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Kia’s electric e-Niro crossover model is set to go on sale on April 1st.
With plug-in car grant reductions the car will retail for £32,995. Just one highly specified model is to be offered and will join hybrid and PHEV versions of the Niro, which have made 65,000 European sales in two years, 11,000 of them in the UK.
Since the e-Nirol does not have a conventional transmission the gear lever has been replaced by a ‘shift-by-wire’ rotor control which extends from the base of the central front armrest. This panel also houses controls for the parking brake, heated seats, heated steering wheel, drive mode selector, parking sensors and the car’s ‘Auto Hold’ braking function. There is also a large storage recess at the base of the centre console.
The car has unique touch screen features including technology to locate charging points and provide information on rage. Data on CO2 reduction compared to equivalent internal combustion cars is also available, and the system can calculate future journey times and pre-set cabin temperature before the driver sets off.
The e-Niro has a WLTP combined cycle range is 455 kilometres or 282 miles for the long-range model, and 289 kilometres or 179 miles for the standard version.
A 64 kWh battery powers a 201bhp (150kW) electric motor which produced 395Nm of torque. This enables the e-Niro to accelerate from 0-to-60mph in 7.5 seconds.