Kia EV9 GT-Line full review: my FIRST electric vehicle experience!

[Yanquetino]

Good intro for EV neophytes like you. If you do decide to get one, just install a Level 2 station in your garage and you'll be set. It's so great to arrive home at the end of the day, plug it in, and by the next morning… you've got a full "tank"! Even better, install some solar panels on your roof, and you'll be driving on clean, green, free sunshine. Can't beat that!

[SeanHart]

Thanks for the review! We're thinking about this as our next vehicle. A comment about long distance road trips, my wife and I are experienced EV owners (in Canada) and have taken family road trips of over 800km each way and charging was never an issue. We stop for washroom and food breaks while charging, so it doesn't really delay our trip by much if at all. It does take time to get used to the charging mindset, but it quickly becomes a non-issue. The best thing though is home charging, it's like having a full tank every morning without the inconvenience of a gas station and at a fraction of the cost of gas. A 240V (level 2) charger at home is important, but isn't a big expense (usually $500 - $1000).

[bfvader]

Just a note, it's an EV9 "GT-Line", not a full GT. The GT-Line is a trim level for the standard car, where the full GT will be a different beast altogether with nearly double the horsepower when it is released. For example the smaller EV6 GT-Line has 320hp where the full GT version has a sportier suspension, bigger brakes, and nearly 600hp.

Most people with an EV will have a level 2 charger at home, where you plug in when you get home and have a full charge the next time you need it. At ~$0.12/kWh for residential power you're normally spending under $10 for a full charge.

[camwoo]

Great review! One of your best ones yet!

[amigatommy]

The Electrified G80 from Genesis is a good road tripper.

[raemill]

When you do eventually road trip, what most EV drivers do is you start at 100% when you leave home and you plan your route with either routing apps like PlugShare or A Better Route Planner or you can use the EV nav to route you (some of the EVs are great at this, some not so. EV9 is actually pretty terrible at route planning). When you actually drive out, you only charge at the fast charging stations up to 80% and then move on. That is typically more than enough range to make it to the next station and it takes about 20 minutes from 20% to get that range back at a proper fast charging station. It will take an hour to get to 100% and you are only gaining maybe an additional 20-40 miles for all that extra wasted time. It really is very easy once you've done it once or twice. It's just a change in mentality from gas and filling up the tank that is hardest for most to get used to. This is a very good video to see from someone very new to EVs, thanks for sharing!

[anthonyc]

Hey Erin, this was a great review. I love both your presentation style and analysis. It's appreciated how you stayed away from the tech specs and focused on the practical livability of the car. My one suggestion is that if you wish to do future EV reviews, that you guys invest into a home wall charger so that your review better matches the daily ownership experience of someone who buys an EV and thus never thinks about charging. Thanks!

[reggie]

A great review Erin. Some very nice features that all vehicles should have going forward. I have charging anxiety with my cell phone, so I can only imagine how I would be with an all electric vehicle. Other than that, I think KIA did a great job with this model.

[OFOFBORG]

Awesome Erin! I am glad you enjoyed it. I know you not use to the technology but it’s just helpful in a few ways. Take care Erin! 👍🏻👍🏻☕️☕️

[cusman]

Close to reaching end of our 10-year 100, 000 miles bumper-to-bumper extended warranty this December on our 2015 Kia Sedona. Our daily commuter was switched to Tesla Model 3 ~6 years ago and its been great not having to waste time going to gas stations to fill up with the ability to charge conveniently in home parking garage, so we know our future family vehicle replacement would also be EV, but haven't seen a viable 6-7 passenger EV until this Kia EV9.

[markshellard]

Loved this walk through. I have an EV9 and its a head turner.

[easternpa]

Nice review. I had a whole thing written up about not mentioning faster charging options at home, but you snuck it in at the end! Not many people will drive 400 km in a typical day, but you can do it every day with this for just a few dollars if you put some forethought into your home charging strategy.

[PeaceChanel]

Thank You Everybody for supporting Electric Vehicles and for All that you are doing for our Planet Earth.... Peace.. Shalom.. Salam.. Namaste
🙏🏻 😊 ✌ ☮ ❤

Hi Erin, very interesting! I got my driver's license in 1968. My first car was a 1967 Chevrolet Chevelle Malibu. I find it amusing that many cars today have indeed become "tech gadgets". 😀 (BTW, I currently have a 2017 Toyota Camry LE. This vehicle is definitely *not" a tech gadget, and that is fine w/ me!) RogerC 96/24

[BrianOlmsted]

You didn’t mention you can install a Level 2 charger at home (either on a NEMA 14-50 or hardwired) so you can charge the vehicle fully overnight rather than Level 1 granny charger.

If you have a Level 2 charger at home it only takes seconds to charge if you plug in at the end of the day and no more trips to gas station and if you take a road trip you use other level 2 trips or level 3 fast DC chargers

You can also have a Level 2 NEMA 14-50 to take to a lot of camping sites.

[ekhaat]

Well, it takes long to charge the whole battery with a household plug, but if your daily commute is under say 50 km, it should be able to keep up if you charge every night.

[amigatommy]

GV70 from Genesis starts after the reader.

[jmattos]

Wou went into this thinking that EV's were "slow and had no pick up"? Im excited for you to try that.

[craigarnold]

Well done. It is good to have some first impressions from a none BEV person. You chose a nice model for a first one. It is a very capable road trip car due to 800V architecture of the battery pack. For you to be comfortable to do a road trip you need to get a bit geeked. There are levels within the 3 levels [level one is 110V with 15 or 20 amps, 20 is faster but not typical]. Level 2 is 220V based and can be 30, 50 or 80 amp. Base price varies by area but most often hear $4000 US to $5000 for the charger [$400-800], then parts, wire and labor. This is an expense any home owner needs to be aware of going in. Better to get a quote on your situation.

It takes a bit of a different mind set when it comes to road tripping and it starts with how to charge based on how batteries are by nature. The first 80% of charging any battery is generally pretty fast, the last 20 is slow. The battery type [NMC] you have in that vehicle in normal daily use, should only be charged to 80%. Unless you want maximum range when starting a trip. The next 20% will take just as long as charging from 20% to 80%. This is referred to as the charging curve when tested by geeks. If you want to know more about that and all the things the EV9 can do I suggest Out of Spec Reviews. They had one like yours for 6 months, the software you tested is better but this model gets over the air updates. They can also teach you how to plan your stops! This a skill you will need to road trip successfully and not panic if plan A fails. You also need to know how climate affects range, hot and cold, for a specific model.

Hyundai will be releasing their version soon of a 3 row SUV BEV. It will have the same electronics. But may have some tweaks and a different style? That might be a good comparison for you to look at. Then do a test drive of one of their sedans that is a long range design before you venture to other brands.

[ljptech]

Congratulations! KIA is a great Korean brand