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Payne: Are we there yet? Road trippin’ in the Kia EV9 family SUV
Posted by Talbot Payne on January 4, 2024
Gaylord — Early electric vehicle adopters have lots of questions: What’s the 0-60 mph acceleration time? How big is the screen? Does it have a frunk? Does it have one-pedal driving?
But as manufacturers broaden their EV selections beyond enthusiasts and toward family vehicles to satisfy looming government mandates eliminating gas-powered chariots, the question on buyers’ minds is:
Are we there yet?
As the market’s first electric three-row SUV, the 2024 Kia EV9 begs the question as families size up its handsome exterior, sci-fi wheels and lush interior. It’s a compelling ute, but is it road trip-friendly like its gas-powered 2024 Telluride sibling costing $20,000 less but featuring nearly 200 miles more range?
I took the top-trim $77,395 EV9 GT-line on an overnight Payne Christmas shopping trip up I-75 to test its family-friendly capabilities.
The big SUV is certainly friendly to the eyes. With its sculpted body stampings, sci-fi “X” wheels and vertical LED lights, my gunmetal gray Kia looks like it just rolled off a “Blade Runner” movie set. Snow-and-salt-blasted after my 470-mile trip north, it looked like it had been through a windswept dystopian landscape to boot.
The interior is state of the art, its layout rivaling luxury automakers. A pair of crisp 12.3-inch digital displays are housed in a continuous dash-top screen. A useful head-up display complemented them on my GT-Line model, and the screen responded quickly to my touch. Interior room is plentiful like the Telluride, including a big third-row seat and healthy 82 cubic-feet of cargo space with the second row folded (perfect for a big chair at Gardner White furniture that we had our eyes on).
At 75 mph in freezing temp, the 2024 Kia EV9 GT-Line sucked battery power on I-75, delivering just 55% of predicted range. Henry Payne, The Detroit News
Mrs. Payne and I packed our overnight bags beneath the hatchback, and we were off at 11 a.m. Well, not quite.
With over 400 miles of range and dozens of quick-fill gas stations everywhere, fueling a gas Telluride is an afterthought. EVs, on the other hand, require extensive trip planning. Are there chargers on the route? Are they fast chargers? Are they 350 kW fast chargers? Are they near food/restroom facilities? Chargers at the destination? What’s the weather forecast?
Happily, Kia Connect will not only route you to your destination, but plan your charger stops along the way (like Tesla and its proprietary charging network). Alas, I had difficulties connecting with Kia Connect (problem solved later in the drive), but — no worries — the ABRP phone app (A Better Route Planner) came to the rescue.
The EV route planner is excellent, and ABRP scheduled us for two fast-charger stops on our route in Bay City and Waters. Why two charging stops when the Kia’s 243-mile range (we started with 90% of the full, 270-mile range) should have gotten us the 230 miles to Gaylord? ABRP knew that cold and highway speed — both the bane of batteries — would reduce range. The stops added 47 minutes of travel time compared to, say, a Telluride trip.
Are we there yet?
With a twist of the column steering shifter to DRIVE, we were off into the blowing snow. Like other electrics (Chevy, Hyundai, Tesla, VW), Kia EVs have made the column shifter hip again thanks to their single-speed transmissions. No clunky shifts through multiple gears like the ol’ truck column shifters. And no gas driveline tunnel down the center of the car, opening console space for my knobby knees, wireless phone charger and Mrs. Payne’s purse.
North Pole, Michigan. The 2024 Kia EV9 enters Frankenmuth, home of the Midwest’s most famous Christmas store: Bronner’s. Henry Payne, The Detroit News
First stop: Gardner White in Auburn Hills. The furniture store gave us plenty of chair ideas — and we also began to understand why ABRP’s navi had scheduled a two-stopper: EV9 was sucking battery range at 75 mph in 33-degree temps. With range degradation of 45%, the Kia’s realistic range was 134 miles rather than the 243 we had started with. Whoa.
A recent Car and Driver article came to mind: “A trend has become clear: most EVs fall notably short of their EPA-estimated range figure. On the flip side, we found most cars with ICEs either met or exceeded their EPA fuel-economy ratings.”
After Birch Run, we headed to Bronner’s Christmas smorgasbord in Frankenmuth. Despite its 16½-foot length, the EV9 land yacht was easy to maneuver in Bronner’s stuffed parking lot, thanks to its 360-degree camera and periphery of sensors.
We added gift bags to the cargo bay and headed for our first Electrify America fast-charging stop in Bay City — in a Meijer parking lot. ABRP app indicated 18 minutes to charge to 85% battery, but electric charging is rarely that efficient.
First there are the heavy CCS connectors. Unlike light, standardized fuel pumps, CCSs are unwieldy even for your 6’5” reviewer to connect. Then there are balky card readers. It took me two tries in the bitter cold to get it right. Fortunately, I didn’t have to wait in line for a charger. Unfortunately, only one of the two 350-kW ultra-fast chargers was in working order — and it was occupied.
I plugged into a slower, 150-kW port, which took 32 minutes to charge instead of the expected 18.
Are we there yet?
I got work done while charging, and Mrs. Payne shopped Meijer. After a total stop of 52 minutes, we unplugged with 200 miles of range — and range anxiety creeping in.
The Kia’s onboard computer had recalculated to predict 25% range degradation in current conditions — but we had actually experienced 45% degradation while taking 176 miles off the battery to go 96 miles to Meijer. ABRP’s next stop? A ChargePoint fast-charger in Waters, 108 miles away.
With the temperature dropping to 24 degrees in Gaylord and heavy snow predicted (where is global warming when you need it?), we feared we may not make it. So we charged just 54 miles later in West Branch to assure we’d get to Gaylord.
Are we there yet?
Despite its 5,714-pound girth — 1,300 pounds more than the gas-powered Telluride — the EV9’s low center of gravity and all-wheel drive make for good driving dynamics, and I nailed the throttle back onto I-75. Zot! The Kia merged with a burst of liquid-smooth power.
The speed limit jumps to 75 mph north of Bay City, but I backed off to 70 mph to help range. Range degradation decreased to 25% from the 45% I’d been experiencing.
Boasting an outlet mall, West Branch is peppered with 10 gas stations — but only two fast-charge stalls in the back of an out-of-the-way Ford dealership. After another frustrating few minutes coaxing the Shell charger app to sync with my Kia, I filled to 80% of range in 30 minutes before our last 70-mile leg to Gaylord.
At 10:45 p.m., Payne leaves the hotel to charge for an hour to 100% of battery capacity in the 2024 Kia EV9 GT-Line at Gaylord’s Electrify America charger in preparation for the trip home the next morning. Henry Payne, The Detroit News
In Gaylord, our dinner hosts admired the Kia’s lush interior. Not being motorheads, though, they were more interested as to why it had taken 4¼ hours to make a trip they usually do in three in their gas-powered Ford Edge.
The EV9 would make one more demand before I retired for the night.
Are we there yet?
My wife had a business appointment the next morning in Oakland County, and we needed to be as efficient as possible going south. I dropped her off at our hotel at 10:30 p.m. for a good night’s rest and headed to Gaylord’s Electrify American charger (another Meijer parking lot) so the Kia battery would be at 100% charge when we took off in the early a.m.
In northern Michigan chargers are few and far between for EVs like the 2024 Kia EV9. Gas infrastructure is a different story – as is energy-dense gasoline’s much quicker fill-up time. Henry Payne, The Detroit News
The Gaylord chargers were empty at 10:40 p.m. Kia claims its 800-volt platform can charge quickly on 350 kW chargers, but I never saw a charging rate better than 141 kW. It took an hour to charge from 40% to 100% battery capacity. Exiting Meijer at midnight, I did a few doughnuts in a snowy lot nearby — a big kid enjoying the Kia’s all-wheel-drive system.
The next morning, EV9 was wiser for the previous day’s travel experience.
It calculated the SUV’s range at 214 miles on a full charge (not the full 270 as advertised) — or only 80% of advertised range to account for the subfreezing temperatures. Still, the Kia would lose another 20% of range going south on I-75 — for a total range degradation of 40%, similar to the previous day.
Our biggest worry was that the Bay City chargers might be occupied at 7:15 a.m. on a work-week Tuesday. They were empty. I refueled from 33% to 88% in 35 minutes on a 350-kW charger and we arrived home in 3.4 hours. I immediately plugged in to my 240-volt garage charger.
An EV trip is more complicated than travel in a gas vehicle — and at greater cost. EA’s 48 cents/per kWh rate meant that filling up the EV9 cost me $74 for the trip compared to $58 for a 24-mpg Telluride.
I recommend doing small road trips (like our Gaylord shopping jaunt) if you get a battery-powered family SUV. Most folks will buy the cheaper Telluride for its convenience — until Kia retires its gas vehicles to meet government rules, and the EV lineup is all that’s left in the showroom.
Are we there yet? In about 10 years.
Next week: 2023 Lexus UX 250h
2024 Kia EV9
Vehicle type: Battery-powered rear- and all-wheel-drive six-passenger SUV
Price: $56,395, including $1,495 destination ($77,395 GT-Line e-AWD as tested)
Powerplant: 76.1 kWh or 99.8 kWh lithium-ion battery mated to electric motor(s)
Power: 215 horsepower, 258 pound-feet of torque (Light RWD model); 201 horsepower, 258 pound-feet of torque (Light LR RWD); 379 horsepower, 443 pound-feet of torque (Wind and Land e-AWD); 379 horsepower, 516 pound-feet of torque (GT-Line e-AWD)
Transmission: Direct-drive automatic
Performance: 0-60 mph, 5.0 seconds (GT-Line, mfr.); towing, 3,500 pounds (as tested)
Weight: 5,093-5,714 pounds (5,714 pounds as tested)
Fuel economy: EPA est. range, 230-304 miles (270 miles as tested)
Report card
Highs: Tech-tastic, roomy interior; instant torque in a big SUV
Lows: Battery range less than expected; fast-charge connector clunky to operate
Overall: 3 stars
Henry Payne is auto critic for The Detroit News. Find him at hpayne@detroitnews.com or @HenryEPayne.