New Kia e-Niro 2019: full specs and pricing confirmed

Our inaugural awards have been won by the all-new Kia e-Niro - a pure electric, compact family SUV with an official range (under WLTP testing) of 282 miles, and it promises to be comfortable and great value.

Kia e-Niro price and on-sale date

Order books open on the 9 January 2019, with sales starting on 1 April and deliveries expected to start the same month.

The Kia e-Niro will cost £32,995 after the government plug-in car grant and will only be offered in one, high-spec First Edition trim to start. Equipment will include an eight-inch touchscreen with sat nav, leather upholstery, heated seats and steering wheel, adaptive cruise control, rear parking sensors and reversing camera, autonomous emergency braking and automatic lights and wipers. 

Read on for a round up of why the e-Niro is our 2019 Car of the Year, or check out our full, in-depth review.

Range, charging and electric motor

The Kia e-Niro is a compact family SUV with a claimed 282-mile range (on the WLTP cycle) from a 64kWh lithium-ion battery pack and a single electric motor that powers its front wheels. It’s a non-identical twin to the Hyundai Kona Electric that has shaken up the electric-car market by offering virtually double the driving range of almost any other circa £30-£35k car.

The Kia e-Niro differs from the Hyundai Kona in that it’s a fraction larger and more spacious in the rear seats and boot, and also better value spec-for-spec.

The Kia e-Niro is charged using a CCS or Type 2 cable that fits into a port in the car’s nose. A 7.2kW wallbox or public charger should charge the car fully in around nine hours, while a 50kW rapid charger (usually found in motorway services) will give you an 80% charge in 75 minutes The e-Niro is also capable of taking a 100kW charge, which will do the same in under an hour.

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Practicality and boot space

Putting the electric aspect aside for one second, the e-Niro is simply a great compact family SUV. Heated leather seats with powered driver’s-seat adjustment is standard, while keyless entry, a high roof and decent rear door apertures make it easy to lean in and sort out child seats. The 451-litre boot is also a good size, and there’s convenient cable storage beneath the boot floor.

On top of that, the e-Niro has a logical dashboard layout that looks smart and, while a bit button-heavy in areas, benefits from a solid feel and nice damping. This is another area where the Kia nudges ahead of the Hyundai Kona, which is undoubtedly its closest rival but has a more drab-looking interior.

Equipment

Standard equipment is comprehensive. On top of all the comfort equipment it comes with, the e-Niro also has a standard eight-inch colour touchscreen with DAB, Bluetooth, sat nav, Apple CarPlay and Android Auto, as well as autonomous emergency braking, adaptive cruise control and lane-keeping assistance.

It drives well, too, offering a comfortable, smooth and easy-going way of getting around. With 201bhp and 395Nm of torque, it’s an unlikely hot-hatch slayer up to about 40mph – particularly if you switch to Sport mode.

At £32,995 after the plug-in car grant has been applied, the e-Niro is great value for an electric car with such a long range, and monthly PCP payments are expected to come in at well below £400 if you’ve got a decent deposit or a part-ex worth around £8,000 – very competitive by electric-car standards.

Of course, company-car tax costs will be lower than an equivalent diesel or petrol alternative – a 40% taxpayer can expect to pay less than £200 a month in Benefit-in-Kind in the 2019/20 tax year.

As an overall prospect, the Kia e-Niro is the best electric family car going. It’s comfortable, easy to live with and – crucially – offers the sort of range that should finally put to bed the dreaded range anxiety.

Kia’s famous seven-year, 100,000-mile warranty is included as well, which covers the battery as well as the rest of the car’s non-consumable parts. Making electric motoring made even easier and even more accessible, it’s the new ‘one to beat’.