The Kia Niro EV was launched in Malaysia last week with a RM256,668 price tag. While it is cheaper than its bigger Kia EV6, the Niro EV is quite pricey considering that the asking price is encroaching on bigger and more premium electric options. In this episode of Let’s Talk About, we are going to break down what the Kia Niro EV has to offer and how it compares with other EV options in Malaysia.
To recap, the Kia Niro EV is a compact electric SUV that has a single motor driving the front wheels pushing 150kW (201hp) and 255Nm of torque. It has a 0-100km/h time of 7.8 seconds and a top speed of 167km/h. Equipped with a 64.8kWh battery, the Niro EV has a rated range of up to 460km (WLTP) on a single charge.
It supports 11kW AC Charging as well as 80kW DC fast charging. On AC, it takes 6 hours and 20 minutes for a full charge but you can charge it up quickly from 10-80% in 49 minutes with DC fast charging. Another nifty feature that the Niro EV offers is Vehicle-to-Load (V2L), which lets you power up other home appliances up to 3.6kW through an adapter with the charging port.
For its asking price, the Niro EV is almost RM100,000 more than the BYD Atto 3 which has a similar size, power and driving range. In fact, you can get a bigger Hyundai Ioniq 5 Plus for a lot less if you don’t need the extended range.
Now with the impending arrival of Tesla in Malaysia, the Kia Niro EV is gradually becoming a tough sell. As revealed this morning, the bigger Tesla Model Y is priced at RM199,000 in Malaysia for the base rear-wheel-drive model. Coupled with a Tesla SuperCharger network, the Model Y is now a value-for-money EV option in Malaysia if you have a budget of about RM200,000. While you can place a RM1,000 booking, you would need to wait for it as deliveries are only expected to start in early 2024.
Related reading
- Neta V: Should you spend RM100K for the cheapest EV in Malaysia? | Let’s Talk About #121
- Priced from RM124K, is the Proton X90 overpriced? | Let’s Talk About #120
- Kia Niro EV vs Hyundai Kona vs BYD Atto 3: Compact electric SUVs compared
- Kia Niro EV Malaysia: Here’s the official pricing for Kia’s compact electric SUV
