Kia e-Niro - owner's opinion [interview]

We were contacted by Mr. Bartosz, who bought a Kia e-Niro with a 64 kWh battery. He belonged to a small group of the chosen ones: thanks to the 280th place on the list, he waited for the car "only" a year. Mr. Bartosz covers long distances, but he does it wisely, so the car drives much more on one charge than the manufacturer promises.

Kia e-Niro: specifications and prices

As a reminder: Kia e-Niro is a crossover of the C-SUV segment available with 39,2 and 64 kWh batteries. The car has 100 kW (136 HP) or 150 kW (204 HP) of power, depending on the battery capacity. In Poland, the car will be available in the first quarter of 2020. The Polish price of the Kia e-Niro is not known yet, but we estimate that it will start at PLN 160 for the version with a smaller battery and a weaker engine.

The real range of the Kii e-Niro in good conditions and in mixed mode, it is around 240 (39,2 kWh) or 385 kilometers (64 kWh) on a single charge.

Editorial office of www.elektrowoz.pl: Let's start with the question of which country do you live in, because it may be important. 🙂

Mr. Bartosz: Really. I live in Norway and the Scandinavian market is given more priority by electric car manufacturers.

You just bought ...

Kie e-Niro 64 kWh First Edition.

What was before? Where did this decision come from?

Before that, I was driving a typical passenger car with a gasoline engine. However, cars are getting old and require more and more attention. My car, due to the function it performs in my life, must first of all be failure-free. Digging around in a car is not my cup of tea, and repair costs in Norway can make you dizzy.

Pure economy and availability decided that the choice fell on this model in the electric version.

Why e-Niro? Did you consider other cars? Why did they drop out?

The Norwegian market is flooded with electricians, but only the appearance of cars with real ranges of about 500 kilometers allowed me to abandon the internal combustion engine. 

I have been thinking about an electrician for about 2 years, since the Opel Ampera-e appeared on the market. But I would have to wait over a year for it, there were circuses with its availability, and the price went crazy (suddenly increased). Fortunately, competitors have appeared in the meantime. I started looking at one of them, the Hyundai Kona Electric. Unfortunately, after signing up on the waiting list, I got a seat near the 11 seat.

In December 2017, I found out about the closed enrollment on e-Niro. They started three months before the official tournaments, so I managed to get 280th place. This gave a real delivery time at the end of 2018 or the beginning of 2019 - it is also over a year of waiting!

I think that if it were not for all the turmoil with the availability of the Ampera, I would be driving an Opel today. Maybe my grandchildren would live to see Hyundai. But somehow it so happened that the Kia e-Niro was the first to be available. And I must say that I am happy: compared to the Ampera-e or even the Kona, it is definitely a bigger and more family car.

Did you consider Tesla?

Yes, in the meantime I had an affair with the Tesla Model X, which was one of the few electricians to cover long distances on a single charge. I tried it quite seriously, but after a few tests I gave up. It was not even about the price, although it must be said that for one Model X you can buy 2,5 electric Kii. Autopilot, space and comfort stole my heart, and the "wow" effect lasted for weeks.

However, the build quality (in relation to the price) and the service issues made me end this relationship. There are three Tesla service points within Oslo, yet the queue is about 1-2 months! Only life-threatening things are repaired immediately. I couldn't take that risk.

What do you think of the Model 3?

I treat the Model 3 as a curiosity: a smaller version of the S, which does not suit my needs in any way. Anyway, I did not consider buying the Model S either. A ship with around 3 M3 has recently arrived in Oslo, which suggests a huge demand for the car. It does not surprise me a bit, it is one of the few electric cars that you can have almost immediately. Now practically a day goes by without me meeting a Model XNUMX on the street ...

Only the Tesla Model X is suitable in my case. But I will only become interested in it again when the service conditions improve.

> Don't buy new cars this year, not even flammable ones! [COLUMN]

Okay, let's get back to the topic of Kii: have you already traveled a bit? And how? Not too big for the city?

Seems to be just right. Considering my needs, the car has even more space than it should have. 🙂 The people whom I have had the opportunity to transport are most impressed by the almost normal-sized luggage rack. What is lame in other electrics of this class, in the e-Niro is very good. Also in the middle of the place it is just right, even considering a family of four.

I don't like the maneuverability a bit, it could be better. But this is probably the specificity of this model, not the drive.

I would describe the driving comfort as high.

What do you dislike most? Does the car have disadvantages?

In my opinion, one of the advantages of the Kia e-Niro is also its disadvantage: it is about the location of the charging socket in the front. Something that works great with chargers turns out to be a tragic solution in winter. In heavy snowfall, opening the flap and getting into the nest is sometimes problematic. In such weather, the charging itself can also be troublesome, because the snow pours directly onto the socket.

Where do you load the car? Do you have a garage with a wall-mounted charging station?

Ha! With this range, I don't feel the need to use fast chargers. By the way: in Norway, they are everywhere, they cost about PLN 1,1 per minute [settlement for the stopover time - reminder of the editors www.elektrowoz.pl].

Personally, I use a 32 A home wall charger, which gives 7,4 kW of power. Charging the car from zero to full takes about 9 hours, but I pay half of what I would have to spend on the road, on a fast charger: about 55 cents for 1 kWh, including transmission costs [the rate in Poland is very similar - ed. editor www.elektrowoz.pl].

> Wall-mounted charging station in the garage belonging to the community, or my Golgotha ​​[INTERVIEW]

Of course, an electric car is a slightly different philosophy of driving and route planning, but with a 64 kWh battery, I do not feel the adrenaline rush associated with running out of energy.

Compared to the previous car: what's the biggest plus?

When I compare an internal combustion car and an electric car, the difference in the weight of the wallet immediately comes to mind. 🙂 Driving an electrician is 1/3 of the cost of driving an exhaust gas - taking into account only fuel costs! The electric drive is also great and the engine responds instantly when you press the gas pedal. Driving impressions are priceless!

The Kia e-Niro only has 204 horsepower, but in "Sport" mode it can break asphalt. Maybe it is not 3 seconds to 100 km / h, as in Tesla, but even the 7 seconds promised by the manufacturer is a lot of fun.

How about energy consumption? In winter, is it really big?

Winter in Norway can be hard. Electric snowmen are quite common here: frozen and snowy electric cars with glass fragments cleaned for visibility and drivers wrapped in the warmest clothes. 🙂

As for my car, normal energy consumption at around 0-10 degrees Celsius is 12-15 kWh / 100 km. Of course, without saving on heating and with the temperature set to 21 degrees Celsius. The real range of the car in such conditions as I have recently reached, is 446 kilometers.

Real ranges for C-segment electric cars and C-SUVs in mixed mode under good conditions

However, at temperatures below 0 degrees Celsius, energy consumption increases sharply: up to 18-25 kWh / 100 km. The real range then drops to about 300-350 km. The lowest temperature I've experienced is around -15 degrees Celsius. The energy consumption was then 21 kWh / 100 km.

I assume that even in bitter frost it will be possible to drive a minimum of 200-250 kilometers without turning off the heating.

So you estimate that under ideal conditions, you would drive on charging ... just: how much?

500-550 kilometers is very real. Although I would be tempted to say that with the right approach, a six could appear at the front.

And here is Kia e-Niro in the recording of our other Reader, also a resident of Norway:

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