Korean firm adds a lower-slung electric hatch to its SUV-rich EV line-up
When it comes to what many probably still consider the electric car’s defining limitation – range – the state of the art isn’t developing quite as you might expect.The car industry has, over the decades, tended to enhance the performance of its cars by starting at the higher end before moving to more accessible strata. This leads us to expect that more lavish and expensive EVs will hit bigger numbers for electric range first, then, with the smaller, cheaper ones following along. It seems natural enough. Natural, that is – but not necessarily correct.This test’s subject, the Kia EV4, has recently become the Korean brand’s first European-made EV. It’s a mid-sized hatchback tuned and developed on European roads, in contrast to every other Kia EV made to date, which have all had at least some SUV design DNA. But this is also the first Kia EV with a claimed electric range that exceeds 380 miles. The entry-trim Air hatchback, with the bigger of two battery packs, is the longest-legged of all, which is the version that most of this test will concern itself with.
