Kia EV6

The Kia EV6 is a spacious, modern electric SUV, with ultra-quick charging and a striking exterior

Overview

Our review of the Kia EV6 sets out the key facts that make it “Car of The Year 2022” in the WhatCar? Awards.

The underlying EV platform, known as e-GMP, is shared by the EV6’s cousins the Hyundai Ioniq 5 and the Genesis GV60. It brings an advanced 800-volt architecture, resulting in ultra-quick rapid charging on trips.

It’s a low-slung, aero-dynamic SUV – also referred to as a cross-over – and has tons of room inside for passengers, together with generous boot space.

Inside it combines high-tech with original styling, and the cabin space is quiet, flexible, and engaging.

There’s currently just one (large) battery size, offering plenty of range, but there is a choice of either rear-wheel-drive or AWD. It’s also fast.

A clever feature is Vehicle-to-Load or V2L. This allows you to power electrical devices from the car, handy for hoovers, kettles, fridges, or whatever tickles your fancy.

The EV6 also comes with Kia’s 7-year warranty – not bad for a high-tech, electric, performance family vehicle.

Scroll down for essential statistics on price, range, batteries, efficiency, charging, and more.

Kia EV6 Price, Trims & Variants

The price of the Kia EV6 starts at £45,275 for the base Air RWD trim, and goes up to £56,275 for the top spec GT-Line S AWD trim. Here are all the variants:

Trim / Variant	Price	Drivetrain
Air RWD	£45,275	Rear-wheel-drive
Horizon RWD	£45,995	Rear-wheel-drive
GT-Line RWD	£48,275	Rear-wheel-drive
GT-Line AWD	£51,775	All-wheel-drive
GT-Line S RWD	£52,775	Rear-wheel-drive
GT-Line S AWD	£56,275	All-wheel-drive

EV6 Range & Batteries

How far can you drive on a full charge of the battery in the Kia EV6? In ideal conditions, you should be able to achieve the official ‘WLTP’ range in miles. However in winter, for example, electric car batteries don’t perform as well, and actual range will be lower.

This table shows both the more optimistic WLTP range, and a rough, more likely ‘average’ range for the various versions of the EV6:

Trim / Variant	Battery (useable)	Average Range	WLTP Range
Air RWD	74 kWh	269 miles	328 miles
Horizon RWD	74 kWh	269 miles	328 miles
GT-Line RWD	74 kWh	269 miles	328 miles
GT-Line AWD	74 kWh	257 miles	314 miles
GT-Line S RWD	74 kWh	257 miles	313 miles
GT-Line S AWD	74 kWh	246 miles	300 miles

Efficiency

We are all used to ‘miles per gallon’ of petrol or diesel when thinking about efficiency in traditional cars. With EVs, you need to replace ‘gallon’ with ‘kWh’. 1 kWh = 1 unit of electricity. So the ‘miles per kWh’ measure tells you how many miles you can go on 1 kWh of electricity – the higher the number the better.

Here’s data for the Kia EV6, together with an equivalent in miles per gallon (yes, electric cars really are that efficient!):

Trim / Variant	Efficiency (electric)	Efficiency ('MPG')
Air RWD	3.63 miles per kWh	145 miles per gallon
Horizon RWD	3.63 miles per kWh	145 miles per gallon
GT-Line RWD	3.63 miles per kWh	145 miles per gallon
GT-Line AWD	3.48 miles per kWh	139 miles per gallon
GT-Line S RWD	3.47 miles per kWh	139 miles per gallon
GT-Line S AWD	3.32 miles per kWh	133 miles per gallon

Charging Times & Costs

If you have off-street parking, the best and cheapest place to charge your EV6 is at home. Depending on your home energy tariff, you’ll either charge at a standard flat rate or at a lower off-peak rate. The 0-100% charge times below are a ‘worst case’ scenario – typically you will charge 1-2 hours a day, or maybe go for a longer charge on just a couple of days a week.

Charging at Home on an Off-peak rate of 10p per kWh

Trim / Variant	Charge Time 0-100%	Cost per mile
Air RWD	10 hours 0 minutes	2.8p
Horizon RWD	10 hours 0 minutes	2.8p
GT-Line RWD	10 hours 0 minutes	2.8p
GT-Line AWD	10 hours 0 minutes	2.9p
GT-Line S RWD	10 hours 0 minutes	2.9p
GT-Line S AWD	10 hours 0 minutes	3.0p

Charging at Home on a Peak rate of 34p per kWh

Trim / Variant	Charge Time 0-100%	Cost per mile
Air RWD	10 hours 0 minutes	9.4p
Horizon RWD	10 hours 0 minutes	9.4p
GT-Line RWD	10 hours 0 minutes	9.4p
GT-Line AWD	10 hours 0 minutes	9.8p
GT-Line S RWD	10 hours 0 minutes	9.8p
GT-Line S AWD	10 hours 0 minutes	10.2p

When you’re on a trip, you can get a quick boost at a rapid charger. These vary in terms of charging speed and you are also limited by the Kia EV6’s maximum charging rate. Take the 10-80% charging times with a pinch of salt – the charging rate will gradually decrease and times are often longer.

Charging in Public at a 50 kW Rapid Charger at a rate of 50p per kWh

Trim / Variant	Max DC charge	Charge Time 10-80%	Cost per mile
Air RWD	240 kW	1 hour 2 minutes	13.8p
Horizon RWD	240 kW	1 hour 2 minutes	13.8p
GT-Line RWD	240 kW	1 hour 2 minutes	13.8p
GT-Line AWD	240 kW	1 hour 2 minutes	14.4p
GT-Line S RWD	240 kW	1 hour 2 minutes	14.4p
GT-Line S AWD	240 kW	1 hour 2 minutes	15.0p

Charging in Public at a 150 kW Rapid Charger at a rate of 60p per kWh

Trim / Variant	Max DC charge	Charge Time 10-80%	Cost per mile
Air RWD	240 kW	21 minutes	16.5p
Horizon RWD	240 kW	21 minutes	16.5p
GT-Line RWD	240 kW	21 minutes	16.5p
GT-Line AWD	240 kW	21 minutes	17.2p
GT-Line S RWD	240 kW	21 minutes	17.3p
GT-Line S AWD	240 kW	21 minutes	18.1p

Charging in Public at a 350 kW Rapid Charger at a rate of 70p per kWh

Trim / Variant	Max DC charge	Charge Time 10-80%	Cost per mile
Air RWD	240 kW	13 minutes	19.3p
Horizon RWD	240 kW	13 minutes	19.3p
GT-Line RWD	240 kW	13 minutes	19.3p
GT-Line AWD	240 kW	13 minutes	20.1p
GT-Line S RWD	240 kW	13 minutes	20.2p
GT-Line S AWD	240 kW	13 minutes	21.1p

Performance

The Kia EV6, like all pure electric cars, has its wheels turned by one or more electric motors. The motors themselves are powered by a lithium-ion battery. Battery + electric motor is a great combination, giving you instant torque with no gears to change.

You’ll find the EV6 eerily quiet after an internal combustion engine. Here are the performance stats:

Trim / Variant	Top Speed	0-62 mph
Air RWD	114 mph	7.3 seconds
Horizon RWD	114 mph	7.3 seconds
GT-Line RWD	114 mph	7.3 seconds
GT-Line AWD	116 mph	5.2 seconds
GT-Line S RWD	114 mph	7.3 seconds
GT-Line S AWD	116 mph	5.2 seconds

Kia EV6 Boot Space & Dimensions

The EV6 is an SUV, and its boot space can be further increased by folding the rear seats down. Here are all the boot and dimensions measurements:

Boot Space & Cargo Volume

Trim / Variant	Boot Space	Cargo Volume (seats down)
Air RWD	490 litres	1,260 litres
Horizon RWD	490 litres	1,260 litres
GT-Line RWD	490 litres	1,260 litres
GT-Line AWD	490 litres	1,260 litres
GT-Line S RWD	490 litres	1,260 litres
GT-Line S AWD	490 litres	1,260 litres

Dimensions

Trim / Variant	Length	Width	Height
Air RWD	4695 mm	1890 mm	1550 mm
Horizon RWD	4695 mm	1890 mm	1550 mm
GT-Line RWD	4695 mm	1890 mm	1550 mm
GT-Line AWD	4695 mm	1890 mm	1550 mm
GT-Line S RWD	4695 mm	1890 mm	1550 mm
GT-Line S AWD	4695 mm	1890 mm	1550 mm

Next Steps

We hope you’ve enjoyed this brief analysis of the Kia EV6. We’ve tried to focus mainly on potentially unfamiliar electric car related items – such as batteries, range and charging – rather than trot out the usual “The car’s B-pillar is 3mm wider than the previous model.”

Where to next?

1. Narrow down your EV search in a systematic way using our Car Selector tool
2. Read more about the EV6 at Kia’s UK website
3. If you’re ready to go, consider leasing the Kia EV6 from a low-cost broker