After having opened bookings for its first-ever electric car in India, Kia is set to launch the Kia EV6 in the country on the 2nd of June. The EV6 will make its way here through the CBU (completely built-up) route, rivalling the likes of the upcoming Hyundai Ioniq 5 which is rather a cousin to it and others like the Volvo XC40 Recharge. The EV6 electric crossover is likely to be made available only in the GT Line variant in India, according to a brochure leaked online sometime back, however, we’ll know more on that subject next week.
The EV6 electric car will come in two drivetrain options – a rear-wheel-drive (RWD)and an all-wheel-drive (AWD). The two would likely be powered by a 77.4 kWh lithium-ion battery. While the RWD single motor version makes 225 hp and 350 Nm, the AWD dual-motor version puts out 321 hp and 605 Nm of torque.
Kia EV6 RWD claims a range of 528 km (WLTP) on a single charge and 425 km for the AWD version. The 0-100 km/h sprint time for the AWD is slated at 3.5 seconds, while that for the RWD is a little over five seconds. The charging time for the battery pack has been claimed at 18 minutes from 0-80 percent using a 350 kW fast charger and 73 minutes from 0-80 percent on a 50 kW fast charger. It must be noted that the fast chargers available in India are 50 kW capacity. It’ll be interesting to see if Kia offers higher capacity chargers at its dealerships.
The Kia electric car is based on the South Korean manufacturer’s Electric-Global Modular Platform (E-GMP). It also boasts Advanced Driver Assistance Systems (ADAS) 5 with semi-autonomous capabilities like Highway Driving Assist 2 (HDA2). The system includes forward collision warning, lane keep assist, blind-spot detection, and more. It’ll have eight airbags as standard, and hill-start assist, among a long list of safety features.
On the inside, the EV6 boasts Head-Up Display, a 12.3-inch touchscreen infotainment system, and an equally large digital instrument cluster. It gets a 10-way power adjustment for the seats and a 14-speaker sound system. The features and creature comforts will depend upon the variant chosen.
