV9 in Europe. That’s changing later this year, though, with a version featuring some specific tailoring for our market.
Size-wise, the EV5 is a tiny bit larger than the Sportage in all dimensions. In other words, it’s a mid-size crossover, a type of car that continues to sell like high-temperature baked goods for reasons that still slightly puzzle us as enthusiasts.
Kia EV5 – side
It’s based on Kia and Hyundai’s excellent E-GMP underpinnings, designed specifically for EVs, and uses an 81.4kWh battery pack. That’s good for an estimated max range of 329 miles. Using a 400V architecture, though, rather than a newer, shinier 800V system, does see it lose out a little to some rivals in the charging speed stakes – 10 to 80 per cent will take an estimated 29 minutes on a rapid charger.
There’ll be just the one motor configuration available to begin with, a single-motor, front-drive setup producing 215bhp and 218lb ft of torque. No performance figures yet, but we can imagine they’ll be absolutely adequate.
Kia EV5 – rear
Elsewhere, it’s got everything we’ve come to expect from the modern family EV – one-pedal driving, vehicle-to-load capability and the latest suite of driver assist systems that you’ll probably turn off as soon as you get in (Kia, thankfully, makes this quite easy).
Inside, the Chinese-built Asian-market EV5 gets a strange bench seat arrangement in the front, but that’s been switched out in the European version for an enormous sliding centre console arrangement, offering many places for stashing things.
Kia EV5 – interior
Another new feature is Pet Mode – borrowing a Tesla party trick, this keeps the interior at a pet-friendly temperature while you’re away, locks the buttons to stop Fido from accidentally disengaging the handbrake, and displays a message on the infotainment so nobody’s tempted to put your window through in a rescue attempt. Otherwise, though, it’s very familiar from other Kia EVs, with the dual 12.3-inch screen setup front and centre.
With just a single battery and motor configuration, and two trims to choose from – the base model and posher GT-Line – the EV5 will arrive in Europe with a fairly streamlined range, although we wouldn’t be surprised to see punchier dual-motor versions join further down the line. Full pricing and specs will be unveiled before the car arrives in the UK in the final quarter of this year.
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