The 2020 Kia Soul EV was given a 243-mile range rating by the EPA, slightly besting Kia’s own Niro EV in range.

Kia’s Niro EV earned a 239-mile range rating from the EPA. The upcoming Soul EV still lags behind Hyundai’s Kona EV, which sports a 258-mile range rating. The 2020 Soul EV uses the same 64 kWh battery pack found in the Niro EV and the smaller Hyundai Kona EV.

It’s a huge step up in range for the Soul EV. As expected, the 2020 Soul EV more than doubles the range of the current 2019 Soul EV, which earned a 111-mile range rating. And that was slightly up from the previous Soul which started at 93 miles..

The 2018 Soul EV currently starts at $33,950, and the Kona EV starts at $36,450 — this may end up being in the same ballpark. We expect the Niro EV to be competitive with the Kona EV, but a bit more expensive.

We first saw the 2020 Soul EV at the 2018 LA Auto Show. The car will have a motor with 291 lb.-ft. of torque — again like the Kona and Niro EVs. This new model will have CCS DC fast-charging, unlike previous models, which used the CHAdeMO standard topped at around 70kW.

Kia told us at the auto show that the 2020 Soul EV will charge at around 100kW for at least the first 50 percent of charge. Again, here it should be similar to the Niro and Kona EVs.

The vehicle should enter production during the second half of this year for the model year 2020.

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