If 132 miles (211 km) seems like enough (claimed) autonomy for an all-electric vehicle, then the new Kia Soul EV might be worth a look. It’s now been priced at £24,995, after you’ve detracted the £5,000 government grant.
It offers the usual Kia seven-year or 100,000-mile warranty and the battery takes around 10 to 13 hours to fully charge using a regular home outlet. A public rapid charger can top it up to 80 percent in 33 minutes.
Kia says the Soul EV is fun to drive, even though the 109 hp output and 285 Nm of torque don’t sound like much. It is, as these electrics usually are, fast off the line and then it dies down the more you push – sixty comes up in 10.8 seconds.
It’s about as fast as a comparable diesel, but the performance is not bad given it has to carry 274.5 kg of batteries around all the time.
Its shift from conventional to electric power hasn’t hampered luggage capacity much. It gives up 31 liters to combustion engined variants, so that leaves 281 liters or 891 with the split-folding rear seat down.
A unique feature it has is its cabin that’s been trimmed in “green” materials “wherever possible.” It also gets the usuals as standard: eight-inch touchscreen, cruise control, electronic parking brake, backup camera, heated front seats, LED daytime running lights, 16-inch alloys and tinted rear glass (among others).
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