Kia PV5 Cargo

Having proved it can make excellent electric cars, Korean brand branches out into commercial vans for first time

- By Shane Wilkinson

THE medium-sized electric van market is filled with both well established names such as the Ford E-Transit Custom, and newcomers like the Farizon SV. This means the new Kia PV5 Cargo is a bit of an oddity; it's a newcomer, but from a brand that's very well known in the car world.

For now, the PV5 Cargo is available exclusively as a panel van, but Kia plans to bring in a number of variants including a crew and chassis cab model. There's also the PV5 Passenger, which is an MPV in a similar mould to Ford's Transit-based Tourneo.

While the PV5's exterior has a certain sci-fi flair about it that perhaps draws a little inspiration from the Tesla Cybertruck, the interior follows a very similar design to Kia's electric cars.

It's focused more on durability than plushness, and everything feels securely screwed together, even if it is a bit of a plastic-fest. The dashboard is dominated by a 7.5-inch driver's display and a 12.9-inch touchscreen, and both are easy to read and use with clear graphics and some useful shortcut icons at the bottom of the main screen.

There are two batteries to choose from and Kia believes the biggest-seller will be the 'long-range' 71.2kWh pack. This claims up to 258 miles of range on the WLTP combined cycle, which outshines the E-Transit's 204-mile figure but falls a bit short of the Volkswagen ID. Buzz Cargo's 276 miles.