ON TEST: KIA EV6 AIR
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KIA EV6 is a breath of fresh Air
Andrew Walker was so impressed by the KIA EV6 he made it his Medium Electric Car of the Year. Can the entry-level Air match that achievement We got to drive the Kia EV6 last October and came away impressed enough to name it as our Medium Electric Car of the Year for 2022. What we didn’t get to do, however, was to spend anytime in the entry level EV6 Air. As it’s the cheapest EV6 proposition we felt this was an oversight, especially if you are considering one as your next company car. We put this oversight right with a week-long loan recently. Exterior The front comes with a new sequential dynamic light pattern. Below this sits a low air intake for optimum aerodynamics. A character line runs along the bottom of the doors and at the back, there’s a sloping C-pillar with an integrated black glossy insert, a roof spoiler and rear lights that wrap around the edges of the boot hatch. Check out the photo above – it’s a great looking car. Equipment Even if your company car outlay will only 24 | June 2022 | Company Car & Van
stretch to an EV6 Air, have no fear, it comes nicely equipped. So factor in 19” alloys, automatic LED headlights, heated front seats with adjustable driver lumbar support, a heated steering wheel, a 12.3” touchscreen infotainment system, Apple CarPlay and Android Auto, adaptive cruise control, dual-zone air con, rear parking sensors, a rear-view camera and vegan leather upholstery. The more expensive EV6s add goodies such as a power boot and electrically adjusted seats. The dashboard is dominated by the infotainment and instrument cluster screens, which stretch across two-thirds of the car. Below the central touchscreen sits a new multi-mode display which replaces physical buttons with a dedicated ‘haptic’ touchscreen, with shortcuts to control climate control, SatNav and infotainment. The good news is that you don’t need to delve into too many sub-menus to choose what you want, a problem associated with many existing car infotainment systems. It’s easy to work, featuring a small arrow which when pushed, switches from climate to functions and frees up dashboard space. The cabin features a range of sustainable materials and quality-wise, it’s excellent to the point that even premium car customers won’t be disappointed. Practicality Up front there’s a storage tray, a glovebox, twin drinks holders, two USB inputs, a normal and a C version and in the rear, twin C USB inputs located on the inside edges of the front seats. There’s also a plug socket which sits in
the centre rear and two rear drinks holders. Another design feature is the floating front centre binnacle, with additional storage space underneath. The boot offers 490 litres of storage and if you fold down the rear seats this increases to almost 1,300 litres. The EV6 also offers a ‘frunk’, 52 litres of storage under the bonnet, and space underneath the rear boot floor. Battery range and performance The RWD EV6 can travel up to 328 miles on a single charge. With a power output of 226bhp and maximum torque of 350Nm, it can sprint to 62mph in 7.3 seconds and will go on to reach a maximum speed of 114mph. To clarify the range, we drove 95 miles to the Stellantis HQ in Coventry and back in the EV6 Air, 180 miles of which was on the M6. At a steady 70mph we used 193 miles of range, to travel 190 miles. Without question, after the outside temperature, driving on motorways is the biggest factor in reducing an electric vehicle’s range, and this was the first time we had come close to a 1:1 ratio of distance travelled to battery range used in a motorway test run, so hat’s off to Kia! Charging The EV6 comes with a multi high-speed charging system which means that the system is compatible with both 800V ultra-fast charging and more mainstream 400V fast charging, without the need for a special adapter or additional on-board charger. Continued on page 26 www.companycarandvan.co.uk
