Kia EV9 review: A great electric car for road trips, and very useful off the grid

Kia’s 7-seater EV9 has hit the ground running, dominating car awards such as World Car Awards 2024 where it was awarded both World Car of the Year and World Electric Vehicle. The EV9 also won UK Car of The Year and was declared World’s Best Car for 2024 on World Women’s Day by an international team of 63 women motoring journalists.

The award winning EV9 does not come cheap though, launching in Australia early this year with a starting price of almost $100,000. Kia loaned The Driven a mid-spec EV9 Earth variant, which starts from $106,500 plus on-road costs, or $121,112 drive away in NSW with optional Panthera Metal paint.

I spent 8 days and covered almost 2,000 km in the EV9 Earth, testing all kinds of driving conditions as well as features such as vehicle to load (V2L) and Kia’s latest advanced driver assistance systems. The EV9 quickly impressed me overall, but is not without its faults which I will get into later.

In terms of EV9 competitors, there are already several choices if you want a 7+ seat EV. Mercedes-Benz currently has 4 options, the EQB and EQS SUVs, EQV van and eVito Tourer which has 8 seats. Several new large EVs from other brands will also be coming to Australia soon such as the Hyundai Ioniq 7, Volkswagen ID.Buzz, Volvo EX90 and Zeekr 009.

Table of contents

• Spacious and comfortable
• Great car for road trips
• Bulky around town
• Fast charging speeds, on the right charger
• V2L can be genuinely useful
• Annoying startup sequence, improvements coming
• Conclusion
• Table of key specifications

Spacious and comfortable

The first thing you notice when sitting in the EV9 is how spacious and comfortable it is. At just over 5 m long and 2 m wide with a 3.1 m wheelbase, there is tons of legroom and interior space available for the driver and passengers to stretch out and get comfortable.

A few weeks before testing this EV9, I went on a 1,500 km road trip with my cousin in her EV9 and spent hours sitting in the second row, which I found almost as comfortable and roomy as the front seats. 

I only sat in the third row briefly, but the two seats back there also have a surprising amount of space available as long as you slide the second row forwards to create some legroom. Kids and smaller adults should be happy to travel in the back with 2 cupholders and USB-C charging ports on each side plus air conditioning vents mounted on the roof.

Seats in the EV9 are a highlight and probably the most comfortable I have experienced in any car, with no discomfort at all even after a full day of driving. The headrests in the front seats are so nice and soft, like resting your head on a pillow.

On the road you also notice how big the EV9 is, especially pulling up next to popular SUVs like the Tesla Model Y and Toyota RAV4. I am 175 cm tall and even with the driver’s seat in its lowest position, I sat above most other drivers apart from dual cab utes and large 4WDs.

Kia has made the most out of interior storage space in the EV9 too, for example I counted 10 cupholders in total plus large door bins which can easily fit drink bottles and other gear. There are handy features throughout the cabin and boot such as a dedicated space under the boot floor to stow the parcel shelf away when not in use.

Great car for road trips

After two road trips in an EV9, it is easy to see why people are choosing the EV9 as a road trip car such as the McLennan’s big lap towing their pop-up caravan. On top of being very spacious and comfortable, the EV9 has many other advantages over competing electric SUVs. 

In terms of ride and comfort, the standard 255/60 R19 profile tyres help to soak up bumps along with a soft suspension tune. Kia specifically tuned the EV9 for Australian roads and the results are noticeable as the EV9 handles potholes and patchy B roads without any issues.

The EV9 effortlessly cruises along highways and Kia’s adaptive cruise and lane centering work well. On straight sections of road I noticed the lane centering snakes ever so slightly from side to side, although passengers didn’t seem to notice. This was also more noticeable driving my cousin’s EV9, so perhaps it has improved with the latest OTA software updates.

With 177 mm of ground clearance, the EV9 isn’t the highest of EVs, but is capable of tackling dirt roads that aren’t too rough. The route to my brother’s property includes several km on a dirt road through state forest and ground clearance was not a problem, including a shallow creek crossing.

The weather leading up to my trip was wet, so the state forest road was muddy and slippery in some places. The EV9 started to go sideways a few times, which felt a bit sketchy but was easily correctable and possibly avoidable if the car was fitted with some chunkier tyres.

Boot space in the EV9 is another highlight, measuring 828 L with the third row seats folded and still a useful 333 L with all 7 seats up. Note that Kia measures boot space using the VDA standard, meaning the volume is calculated up to the top of the rear seats only. In comparison, Tesla advertises 854 L for the Model Y but this is measured all the way up to the roof.

No matter how you measure it, the EV9 boot is massive. We didn’t have a lot of luggage for our road trip, but everything fit easily without being stacked at all. There was enough space left over that our bags slid around the boot whenever I took advantage of the EV9’s quick acceleration.

Efficiency for my entire 1,300 km road trip measured 21 kWh/100 km or 210 Wh/km, which means just over 450 km from the entire 96 kWh usable capacity in an EV9 Earth. Assuming you want to keep the battery between 10-80 %, this equates to 320 km between regular charging stops.

Real world range like this is another factor that makes the EV9 an ideal road trip EV, meaning you can pick and choose your charging stops more freely than a car with less range. With this much range I found we were generally hungry or needed a toilet break before needing to charge again. 

One omission common to almost every EV is the lack of a spare wheel in the EV9, which is arguably more important if you plan on taking one on long road trips across the country. A tyre repair kit is included under the boot floor, although this won’t help with a bad puncture.

Bulky around town

Back home after the road trip, I found the EV9 was too big and bulky for my personal tastes. I’m sure you would get used to the size eventually, but while looking for a park I sometimes drove past a tight spot that I would not hesitate to park my own Model 3 in.

On the plus side, reversing and 360 degree cameras on the EV9 are crisp and clear which helps with parking. Visibility in general from the driver’s seat is also excellent with large windows and plenty of glass to see through in all directions.

As expected, efficiency around town was better than on the highway, consuming 19.5 kWh/100 km or 195 Wh/km. This results in 505 km from a full charge, coming very close to Kia’s advertised 512 km WLTP driving range. 

Fast charging speeds, on the right charger

Built on Kia and Hyundai’s Electric Global Modular Platform (E-GMP), the EV9 is capable of DC fast charging up to 210 kW with the long range 99.8 kWh battery or 230 kW with the standard range 76.1 kWh battery fitted to base EV9 Air variants.

However, these charging speeds require an 800 V charger which essentially means one of the 350 kW capable units. While the charging network in Australia is growing quickly, 350 kW stations are not always easy to find.

For example, on my trip up and down the east coast from Sydney I used two of Tesla’s recently opened stations at Raymond Terrace and South Taree because other options nearby were occupied or out of order. Unfortunately for the EV9, this meant charging speeds were capped at 84 kW and stops took nearly an hour instead of just 24 minutes.

Even though Tesla has equipped both of these newer Supercharger sites with their V4 stalls, the electrical cabinets and inverters are still V3 which means they can only supply 400 V. In these situations, the EV9 uses its electric motor and rear inverter to boost 400 V from the charger up to 800 V matching the battery pack, which is where the limitation comes from.

V2L can be genuinely useful

On previous occasions I have tested vehicle to load (V2L) with small appliances such as phone chargers, mainly just to check it works. However, on this trip V2L came in handy as my brother’s property is completely off-grid and his shed does not have solar or batteries yet.

I needed a new fire pit at home, so we ran an extension lead from the 15 A V2L socket in the boot and fired up his corded angle grinder which made quick work out of an old beer keg. Five minutes later and no impact on the car’s state of charge, I had a shiny new fire pit to take home.

Kia includes their external V2L Load Adaptor with top-spec EV9 GT-Line variants, which plugs into the charge port. If you need one they are available for $566.50 on the Kia website at the time of writing. 

While staying with my brother, we also tested out charging from his off-grid solar and battery system with the portable EVSE supplied with the EV9. I was able to add around 10 % to the car battery in 5-6 hours and proved that it did not drain his battery system at all. A smart EV charger that follows the excess solar output would make this even easier.

Annoying startup sequence, improvements coming

Similar to other Kia and Hyundai EVs I have tested, the EV9 requires numerous button presses and screen touches to set up the car every time you get in. I counted 10 actions including pressing the power button, screen touches to adjust intrusive safety features and flicking the steering wheel paddle to enable one pedal drive.

The most intrusive safety feature is the speed limit warning, which chimes every time you go just over the detected speed limit. This is good in theory, but often wrong as the system has no concept of time and alerts incorrectly throughout school zones at any time of day or night. It also sometimes picks up lower speed limit signs from side roads or car parks.

Thankfully Kia has announced some shortcuts for the speed limit warning are available in the July 2024 software update, so the warning can now either be disabled via voice control or holding down the mute button instead of through the touchscreen.

Conclusion

Overall I was impressed by the Kia EV9 and I can see why it deserves accolades such as World Car of the Year. It is spacious and extremely comfortable with lengthy real world range and fast charging speeds that makes it ideal for road trips. Other notable features are V2L and up to 2,500 kg braked towing capacity.

Until more competition in this space arrives later this year from brands like Hyundai, VW, Volvo and Zeekr, I think Kia’s EV9 is the obvious choice if you want an EV with 7 seats due to its versatility and all round appeal.

Table of key specifications