The KIA electric car portfolio is quite strong, with the only EV, Eniro and EV6 souls now available, but the South Korean company does not rest on its victory.
It plans to launch 11 new eVs (EV6 to be the first) in 2026 and also plan to expand the naming convention throughout the range – so hoping to see EV1, EV2, and so on in the coming years.
We sat with the President of the KIA England and CEO Paul Philpott to discuss the strategy of the company’s electric vehicles, and got a better idea about what we would expect for the next five years – and we also got our crystal ball to help the US form a picture of what was Can be seen by EV Kia to come.
HYDROGEN HYPE.
For now, KIA plans are purely in battery electric vehicles, but the other main renewable energy sources are hydrogen – and the benefits for KIA here are that it is more familiar with fuel cell technology than most manufacturers.
“We are part of Hyundai Motor Group, which is based in South Korea. South Korea is a large producer of hydrogen, and while Kia has pushed forward with EV, Hyundai has also experimented with hydrogen,” said Philpott to us.
So there is a little hidrogen expertise that can be withdrawn, which puts Kia in a strong position if the technology really takes off – even though it might still be long enough.
“It is now a Hyundai-LED experiment into hydrogen. This raises all types of infrastructure problems, but I think in long-term hydrogens will be a feasible alternative to electricity,” explained Philpott.
Hydrogen-powered cars are available, although in limited quantities and choose the market. We drove Hyundai IX35 hyundai hydrogen-toting cells five years ago, and this year we put Toyota Mirai new through its steps in southern California.
The problem is still the same as five years ago – infrastructure to support this vehicle is very lacking, with a little fuel station and far between and current hydrogen supply is now low, and top-up costs are greater than to. gasoline car.
“Electricity is very good, providing sustainable electrical producers,” said Philpott. “Hydrogen has another challenge, but I think it’s a decent alternative for the future, and it must be good.”
Utilizing the power of the Sun.
Something we might see faster in Kia’s electric car is solar panels. They are available on the roof of Hyundai Ioniq 5 (at least on the market) – and no secret that two companies share resources.
While Philpott will not be withdrawn whether we will definitely see the feature of the solar panel option in one of the remaining planned 10 EV launches up to 2026, Philpott signaled that it was at least feasible.
“As part of a larger group, which was distributed research and development, that technology was in our group, it was a question when we made it commercially available in one of our new products, but I could not confirm the introduction planned now,” he said.
This is of course one to be close. While solar panels it cannot produce enough power to recharge electric car batteries, the panel on IONIQ 5 can offer drivers up to 2,000 km / 1,243 miles per year (around 5-6 km / 3-4 miles per day) from additional ranges in the environment Bright.
It is not enough to cover most of the daily trips, but the free distance produced from sources without a by-product outside the construction of the panel itself, and for the next few years we can see solar panels become more efficient, and able to produce even more range for electric car.