The Kia Niro Takes On The World’s Toughest Electric Car Test - Loveland Trials Ep.2

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[rmh]

Its great to see TFL lead the way in EV content, keep up the excellent work!

[sdb]

Charging speed should be measured in range added per 10 mins. 0 to 80% charge is meaningless. 80 percent of a tiny battery compared to 80 percent of a big battery is different. Plus this doesn't take driving efficiency into account which matters too. Range added per unit time is the ultimate metric

[AlexPacker]

I have this car. We call it the e-Niro in Europe. I have to say, I don't think your result would have been any different in eco mode. It only really dampens the throttle response, which I prefer, as I find it a bit too keen around town in the other modes. You can still get full power of you have a heavy right foot anyway.

My experience of the car is that it's a brilliant daily driver and does anything you could reasonably ask of it. I drive it all over the UK and into mainland Europe and I have not yet been inconvenienced by recharging it or the range.

Kia have done a great job with this car. I know range is a different matter in the US, but I think the Niro EV would meet the needs of all but the highest mileage drivers.

You did very well to get that efficiency! I'm getting around 3.4 miles/kWh here in warmer temperatures, albeit nearly at sea level.

Thanks for the video!

[allencowgill]

We bought this car in July. I drove it from Seattle to Denver in Eco mode which was fine. We love this car for the range (real world 300 city - 238 highway is about right). We have driven Denver to Vail and back without charging and Denver to Steamboat Springs using only about 56% of range. My wife loves it because it looks like a normal car. The base trim is 40k with the winter driving package and with Colorado and full Federal tax credits you knock $12.5 k off that. That makes the economics of this car much more palatable at around $28k. Real world charging tops out at 76kw, not 100 as this video said. Also love it that Kia rates top 2 in reliability by JD Power. The adaptive cruise control is my favorite feature for long drives. We are replacing factory tires with better snow tires as they suck in the snow and the wet.

[joaovicente]

You should keep a scoreboard for comparison with other models, like Top Gear and their lap times.

[BillB]

When you announce the "Tommy" score how about showing previously tested EVs for comparison?

[crspartanskilibreaux]

Great video and quite informative! I would like to point out that when you mentioned you'd like to have less abrupt transition from "go" to "whoa" when you let off the pedal, you seem to have forgotten you DO! It's called setting your regen at level 1 for a very mild slow-down similar to a conventional car, or to level 2 for that "instant" yet less aggressive slowing when you suddenly release the pedal, or learning to EASE off the pedal when you're driving around in full regen!
I like to tailor regen on my Kona electric based on traffic and whether I'm trying to hypermile it around town or just get where I'm going. For heavy traffic I run full regen all the time because it gives me that hard, 0.25G braking effect on full let-off and this is really nice in traffic where idiots are alternating between punching it and slamming on the brakes! In lighter traffic I tend to have regen default to level 2, but I also tend to drive with my finger poised over the left and right paddles to use my regen on the fly as needed. For hypermiling I've found the best way in town is to default regen to 1, or 2 when accelerating because believe it or not, you are "regenning" even as you are pulling from the battery! So if your acceleration pulls 30 kWh with 0 regen, adding level 2 will drop kWh draw! It may sound counter-intuitive but it's true. Regen on the Kona electric can deliver as much as 80+ kWh which is more than a DCFC! Once up to traffic flow speed, I'll reduce to 0 regen and coast as far as possible before staging regen back in as I approach the next stop. Using this technique I can quickly get over 5.5 miles per kWh. I've left home with anticipated range showing 200 miles, driven 10 miles stop and go around town only to return home with range available showing 196 miles! On the highway I discovered while trying every combination possible, that best efficiency is achieved by running FULL regen at speed on the freeway! Again, the reason is because the car will generate more electricity than it draws from the battery! At steady highway speeds of say 65 mph where I would draw 17 kWh steady with 0 regen, with full regen the draw will be 13 kWh! I used to get under 4 miles per kWh even driving below 60 mph, but when I discovered to run regen on I find I can exceed 4 kWh at that same speed.

[rlessmeier]

Did anyone else get a little nervous when Tommy started backing the car out of the garage? 😄

[chrisevans]

Living in London, it's hilarious hearing this described as a 'small' car that's great for zipping in and out of traffic. You'd struggle to zip anywhere in it in this nightmare of a city to drive in!

[schlix]

Great to see EV Test done this way. May I make a recommendation though: To have a kind of "leader-board" where you keep track of all EV scores. Once you score a Vehicle, you add it to the leader board, that way the viewers can see from past tests, how all EV's rank up more or less, according to your scoring system (which I think is very good by the way). Because, to be honest, I cannot remember what the Golf and Tesla Scored in previous tests and just keeping a "leader-board" on hand, will help viewers like me a lot. Thank you guys for the great content you produce.

[keatontruman]

I would like to see a place on your website that shows the scores. Rates who is doing the best. Those points don’t mean anything without context

[Desertfox]

Good test Tommy! As far as tax credits the Kia gets the full amount while the Tesla has run out, which could also be a consideration for EV shoppers.

[rickadrian]

Love the temp reading of 37F, our forecast today is over 44C (112F). Great video.

[newscoulomb]

7:00 The "100 kW" is the rated power of the charger. The Kia Niro EV can accept up to 200 A, which is a peak charging rate of between 75 and 78 kW.

[robertm]

I am not sure Colorado weather is predictable enough to score efficiency going up a mountain

[USUG]

As you took the model X on the same challenge, at the same time, it would have been nice to make a direct score comparison.
BTW, the e-niro has a max charging power of 77kW, and it takes between 45-55 min to charge between 10-20% up to 80% SOC, so it should have some points for that.

[pdd]

The scoring system needs a revamp. For example, a vehicle that charges to 100% in 60 minutes should not get the same score as one that charges to 100% in 75 minutes (both 0). And Maybe charging to 80% is fast in which case, I'm OK with moving on at that point. The score does not reflect this metric.

Remember how the English teacher was reluctant to give your essay 100% no matter how good it was? Well, there is a good reason for that. 100% means that there couldn't be anything better and 0 means that there couldn't be anything worse. That is likely not true. And that applies to these EV categories even more than it does to your essays.

[ruirodtube]

I tried the e-Niro in Europe and was pretty impressed. It’s well finished, well equipped, comfortable AND efficient!

European and American car makers better watch out! The South Koreans are ahead in EV technology.

The price was also correct.

[ZaniZankov]

Love the scoreig system idea! I think it could be perfected by changing the charging time category metric to miles of range recharged in a given time. It is (1) more practical information & (2) also reflects the vehicle's efficiency. Who cares if you can recharge 20% in 10 minutes if it only extends your range by 10 miles. Porsche Taycan for example charges at a faster rate than a Tesla but burns through the charge even faster, so in the same amount of time you spend at the charging station, you are gaining more with the Tesla.

[tony_orto]

There is still a full $7500 federal tax credit on Kia/Hyundai. In California, there's $2500.

So the effective cost is $37, 500.
Maintenance is lower than a ICE car and you're not buying gas. Also, Kia has a good warranty. 10yr/100, 000 mile.