Watch The Kia EV2 Take On A Brutal Winter Vary Take a look at And Win

• That is how the Kia EV2 was in a position to go almost 200 miles on one cost, driving usually in frozen Norway.
• The automotive was a prototype with the 61-kWh long-range battery rated at 256 miles, so it misplaced lower than 25% of its claimed vary.
• This video reveals that it nonetheless had 1% within the battery and nearly 10 miles of predicted vary left when it stopped.

The Kia EV2 is the newest and smallest mannequin to affix the Korean automaker’s electrical lineup. Even when it’s small, it nonetheless guarantees to ship throughout all key areas the place EVs are anticipated to carry out effectively right now, together with sustaining as a lot of their vary as potential in chilly circumstances.

Probably the most brutal vary exams is carried out annually by the Norwegian Automotive Federation (NAF), which pits new EVs towards the chilly. One of many unofficial contributors in the latest version of the take a look at was a Kia EV2 prototype with the long-range 61-kilowatt-hour battery, which had the bottom vary loss relative to its complete claimed vary of any automotive examined.

It coated 193 miles (310.6 km) with temperatures by no means going above 17.6°F (-8°C), so it misplaced lower than 25% of its claimed 256-mile (413 km) vary. Whereas we beforehand coated the end result itself, The whole lot Electrical Automobiles takes us alongside for the trip with a video documenting how the automotive carried out and the way it all went down till the automotive silently stopped with no extra energy left to offer.

It highlights particulars equivalent to not being allowed to make use of the automotive’s Eco mode, driving it usually with out making use of hypermiling strategies and preserving the cabin good and toasty (at 70°F/21°C) utilizing the automotive’s local weather system. All of the vehicles within the take a look at are pushed usually on the velocity restrict, though they’re pushed on B-roads, not highways, the place they persist with the decrease velocity restrict.

One fascinating element we discovered after watching the video is that the EV2 that took half within the take a look at didn’t hit 0% state of cost when it stopped. It nonetheless had 1% within the battery and an indicated vary prediction of 9.3 miles (15 km). That is seemingly as a result of the automotive continues to be an unfinished prototype, and the vary prediction is inaccurate.

With a mean effectivity of roughly 3.45 miles/kWh (18 kWh/100 km), the EV2 delivered outstanding efficiency within the take a look at. Effectivity was even higher earlier than temperatures fell under 5°F (-15°C), when the battery thermal administration seemingly kicked into overdrive to maintain the battery at an optimum temperature, on the expense of extra power.

Masking almost 200 miles within the freezing chilly in a small EV designed primarily for metropolis driving continues to be a outstanding end result. It reveals simply how far these electrical vehicles have come and the way usable and just about compromise-free they’ve turn out to be.

If a automotive just like the EV2 can maintain going for so long as it did within the harsh Norwegian winter, it ought to present peace of thoughts for potential house owners contemplating one in different cold-climate international locations.