Cody and I traded in our GMC Terrain Denali 4wd almost exactly one year ago today. We had decided to take a look at the Kia Niro Hybrids, but the only thing on the lot were 2 Kia Niro EVs - fully electric cars. I was definitely weary of owning an EV since it's such new technology and the price tag was a bit more than a gas vehicle. I wondered how in the heck the electric car would have enough power to even get out in an intersection.

Well, we took it for a test drive and it had no problem getting on the road even at a busy intersection. I was actually surprised to find out the Niro has 201 horsepower and can get to 60 mph in 6.2 seconds. My second fear is called range fear in the EV world, and there has been a couple of times that we drove so much that we ended up in what's called turtle mode right before getting home.

Our Kia EV is rated with a range of 239 miles and depending on the weather have seen the range as low as 219 miles and as high as 260 miles. The battery functions better in warm weather and sees a lot of degradation in cold temps. They do have a cold weather package that corrects it, but living in Arkansas it hasn't been much of an issue.

Our biggest struggle has been traveling on long trips. We traveled to both Galveston, TX, and New Orleans, LA in our Niro. Both trips gave me range anxiety because there is not a great charging infrastructure throughout the United States yet. There were a couple of times we almost didn't make it to a charger. Overall both trips were much cheaper than traveling in a gas-powered automobile because it took an average of $8 to charge at each stop. The downfall to charging our Niro is the additional time it takes to fill up compared to a gas vehicle. On average, it takes 45 minutes to reach an 80% charge compared to the 5 minutes it takes to fill a gas tank.

We have seen an increase of 630 kwh usage in our monthly electric bill because we mostly charge the car at home and that has equated to about $100 per month more on our bill. We charge at home mostly, but sometimes have to pay from $15 to $25 to refuel the battery which is still fairly cheap compared to the $45 it costs to fill up our other car with gas.

The property tax is about the same, but we had to pay $250 to put tags on the car and another $125 to renew them. Our tires wear down quicker than others because of the added weight of the battery. They had about 30,000 miles on them before we had to get new ones. EV's also require less service because they do not require oil changes, so we have saved $$$ there as well.

We also do not pay for On Star or internet in this vehicle which is an additional $100 per month savings. Our car payment is almost exactly the same as it was with the GMC.

You can find out more about the 2022 Kia Niro EV here: https://www.caranddriver.com/kia/niro-ev-2022

Overall I really like the car and we have been able to travel way more than we could have if we still had the GMC. Hopefully in 5 years, the charging network will be a lot better. They have already improved on the range and charging time since this model came out. I look forward to seeing what else they can do once more competition comes to the market.

Thanks for taking the time to read this week's blog! If you have any questions about our EV, don't hesitate to email us at info@kingryanradio.net You may also share a story about your EV there as well! Until next time, Kings and Queens!!!

-Ryan