Kia EV6

Armed with super-fast charging tech, Kia’s electric flagship has the Tesla Model 3 in its sights On sale Now Price from £40,895

- Will Nightingale

SAY HELLO TO an electric car that its maker claims can charge faster than a Tesla, go farther than a Hyundai Ioniq 5 and if you choose the right version, even out-accelerate a Porsche Taycan 4S. Yes, the new Kia EV6 certainly has some impressive on-paper credentials.

And that shouldn’t come as a surprise, because Kia has more experience in the art of making electric cars than many other brands. It launched the original Soul EV back in 2014 before following that up with the ahead-of-its-time e-Niro – the latter becoming the first electric car to win our overall Car of the Year award in 2019. Unlike both of those forerunners, though, the EV6 has been designed from the outset to be a bespoke electric vehicle (EV); its designers didn’t need to worry about making a version with a petrol engine under the bonnet as well.

It actually has a lot in common with the Ioniq 5, but has been tuned with the aim of making it more fun to drive. It also has a larger, 77.4kWh battery for a longer range between charges. The cheaper RWD version, which has a single 226bhp motor driving the rear wheels, is claimed to run for 328 miles on a full battery, while the AWD model (with a second motor powering the front wheels and a total of 321bhp) can manage up to 314 miles.