In order to help improve their electric-vehicle market share, many automakers are offering free charging in partnerships with various EV-charger companies. The next vehicle to pick up this sweet perk is Kia’s excellent new EV6.
Kia and Electrify America, a subsidiary of Volkswagen, announced on Tuesday that EV6 buyers will receive free charging at Electrify America chargers across the US. EV6 owners will have three years to soak up the 1,000 kilowatt-hours now on offer. Considering that the Kia’s battery capacity rings in at 77.4 kWh, you’ll be covered for about a dozen full fill-ups. But, if you really don’t like running on whatever counts as the electric equivalent of vapors, you’ll probably get a few more sessions out of the offer.
If this applies to you, awesome! You’ll definitely want to hunt down one of Electrify America’s 350-kilowatt chargers, the fastest the company offers. It’ll get you back on the road posthaste, as the EV6’s 800-volt architecture is capable of charging from 10% to 80% in under 18 minutes. Grab a cup of coffee or a snack, and by the time you wander back to the charger, you should be sitting pretty.
The electricity in your EV6’s battery can be used for powering more than just the car itself, too. Both the Kia EV6 and its kissin’ cousin Hyundai Ioniq 5 pack a feature known as Vehicle-to-Load. Connect a device to the adapter using a standard NEMA 5-15 three-prong plug, then plug the adapter into your car, and the car turns into a massive power bank. Kia claims a fully charged EV6 will have the juice to run a refrigerator/freezer for around 300 hours, which will definitely keep your produce fresh during a power outage.
Even without that slick Vehicle-to-Load feature, we at Roadshow are major fans of the Kia EV6. The automaker’s first dedicated battery-electric vehicle looks slick as all get-out, and its larger battery pack is capable of some 300 miles of range in its most efficient configuration (big battery, single electric motor). It’s quick, it’s comfortable and like many other new Kia models, it’s absolutely loaded with creature comforts and technology. The EV6 isn’t a terribly expensive proposition, either, with a starting price of $42,115, although more expensive trims can send that window sticker north of $55,000.