Kia wants to make its electric vehicles even more convenient to own and is particularly focused on making the most of its advanced battery technology and improving charging options.
The first pillar of the carmaker’s plans is called Kia Connect. It promotes an “always on” connection between the vehicle, Kia services, and data providers. This allows for the live streaming of data via Kia’s Connected Car Cloud, providing real-time updates and information to drives.
Kia is also launching a new app dubbed Kia Charge. As the name suggests, this app displays the comprehensive charging network available to EV owners, including more than 500,000 charging points across 28 countries in Europe. Kia also has a number of regional joint ventures across Europe and intends on establishing 30,000 new fast chargers by 2030. Kia dealerships will also be outfitted with fast chargers.
More: 2024 Kia EV9 Detailed, Offers Power Boost Via Subscription And Up To 338 Miles Of Range
The company is also doubling down on the Vehicle-to-Load (V2L) functionality it introduced with the EV6. This system allows owners to power 110V/220V appliances through the EV6’s battery. In the new EV9, it also includes a Vehicle-to-Building and Vehicle-to-Home (V2B/V2H) system that can use the SUV’s 99.8 kWh battery to power a house for 5 to 10 days.
In addition, the Kia EV9 is also Vehicle-to-Grid (V2G) enabled meaning it can feed excess power back into the grid. Kia ultimately envisions a world where thousands of EVs could be connected to the grid and act as a virtual power plant for short periods of time.
Read: Kia EV9 To Offer Over-The-Air Convenience Features Enabling More Subscription Services
Speaking of the Kia EV9, it also debuts the new Kia Connect Store where owners can purchase various upgrades for their cars. The SUV also supports over-the-air updates and an EV Route Planner feature that can suggest the best charging points based on battery levels.
“Delivering the next generation of sustainable mobility solutions involves the seamless and holistic interaction of electrification, connectivity and new services,” Kia Europe vice president of Marketing and Product, Sjoerd Knipping said. “Starting with the new EV9 Kia is working towards making EVs fully connected and future-ready to enable vehicles to be updated as new innovations and features become available.”
