Kia EV2 Arrives As Europe-Centric Baby EV

This is the Kia EV2, and if you’re at all familiar with Kia’s naming strategy for its dedicated electric cars, which currently span from the fairly small EV3 to the utterly vast EV9, then you won’t be at all surprised to learn that it’s now the smallest electric car the company makes.

What's new with the Kia EV2

The latest and smallest arrival on Kia and Hyundai’s excellent E-GMP platform, it’s a hair over four metres long – shorter than a current-gen VW Polo, so we’re talking about a fairly titchy car here. Despite that, it’s able to claim a healthy 362-litre boot space as a five-seater, or up to 403 litres if you opt for the four-seater which gets a sliding rear bench, a la Renault Twingo.

Elsewhere, the EV2’s interior is very familiar from other Kias, with dual 12.3-inch screens for the infotainment and instruments split up by a dedicated climate control screen. It features a ‘Lite’ version of the infotainment system used by the brand’s bigger models, although we assume it’ll come with the usual phone mirroring capabilities that you’ll almost certainly just use instead.

Battery-wise, there’s a 42.2kWh standard-range version with an estimated max range of 197 miles and a 61kWh long-range model, bumping that to a predicted 278 miles. The smaller battery comes paired with a 145bhp motor driving the front wheels, while the power output of the long-range car is still TBC.

While both versions can be topped up on a rapid DC charger in as little as half an hour, it’s also the first Kia to support both 11kW and 22kW AC charging at launch. That’s reflecting the predominance of this kind of charger across Europe, a region the EV2’s been designed specifically for – it’s being launched here, at the Brussels Motor Show, will go on sale here first, and will be built here. Well, not here as in Britain, but at Kia’s plant in Slovakia.

Basic versions enter production next month, followed by long-range cars and posher GT-Line models in June. Details of the UK market launch remain under wraps, but expect to see it on our roads by the end of the year.