South Korea car maker Kia has announced the pricing and specifications of its newest and smallest electric SUV to date, the EV3.

After being showcased at the Australian Open in January and then at Everything Electric last week, the EV3 will start at under $48,000 for the base Air Standard Range variant.

Prices of the four variants before on-roads costs are:

• Air Standard Range – $47,600
• Air Long Range – $53,315
• Earth Long Range – $58,600
• GT-Line Long Range – $63,950

The new EV3 follows the lead of Kia’s existing electric offerings in terms of its styling. This comes from the boxier designs of the top selling EV5 and the seven-seater EV9, while maintaining unique frontal and rear styling.

The EV3 will be available with two battery options, including the EV3 Standard and the EV3 Long Range pack.

The Air Standard Range variant is equipped with a 58.3 kWh battery pack delivering 436 km of WLTP range, while the Long Range variant bumps that up to 81.4 kWh, which is expected to deliver range of up to 604 km on the WLTP cycle in the Air Long Range variant.

Both models are powered by a 150 kW motor that offers a peak torque of 283 Nm. The power is delivered to the front wheels although the car is still built on Kia’s Electric Global Modular Platform (E-GMP) 400 V architecture.

This helps the EV3 accelerate from 0-100 km/h in 7.5 seconds.

On the styling front, the EV3 takes the “Tiger Face” design which was first introduced on the larger EV9 in 2023. This includes daytime running lights (DRL).

The EV3 sits 300 mm shorter than the  EV5 at 4,300 mm in length.

The EV3 will be offered in 8 colours, providing a variety of options for buyer’s of Kia’s smallest electric SUV.

Moving to the inside, the cabin takes inspiration from other Kia electric vehicles by offering a good balance of space and practicality. Part of this is the use of storage spaces in the centre console which the brand says can be used to store drinks, snacks, laptops and small bags.

The rear boot has 460 litres of storage which according to Kia is the largest boot space in its class.

For the driver, the centre console offers two 12.3-inch screens. One is the touch enabled infotainment screen in the middle while the other is behind the steering wheel that shows driving information.

There is also a smaller climate screen, also seen on other Kia EV models.

There are also a number of controls available conveniently on the steering wheel itself. These include selecting driving modes, setting cruise control and controlling navigation.

Kia has also incorporated sustainability into its design by using sustainable materials such as recycled plastics in the interior. The use of these materials has been seen on the seats, headliners, door armrests, floormats and other parts of the car.

On the safety front, Kia has included a large number of its safety suite, including Advanced Driving Assistance Systems (ADAS) features such as:

• eDTVC Electric Dynamic Torque Vectoring Control: to ensure the EV3 transfers its power to the road smoothly and stably
• Forward Collision-Avoidance Assist
• Lane Keeping Assist
• Highway Driving Assist
• Reverse Parking Collision-Avoidance Assist

On top of the standard features, the top-spec GT Line trim will include:

• Head-Up Display (HUD)
• Wide sunroof with safety function
• Eight-speaker Harman Kardon premium sound system

From a driving experience point of view, the EV3 introduces the company’s i-Pedal 3.0 technology which controls the amount of regenerative braking the driver needs to use based on the driver’s preference.

Along with that, the new model – like others before it – offers Vehicle to Load (V2L) capabilities, allowing the drivers to power devices when on the go.

The new EV3 is expected to arrive in local showrooms before the end of the month.

See The Driven’s Models page for a run down of all available EVs on the Australian market.

Riz Akhtar

Riz is the founder of carloop based in Melbourne, specialising in Australian EV data, insight reports and trends. He is a mechanical engineer who spent the first 7 years of his career building transport infrastructure before starting carloop. He has a passion for cars, particularly EVs and wants to help reduce transport emissions in Australia. He currently drives a red Tesla Model 3.