Five reasons you should wait for the next Kia Niro EV

The Kia Niro EV arrived as Kia Australia's first electrified model last week, offering the choice of hybrid, plug-in hybrid and all-electric powertrains in a classy, Euro-oriented small SUV package.

Bigger than the Hyundai Kona Electric, which donates its platform and EV powertrain, the Kia Niro EV arrives in two variants priced around the same as its Korean sister model.

But the Kia Niro is an older vehicle, having been launched overseas in 2016, followed by the EV version in 2018, and will be replaced by an all-new model next year.

Meantime, the Hyundai Kona – which has just been named carsales Best Small SUV for 2021 – arrived Down Under in late 2017 and the Electric version was added in early 2019.

It received a major midlife makeover in February, bringing new N Line variants, more tech and a fresh design. While the first Hyundai Kona N performance SUV is also on its way, the upgraded Kona Electric arrived in April with a longer driving range.

Previewed by the HabaNiro concept at the 2019 New York motor show, the next-generation Kia Niro EV is likely to bring a similarly upgraded powertrain, but that’s not the only way in which it will improve over the five-year-old newly launched model.

Unlike the Hyundai Kona, all versions of which come with a five-star ANCAP safety rating (from 2017), and the rest of the Kia Australia line-up (except the four-star Cerato S and Sport), the Kia Niro EV is ‘unrated’ by ANCAP.

That’s because it lacks a Euro NCAP rating and it’s too late in the current model’s lifecycle for Kia Australia to justify the expense of crash testing it locally.

In Europe, all Kia Niro models including the hybrids come with a four-star Euro NCAP safety rating (from 2016), and only those fitted with an optional safety pack get five stars.

Kia Australia’s better-specified Niro HEV and PHEV models get a five-star ANCAP safety rating (2016), although the cheaper entry-level S variants miss out on blind spot monitoring and rear cross traffic alert.

All Aussie Niros come with autonomous emergency braking (AEB) with pedestrian and cyclist detection, forward collision warning, lane keep assist, lane following assist, driver attention alert, tyre pressure monitoring and seven airbags.

But you can expect all versions of the new 2022 Kia Niro to add safety tech like a centre front airbag in order to achieve a five-star independent safety rating based on NCAP’s stricter 2020 test protocol.

The 2021 Kia Niro EV comes with the same 64kWh lithium-ion polymer battery as the Kona Electric, which also donates a permanent magnet synchronous motor that delivers 150kW/395Nm to the front wheels via a single-speed transmission.

That gives it a 455km range, which is similar to the original Kona Electric, but the upgraded Kona EV extends that to 484km.

What’s more, while the Kia comes with a longer seven-year/unlimited-kilometre warranty, its battery is warranted for the same period – not eight years as with the Kona EV.

In both cases, charge times are long – unless you have access to a 100kW DC fast-charger, which can apply an 80 per cent charge in 54 minutes – with a 7.2kW AC charger taking 9.5 hours and a domestic AC power supply taking as long as 29 hours.

But you can expect the next-gen Niro EV to match or better the 2021 Kona Electric’s range and charging times. Indeed the butterfly-doored HabaNiro concept was equipped with an all-wheel drive powertrain promising more than 300 miles (483km).

Unlike the rest of Kia's Australian model range, the 2021 Kia Niro – including EV, HEV and PHEV versions – has not been subject to a local steering and suspension tuning program.

As with Hyundai, this not only ensures Kia models have a ride and handling package better suited to Australian conditions, but has been a major contributor to the Korean brand’s sporty image Down Under.

Once again, an expensive local chassis tuning program was ruled out for the Kia Niro given its limited lifespan.

Unlike many EVs, including Teslas and the Porsche Taycan, the Kia Niro EV does not support over-the-air (OTA) software upgrades, which allow owners to download and install the latest infotainment and even powertrain upgrades remotely.

Expect that to change with the next generation too. And if the HabaNiro concept is any guide, technologies like an interactive head-up display and Level 4 autonomous capability could also be included.

Like all EVs, the Kia Niro EV is expensive, and not just for a small SUV.

While the Kia Niro Hybrid starts at $39,990 and the PHEV is priced from $46,590, the Kia Niro EV will set you back at least $62,590 – similar to the Kona Electric but more than double the price of the comparably sized Kia Seltos.

In the absence of nationwide government subsidies for EVs and the economy of scale provided by volume sales (Kia Australia expects its first EV to find just 20 homes a month), the Niro EV is one of the priciest cars ever sold by Kia in Australia.

But as the battery cost/energy ratio improves, more state governments offer EV incentives and EV sales increase globally, that price should come down by the time the new Kia Niro EV arrives in 2022.