This review is based on 4 weeks experience test driving the Kia Niro EV S, during which I drove 871 kms, about average for a person driving around 10,000km a year.
I am a retiree in my early 70’s and had never driven an EV until late 2024. But I have driven internal combustion engine (ICE) cars in many countries.
In Africa a manual Ford Anglia and Renault 12, in North America a manual Honda Civic Station wagon (left hand drive of course, driving on the wrong side of the road you could say!), VW Golf in Ireland and Holden Commodores, Ford Falcons and Toyota Camrys in Australia.
This is the second EV I a have a media review loan of and as such, the introduction to the car by my son was quite easy, the expression “it’s like riding a bike” comes to mind.
I was acquainted with the drive mode “gear selector”, a rotary knob in this instance where a gear stick would be in an ICE car, single pedal drive mode, adaptive cruise control button etc.
Unfortunately the designers of the Niro EV used glossy piano black in several places. While this looks great in a car showroom, in real life piano black gets small scratches and swirls on it quite easily over time which detracts from the appearance.
Driving an EV is quite different in that the software features are quite extensive and it does take time to come to terms with them.
For a retired senior in my early 70s who has driven an ICE for almost 50 years, this is a new learning experience.
Improves the elasticity of the brain I am told, very important at my stage in life to be exposed to new stimuli!
One of the first things we noticed on reaching home was a fault alert on the dashboard!
On checking, we learnt that tyre pressures in all 4 wheels was very low at 26psi, thanks to the Tyre Pressure Monitoring System, a feature of the Niro EV that I was quickly acquainted with by my son.
He rectified the problem quickly by deploying the digital electric mobile tyre inflator that he carries when EV testing, using the Niro EV 12V socket for power.
During the 4 week test review period I used the charging cable from Kia plugged into my standard home 10 amp power socket in the garage.
I reduced it from 10 amps to 8 amps for safety as my garage power point and wiring are over 30 years old and not designed to supply 1.9kW rate for many hours in a row.
Public charging is mostly irrelevant for anyone like me that has a garage or driveway as I can charge at home parking an EV in my garage or on my driveway using spare solar generation for hardly any cost.
For the purposes of the review, I only charge the battery when I have spare solar power available. We have been enjoying sunny days and I’ve been able to charge to full battery power as the car was being driven almost daily.
My son says since it has an NMC battery, the Niro EV should usually be charged to about 80%, with maximum charge to 100% only the days before it is used for medium/longer drives.
During the first 2 weeks most of my driving was around the neighbourhood that I live in Western Sydney near the Army base.
I drove 370 kms in this period, shopping, medical appointments, visits to the library, friends and relatives.
The one aspect of EVs that surprises me each time I start it is that there is no engine sound similar to the ICE I drive. I have to double check that the car is ready to drive! Of course there is tyre noise so EV driving isn’t completely silent.
The first two long trips that I made from my home near Holsworthy army reserve were to Riverstone and back via the M7 motorway.
The first return trip was 94 kms but as I drove using one pedal mode, available range had reduced only by 69 kms, thanks to the regenerative charging feature of EVs.
My third long distance trip was to Blackheath in the Blue Mountains and back via Richmond and Riverstone.
I wanted to see what impact one pedal driving would have on the range given the regenerating ability of the Niro EV and the change in altitude.
The round trip was 253 kms but the range at the end of the trip had been reduced by only 220 kms.
I noticed that for about half an hour driving downhill the range kept on increasing or remaining the same.
The car had excellent power going uphill and it is worth noting that for the entire period of the review I only used ECO mode and full strength i-pedal one pedal driving.
Charging Cost: Home Solar vs Petrol Car
With an average over the month of 12.5kWh/100km the Niro EV was very efficient.
This means it has lower cost of ownership compared to some other more inefficient, heavier EVs.
Assuming a lost solar feed in tariff of 5c/kWh and 108.875kWh (plus some charging cable losses) used charging from my spare home solar generation, 871km of driving cost me about $5.99 in electricity.
In comparison my Mazda 3 would have used about $74 of unleaded fuel @ $1.70/litre.
What am I looking for in a car at my stage of life?
Safety, comfort, ease of driving and value for money. Of course there is the initial purchase price too. Given the competition with the introduction of new brands and models lets see what the year brings.
In addition to that range, life of the battery and charging network are three other features that concern most buyers who are considering an EV purchase.
I believe that the first two have been addressed or are being addressed by most manufacturers.
My professional EV journalist son tells me that public charging is available unevenly across Australia and some charger networks are much more reliable than others.
EDITOR’S VIEW
A Kia Australia spokesperson told me that there are currently:
“No pricing deals on Niro. It has its place in the model lineup and is popular with fleet buyers which provides fleet related pricing/discounts”
My view is that the Niro EV is a solid, reliable, efficient EV option but the driveaway price of $72,224.25 (NSW) for the base S model and almost 80K for the GT-Line is $20,000 too high for an older EV design based on an ICE car body.
The EV market has changed a lot since the Niro EV was first seen on Australian roads in mid-2021.
There are now many more modern EV models with a similar or better driving range and more interior space available for less money than the Niro EV.
As an example the new Kia EV5 SUV driveaway pricing in NSW is $56,770 for the base Air and $75,990 for the top spec GT-Line version.
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