If you like the Hyundai Kona Electric, but think that it’s too small, the Kia Niro EV might be the electric car for you.

The Kia Niro EV is a bigger electric car aimed for the North American market. I think of it as a BEV alternative to the Mitsubishi Outlander PHEV – that finally arrived to North America after so many delays. Mitsubishi really screwed things up…

Anyway, let’s see the Kia Niro EV that is now on pre-sale in South Korea.

Version ME (Mid & Efficient) LE (Long & Excellent) Electric motor 150 kW (204 HP) 150 kW (204 HP) Range 240 km (149 miles) 380 km (236 miles) Battery capacity 39,2 kWh 64 kWh Wheelbase 2.700 mm 2.700 mm Lenght 4.375 mm 4.375 mm Width 1.805 mm 1.805 mm Height 1.560 mm 1.560 mm Starting price (before incentives) 43,5 million KRW (32.923 €) 46,5 million KRW (35.194 €)

The 3 million KRW difference between the two versions is just 2.272 €, which doesn’t make much sense. However, it gives Kia a margin to drop the price of the entry-level version to around 30.000 €.

If you’re wondering about range, both South Korean and the EPA test cycles are very similar.

It’s interesting that since the Kia Niro EV is a bigger and heavier car, it gets the same 150 kW motor in both versions. While the smaller and lighter Hyundai Kona Electric, besides the 150 kW motor can also be ordered with a 99 kW variant.

Now the important question is: how many will Kia produce?

And the answer isn’t what we want…

Production targets for 2018 (Hyundai-Kia Automotive Group):

Hyundai Kona Electric (18.600 units)

Hyundai IONIQ Electric (48.000 units)

Kia Niro EV (21.000 units)

Kia Soul EV (???)

Furthermore, roughly half of the production will stay in the domestic market, leaving few units available to be exported to Europe and North America. Hyundai and Kia really need to decentralize the production of their electric cars, like Nissan did with the Leaf.

Anyway, Kia expects to deliver the first units to South Korean customers in July. Europeans and North Americans will have to wait a bit longer. Norwegians might be lucky enough to get it in the last quarter of this year.

What do you think? And what’s your favorite? Hyundai Kona Electric or the Kia Niro EV?

More info:

http://www.kia.com/kr/about-kia/prcenter/news-view.html?sc.newsSeq=B200002550