The electrification of vehicles has proven to be something that automakers have nearly mastered with the holdbacks being the slowly growing charging infrastructure and emerging battery technology. Within the scope of what automakers have at their disposal today, they’ve done well to create surprisingly good EVs, such as the new Kia EV9 SUV that I had a chance to check out this week.
The Kia EV9 is the brand’s largest EV and most expensive vehicle, but it proved to be quite the appealing three-row-seat SUV after spending several days with its unique and appealing character. What I find in the new Kia EV9 is one of my favorite EVs this year, considering how well it drives and how accommodating it proves to be. Moreover, the EV9 is somewhat luxurious with an abundance of features and a sleek look with its motorized-retracting door handles. While there are not many electric 3-row SUVs on the market, the EV9 is ‘shockingly’ the most affordable 3-row electric SUV around with an agreeable design to boot.
Also, don’t forget that you can get discounted new car pricing with a free quote through qualified local dealer partners.
Kia takes a leap of faith in giving us a mainstream 3-row electric SUV in the EV9. Such is a rarity as the electric vehicle revolution attempts to take root here in America. When it comes to the performance and drivability of the new Kia EV9, it excels and proves to be a standout without much direct competition. Considering its rarity in its segment, you must naturally compare it to gas-burning 3-row SUVs, which, doing so, reigns the EV9 as the king in the realm of non-luxury SUVs in such a class. The EV9 drives exceptionally well, proving that the E-GMP (Electric – Global Modular Platform) architecture from the Kia/Hyundai/Genesis brands is an excellent and versatile platform.
The EV9 moves with authority from having the all-wheel-drive Land trim level, which touts a pair of electric motors good for 379 horsepower and 443 lb-ft of torque. That power can be ‘boosted’ by way of an optional Boost feature that can be downloaded to the EV9, increasing the torque figure to 516 lb-ft, giving the big electric EV the ability to hit 60 mph in about 4.5 seconds. Otherwise, the 0-60 mph time is a cool 5 seconds, which often feels a bit quicker than stated on paper.
The heft of the Kia EV9 is somehow magically hidden due to the good engineering of its platform and that instant torque you get out of the electric motors. The suspension with its self-leveling rear setup, is tuned well to keep the EV9 composed over undulations and rises in the road. For the most part, the EV9 is nicely planted, giving you an assured feeling when driving it, even when pushing it a bit hard through turns where the torque vectoring of the motors sorts things out to power out of turns. Overall, the EV9 is one of the best-driving 3-row crossovers.
Another welcoming quality of the EV9 is it utilizes the same setup as other Kia/Hyundai/Genesis family EVs for its regenerative braking with the ability to select multiple levels of regen all the way up to a full one-pedal driving mode. The regen system is operated through steering wheel paddles with multiple levels of regen along with an automatic mode that utilizes the front radar to add braking regen as the EV9 approaches a vehicle ahead. You can even momentarily add full regenerative braking on the fly by holding the left paddle. Such a setup should be a model for other EV makers to follow because it’s the best in the business.
Towing in the EV9, while not advantageous on long trips, you have the ability to tow up to 5,000 pounds.
Thanks to a more energy-dense battery pack using fourth-generation battery technology, the EV9’s 99.8-kWh long-range battery gives the EV9 a respectable range of 280 miles, but I often saw just above 300 miles on a full charge. Here, I believe Kia may have underestimated the range, which is a good thing where they appear to underpromise and overdeliver.
Charging up the battery pack is somewhat of a quick endeavor when you utilize a 350 kW DC fast charger, which takes just 24 minutes from a 10% state of charge up to 80%. The charge curve rises to start charging around 220 kW, and then a nosedive after around 85% is just slightly off from other Kia/Hyundai/Genesis EVs, which have a slightly quicker and higher kW rate within the 10-80% charge state range.
Using my home Level 2, 240v charger, the EV9 seems to hold a steady charge rate and taking nearly 8 hours to fully charge the battery from around a 15% state of charge. Kia claims 8 hours and 45 minutes to charge from 0% to 100% using a Level 2 charger.
As far as efficiency, the Kia EV9 seemed to also surpass its claimed EPA ratings of 91 MPGe city and 45 MPGe highway. I often observed an even 3 miles per kWh around town, which is about 101 MPGe. On the highway, for a 38-mile run-up Interstate 95 going about 75 mph, I saw 2.6 miles per kWh, which equals about 87.6 MPGe. With such figures, it’s no wonder the range estimate on the dashboard was 301 miles after a full charge, with all figures besting the EPA estimates.
Just like the Kia Telluride, which I often consider the EV9 to be an electric version of, the EV9 proved to be exceptionally accommodating as a 6-passenger setup. The seating areas are spacious and comfy with heating and ventilated seats up front and in the second row captain’s chairs. The cabin has a lot of thoughtful design elements for an abundance of storage areas and compartments, even a trick storage drawer for the second-row seats that can nearly fit a gallon of milk.
The interior has several soft-touch surfaces, just enough for an overall premium feel that’s never tarnished by the limited hard plastic areas. The dashboard, featuring a screen layout that’s a total of nearly 30 inches, combines two 12.3-inch screens and looks seamless in integrating the digital gauge cluster and a touchscreen interface for the infotainment system. The setup is mostly simplistic in its overall approach, with a short learning curve. The only disappointment with the setup is how dark the overall appearance is on screen without many lively color palettes to make it more attractive. In all, the system is easy to use with straightforward menu sets. There’s wireless (or USB-connected) integration of Apple CarPlay and Android with a wireless charging pad. However, the one confusing aspect of the integration was finding out how to switch audio bands from the use of Apple CarPlay integration to something like Satellite radio or FM radio apart from using the steering wheel control.
There are no physical buttons for the infotainment system other than what is found on the steering wheel and a row of haptic/capacitive-touch buttons on the trim just below the touchscreen. Otherwise, you have four toggle-style buttons for the automatic 3-zone climate control and a somewhat cumbersome volume scroll wheel that’s often pressed in to mute the audio, requiring you to utilize just the right amount of pressure to roll the wheel. Perhaps the volume scroll wheel is something Kia can work on to either make it rubberized for more traction or prevent it from being depressed with such a light amount of pressure, causing your finger to slide around instead of rolling the wheel.
Considering again that the EV9 is basically an electric version of the Kia Telluride in size, the cargo room nearly mimics what you find in the gas-burning 3-row seating sibling. The benefit of the EV9 is having a flat floor. With the 50/50-split 3-row seat backs in place, you have just over 20 cubic feet of storage. Power-fold the third row down along with a pneumatic power-fold of the second row using the cargo area buttons, you open cargo space up to as much as 84.9 cubic feet.
Kia bundles all of the expected active safety features in the new EV9, and having the higher Land AWD trim adds in the highlights of a 360-degree camera system, a digital rearview mirror (rearward video feed in the rearview mirror), side parking distance, parking distance collision avoidance, and the blind-spot view monitor system (displays a live video feed of your blind spot in the digital gauge cluster when you signal). Otherwise, you get the typical blind-spot monitors, forward collision warning/automatic emergency braking, rear cross-traffic detection/rear emergency braking, lane departure warning/mitigation, lane keep assist/lane following assist 2, and adaptive cruise control with highway driving assist 2.
The new Kia EV9 in its Light RWD trim base form, which is far down on power and range (215hp/258-lb-ft torque and 230-mile range) with its rear-wheel-drive setup from the upper-level trims, starts at $54,900 before any fees or options. From there, you have four other trims, with my EV9 Land AWD trim being nearly at the top, just below the GT-Line AWD trim, which comes in at the as-tested price of $74,230, which includes a $1,495 inland and freight/handling fee. There are discounts to be had on the new Kia EV9 through a local dealership network. Such a price shouldn’t necessarily be a put-off when you consider the competition being something like the Tesla Model X, which now starts at $79,990. Otherwise, you’re left with going up the ladder to luxury brands for a 3-row electric SUV, such as the Rivian R1S ($75,900 starting price) or Mercedes-Benz EQS SUV ($104,400 starting price).
