GOOD KOREA MOVE (some text hidden) --NONE--

By Jonathan Crouch

Thinking of a lower mid-sized EV van? Then you must consider Kia's PV5 Cargo. Jonathan Crouch drives it.

Ten Second Reviewword count: 31

Kia gate-crashes the lower mid-sized EV van market with this avant-garde PV5 Cargo. The looks are trendy and the technology competitive but what's perhaps most impressive here is the value proposition.

Backgroundword count: 219

As a car maker, Kia has been one of the UK market's success stories. In just three decades, the company have progressed from market newcomers to our nation's fourth most popular brand. So far in Britain, all of this has been achieved purely by selling cars, but in other parts of the world, Kia is well known as a commercial vehicle maker too. In fact, the marque's heritage in LCVs is much longer than it is in cars; Kia's first commercial vehicle - the three-wheel pick-up K-360 of 1962 - appeared 14 years before its first car (and even that car was a passenger-carrying version of a pick-up model, the Brisa). For the last half-century though, Kia has left LCV market to others in the UK - until now. The EV revolution is opening up big opportunities in the van segment which the Korean maker hopes to exploit with a new line of models it calls PBVs (which stands for 'Platform Beyond Vehicles'). The first of these is the lower mid-sized PV5 Cargo model we look at here, also offered as a passenger-carrying MPV (which we'll review separately). It will be followed by larger PV7 and PV9 models and aims to really shake up the EV van market with futuristic styling and aggressive pricing. Let's take a closer look.

Driving Experienceword count: 277

Unlike some EVs, you've to press a power button to start, at which point drive comes from a single front-mounted electric motor with 161bhp. There's a choice of two battery packs and most sales will be generated by the standard range 51.5kWh version, which has a range of up to 184 miles. At the top of the line-up, there's a larger 71.2kWh pack capable of taking the PV5 up to 258 miles. To give you some class perspective, that latter figure is better than a Ford E-Transit Custom (204 miles); but is some way behind an (admittedly far-pricier) Volkswagen ID.Buzz Cargo (276 miles). This Kia's quoted mileage figures will be hard to replicate in colder winter months unless you get this plusher 'Plus' variant and pay more for the optional heat pump. Once you locate the drive mode button (it's at the base of the curiously-shaped two-spoke wheel), you can activate three different drive mode settings (Eco, Normal and Snow); and there are four brake regen options activated by steering wheel paddles. Performance is adequate, the standard range 51.5kWh version making 62mph in 16.2s, a figure the long range 71.2kWh model improves to 12.4s. In both variants there's 250Nm of torque but maximum speed is limited to just 84mph. But braked towing capacity is limited to just 750kg. Around town, the front wheel drive powertrain format gives great manoeuvrability in confined spaces and enables a tight 5.5m turning circle. In urban driving you'll feel pot holes and speed humps, but not as much as in most rival vans of this size. Beyond the city limits, you won't appreciate the light steering quite as much but refinement's excellent.

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