KIA begins production in China of EV5 units for export to other markets

With the start of production of a certain number of EV5 units destined for export, the exclusivity of this model in the Chinese market comes to an end. The most affordable electric SUV from KIA will now be available in other markets, some of them left-hand drive and therefore with the steering wheel on the right.

Two of these markets will be Thailand and Australia. The EV5 was presented at the Bangkok International Motor Show last March, and the company then announced the prices at which the versions on sale would be available. As expected, the EV5 will be positioned one step below the EV6 in terms of price. In Australia, meanwhile, the EV5 arrives with the difficult mission of trying to stop the Tesla Model Y from remaining the undisputed sales leader over the coming quarters.

KIA currently produces the EV5 not only at the Chinese plant in Yancheng, but also in South Korea. In any case, it does not appear that, at least for the moment, units assembled at either of these two plants will end up reaching the European market. As we all know, the EV5 is a more affordable version with five seats instead of seven of the much larger EV9 SUV.

Based on the E-GMP platform, the EV5 measures 4.61 metres in length, with a wheelbase of 2.75 metres. An important difference of this model compared with the rest of the South Korean manufacturer’s models based on the same platform is that, unlike the others, it does not have an 800V architecture but a 400. As a result, the EV5’s performance at the charging point is lower than the rest, supporting lower power levels and requiring more time to complete the entire charging process. According to the manufacturer, the version of the EV5 produced in China requires 27 minutes to increase the state of charge from 30 to 80 percent.

The Chinese and South Korean EV5 are not exactly the same

Finally, it should be noted that there are some differences in the drivetrain between the versions of the EV5 produced in China and in South Korea. Thus, while the KIA EV5 produced in China is available with a battery pack of 58 or 81 kWh capacity, in the Chinese model this same battery pack is 64 or 88 kWh. In both cases, however, we are talking about the Blade battery pack from BYD with LFP cells.

As for the powertrains, both versions incorporate one with 160 kW of power on the front axle, which can be accompanied by a second 70 kW motor on the rear axle in the versions with the higher-capacity battery pack.