Clean electric cars, done dirt cheap! Kia is set to join BYD with a sub-$50,000 electric car capable of exceeding 400km between AC/DC charges, and it's not too far away either

Kia is poised to shake the booming electric vehicle (EV) market in Australia from about 2024 with a small city-sized crossover that offers over 400km of range between charges.

With a projected mid-$40,000 starting price, this all-new vehicle should bring the same level of electric bang for your buck as the new (to Australia) BYD Atto 3 from China, which is available in a base $44,381 before on-road costs 50.1kWh model capable of 320km, or 60.4kWh 420km range version for $3000 more.

According to Kia Motors Australia product planning general manager, Roland Rivero, the race is on for carmakers to offer more accessible EVs with longer range than the current batch of entry-level models from China, like the MG ZS EV from $46,990 driveaway, which provides a WLTP distance of 320km from its 50.3kWh battery pack.

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“We would like to deliver something south of $50,000,” he told CarsGuide this month.

“It won’t happen next year, but maybe beyond 2023 we might be able to convince Korea to give us a green light of a B (as in B-sized, as per the Kia Rio supermini or its Stonic offshoot) CUV (crossover utility vehicle) or B SUV; there might be something in the B segment or even the (smaller Picanto-sized) A segment that might be able to achieve that.”

Nearing the end of its development phase, overseas reports variously state the Kia in question might bear the EV3, EV2 or even EV1 badge, though the latter is also the name of the infamous General Motors EV of 1996 so maybe not.

Notably, it will be built on the Hyundai Motor Group’s lauded E-GMP (Electric Global Modular Platform) scalable architecture that also underpins other dedicated EVs like the Hyundai Ioniq 5, Genesis GV60, Kia EV6 and coming Kia EV9, as part of Kia’s stated 14-strong EV rollout by 2027.

Given its projected price point, it is unknown whether the E-GMP connection means the EV3/2/1 will also automatically inherit the 800-volt architecture that allows for super-fast charging.

If Mr Rivero gets his way, it will be just one of many EVs currently under development by the Hyundai Motor Group that should find their way to Australia in the next few years.

“On the E-GMP platform, Mr (Kia Motors president Ho-sung) Song has said it can spawn 11 vehicles of various sizes,” he said. "Because it’s such a modular platform, it can be stretched or compressed and cater for A/B/C/D (sized) vehicles.”

Mr Rivera also explained that the coming EV3/2/1 is a separate EV entity to the incoming refreshed Kia Niro EV because of the hybrid electric EV (HEV) and plug-in hybrid EV (PHEV) versions that it has to offer in some key markets like Western Europe, which rely on legacy platforms designed to accommodate internal combustion engines.

“Niro still had to have, for various regions, hybrid and plug-in hybrid,” he said. “And because of that, it is still a derivate platform, so Niro exists in the derivative world, in parallel to the derivative world which has HEV and PHEV variants, we are still working on a dedicated EV, which is E-GMP.

“And even on top of that, there’s a rival partnership that is strictly a skateboard platform that is a dedicated EV platform.”

It is believed the “rival partnership” skateboard platformed EV will be at least one light-commercial van shared with another manufacturer.

“We haven’t put all our (EV) eggs in any one basket,” Mr Rivera said.

Kia is determined to be the leader in EVs globally in the second half of this decade, and with the democratisation of long-range technology as found in E-GMP, it has just the right set of tools to achieve that goal.

Watch this space.