FIRST REPORT
WHY WE’RE RUNNING IT
To find out if the e-Niro truly is an
electric car you can own without having
to make any compromises
66 AUTOCAR.CO.UK 24 APRIL 2 019
You wait ages for a game-changing EV, then two come at once. We board an e-Niro
KIA E-NIRO
becoming the first non-European-
built car to scoop the award and
making Kia the first Korean brand
to hold the accolade. In its final
assessment, What Car? said the
e-Niro – and most specifically its
independently verified 253-mile
range – “make it the first electric car
you can own without having to make
any compromises”.
It’s worth acknowledging now thatKia owes much to parent company
Hyundai and the Kona Electric,
on w h ic h it i s ba s e d. T he K on a
E le c t r ic i s sl i g ht l y sm a l le r (m a k i n g
its near-equal range perhaps more
impressive, given that space for
batteries is reduced) but (oddly, given
that both are lavished with similar
amounts of standard equipment
in launch forms) marginally more
expensive. Both are seriously
impressive cars.
Both, too, are sold out for the
foreseeable future, which is a
f ly in the ointment that is worth
pausing on. Unless there is a
s u r pr i s e sh ipme nt f r e e d up for t he
UK, you’ll likely now have to wait
12 months to get either car new, a
legacy of the demand prompted by
the breakthrough technology, the
cars’ affordability relative to the
opposition and a worldwide battery
shortage. You might also add in the
U K gov e r n me nt ’s de c i sion t o c ut t he
electric car grant last year as a reason,
which reduced the already paper-
thin (or perhaps non-existent) profitmargins on the cars, and the swing in
the value of the pound in recent years,
which made the UK a less profitable
place to sell cars than elsewhere.
But what if you were quick enough
to order a car, are sharp enough to
pick up one of the few hitting the
classifieds (and while demand is
high, the residuals are astonishing) or
are surveying the electric car scene,
wondering where the best place to
spend your money will be in the next
1 2 mont h s? We l l , t h at ’s w h at w e ’r e
he r e t o f i nd out , of c ou r s e , a nd s o f a r
the signs are terrifically encouraging.
While there is a truth to the
throwaway summary that Kia’s
greatest success with the e-Niro is
fitting such a long-range battery
in such a well-priced car, it should
neither be allowed to overshadow
t he f a c t t h at it i s a l s o a v e r y go o d
c a r i n ot he r w ay s or t h at it s e e m s t o
extract more range from its capacity
than many rivals. I’ve done 220-mile
journeys and five-mile journeys time
and again, and never has the number
of miles I’ve covered been less than
the indicated amount of range I’veused. In other words, unless you
drive like you’ve got an elephant’s
right foot, the mileage claim is not
only real, but can be eclipsed.
And how many times in your life
have you driven 253 miles without
stopping? From London pretty
much everything to the east, west
a nd s out h i s w it h i n r e a c h. He a d i n g
north, all I’d need is a stop to charge
H
istoriography. An
u n l i k e l y w ord t o s t a r t a n
introduction to the Kia
e-Niro with, perhaps,but one that I suspect is relevant. It
concerns the study of how history is
written, and how time can change
how events are perceived. Imagine
what we might now be presented
with had Germany won the Second
World War, for instance, or the
multiple variations of the truth that
will be presented 10 years hence
when (or if ) Brexit has played out.
To d ay, w e k now t h at t he e -Ni r o
is a good car; class-leading in many
estimations, in fact, to the point that
it won the prestigious What Car? Car
of the Year Award back in January,