HEALDSBURG, Calif.—Undergo in mind how, a few decades ago, the Jap automobile industry came and ate all americans’s lunch? Ancient past doesn’t repeat, the aphorism goes, on the other hand it does rhyme. And this time round, the lunch-inviting is courtesy of Korea’s automakers.

Which would perchance be very lawful with electric vehicles. The second-generation EVs from Kia and father or mother firm Hyundai had been among the few to bag conclude to Tesla-ranges of powertrain effectivity. The companies applied that recordsdata to connect E-GMP, a reason-built 800 V platform for greater rear- and all-wheel-power EVs.

The first automobile to bag that powertrain used to be the Hyundai Ioniq 5, which went straight to the finish of the category after we examined it in late 2021. Today time, we power the Ioniq 5’s cousin, the Kia EV6. If the Ioniq 5 is all pixels and angles, the EV6 starts with a identical bone structure but drapes it in a great curvier crossover body. All americans’s tastes differ, so I try now no longer to dwell on a automobile’s appears to be like to be, but from some angles the EV6 is a bigger-taking a search for Lamborghini Urus. And its rear styling definitely strikes a chord in my memory of the Aston Martin DBX.

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Karim Habib, Kia’s head of assemble, humored the recommendation. He conceded that, from the rear and must always you squinted, “there are some similarities. Nevertheless no. For us what used to be fundamental used to be to exhaust the probability of the architecture,” he said. “What EV platforms undoubtedly enable us is with out worry extra freedom, and likewise, I believe, lawful in frequent, there is an openness for body kinds that are perchance now no longer clearly placed in a single segment or yet any other. We lawful wished to try something like that.”

The associated journalists on the important power in California had varied opinions about which assemble aspect most optimistic describes the EV6. The Kia staffers on hand, on the other hand, had been resolute in calling the EV6 a CUV.

“Having this flat ground lets you sit down in a extra versatile near,” Habib explained. “You assemble now no longer comprise an especially mounted online page to your toes or your heels. You would moreover twist, you are going to be ready to fling. Sure, the scheme back is it does scheme extra top, but there are some things that, in return, abet us.” He pointed to the vogue for ever-bigger wheels that attach a sizable automobile read as a smaller one until you stand up conclude.

“So the wheel-to-body relationship stays somewhat healthy,” he told me. “What turns right into a little extra complex is that, if you occur to hotfoot shorter, you comprise excessive. That’s the reason you explore so many EVs in the crossover or SUV route, on fable of it lawful works.”

E-GMP used to be frequently meant for greater vehicles (Kia has less expensive entrance-wheel-power EVs just like the Niro for the actual dinky-automobile market). And so the EV6 is better than you first think. At 184.3 inches (4,681 mm), the EV6 is a few inches longer than the Ioniq 5, but its 114.2 inches (2,901 mm) wheelbase is a little shorter than its predecessor. (Sure, that is also the identical wheelbase as Kia’s great greater Telluride three-row SUV.)

Three powertrains to perceive from

The EV6’s powertrain format is frequent for a battery EV, with a slab of lithium-ion polymer cells between the axles. The entry-stage model is the $40,900 (sooner than tax credits) rear-wheel-power EV6 Mild. The Mild’s 58 kWh battery pack powers a 167 hp (125 kW), 258 lb-toes (350 Nm) AC synchronous permanent-magnet motor which, in flip, drives the rear wheels. Curb weight for this model is 4,017 lbs (1,822 kg), of which 816 lbs (370 kg) are from the battery pack.

The Mild has loads of 232 miles (373 km). The E-GMP platform can rapidly fee to 80 percent in 18 minutes when linked to a 350 kW charger or 63 minutes must always you are going to be ready to most optimistic bag a 50 kW DC charger. (Technically, the smaller pack would possibly perchance well moreover fair now no longer fee at better than 180 kW but you are going to want to bag a 350 kW-agreeable charger to explore these speeds.) Level 2 AC charging will seize lawful below six hours at 11 kW.

Kia did no longer comprise any EV6 Lights for us to sample, but we did exhaust a correct amount of time in the reduction of the wheel of the other two powertrain variants. Each and every exhaust a 77.4 kWh (snide ability) battery pack. The single-motor RWD configuration sports 225 hp (168 kW) and 258 lb-toes (350 Nm) to comprise up out 310 miles (499 km) of vary. The twin-motor all-wheel-power association is 320 hp (239 kW) and 446 lb-toes (605 Nm) for loads of 274 miles (441 km).

As with the less-fundamental EV6, these are AC permanent-magnet synchronous motors. The motors can rev to 15,000 rpm (versus 11,000 rpm in the Niro) and exhaust sq. copper hairpins and oil cooling. The entrance motor, if fitted, is hooked as much as a disconnect instrument so it will moreover fair also be impulsively uncoupled from the wheels to end dawdle. To maximise vitality recovery by regenerative braking, on the other hand, the motor frequently recouples if you occur to decelerate.

Each and every motor configurations come in in either Wind clear ($47,000 for RWD or $50,900 for AWD) or the marginally lighter but sportier-taking a search for GT-Line ($51,200 for RWD, $55,900 for AWD). (All these costs are sooner than tax credits, by the near.) These EV6s weigh a little extra—the greater pack weighs 1,052 lbs (477 kg), so curb weights vary from 4,225 to 4,661 lbs (1,916-2,114 kg).

Charging times for the greater pack are the identical, despite whether or now no longer it’s a single- or dual-motor model. A 350 kW charger (staunch max energy: 240 kW) will bag you to 80 percent in 18 minutes, while a 150 kW-rated rapidly charger does the job in 25 minutes. (Now not like many other EVs, the EV6’s platform permits it to rapidly fee at either 800 V or 400 V. How? The motor and inverter act as a DC-DC converter.) For on a standard basis charging at residence or work, quiz a paunchy cha