Kia have announced that their new model of Kia Soul, known as the Soul Urban is going to have a smaller battery. As more electric vehicles are released, the emphasis has seemingly been placed on bigger batteries for greater range range, so why would a company release a new model EV with less range?
Kia have been focusing on efficiencies and choice, by offering customers the option of a more limited range for local or regional travel the bet is that not all EV customers need an electric vehicle with a battery capable of 300 miles plus. Often the average home doesn’t solely depend on one car, therefore the electric ‘run around’ is an attractive and cheaper option for those with an average millage of between 5,000 and 8,000 per year.
The new Kia Soul Urban is around £6K less expensive than its bigger battery version. It has a range of 171 miles, and can be charged via CCS at DC charging stations meaning it can receive 0-80% of it’s capacity in around 50 minutes. Home charging from 0-100% will take around 6 hours using a 7KW Wallbox and occasional charging using a 3 pin domestic plug will take around 18 hours from 0-100%.
Although the Urban is the cheaper option, this model still comes with an impressive spec of standard equipment including, 17-inch alloys, adaptive Smart Cruise Control, windows and mirrors, full LED headlights, 7.0-inch OLED color driver instrument cluster, 8.0-inch touchscreen infotainment with Android Auto and Apple CarPlay, automatic air conditioning and reversing camera. All of this confirming that the Kia Soul Urban can hold its own against other mid range EV’s such as the Mini Cooper Electric and Honda e.
If you are looking for charging cables compatible with the Kia range of EV’s and PHEV’s you can view our selection of Kia charging cables.
