Charge!

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Well, we finally did it! We’ve taken the plunge and we’re now all electric for our main car! 😁

We fancied something in white, maybe with a touch of blue…

Our Choice

Ahh, there it is! The Kia e-Niro ‘First Edition’

After a lot of research, we narrowed it down to just ONE model! – The Kia e-Niro. It’s very similar to our outgoing car (a Kia Sportage) – just around 6 inches smaller. We learned back in January there were only 900 e-Niros allocated to the whole of the UK for 2019, so we needed to move fast!

We placed our order as soon as we could – when the order-books first opened in January – and good job we did too, as more than 200+ orders were taken in that launch week alone! Not long after, all UK stocks were exhausted, and there’s now just over a year’s wait for the next batch! Popular ehh?! 😀

What the Experts Say…

Taking the leap to buy this latest technological marvel from Kia took a lot of head-scratching (and web-surfing) but in the end, we’re certain we’ve made the right decision – and those that know more about this stuff, seem to agree…

An Automotive Game-changer

As you can see, this model has won over all of the main car-critics! The e-Niro’s appearance in the car-market at this time should not be underestimated and whilst many other major motor manufacturers have done a lot of talking about making ‘electric cars’ mainstream, the South Koreans have ‘sneaked up the back-stairs’ and launched this automotive game-changer. It has an amazing level of spec (more about that later) and a sensible price for a brand new electric car – especially with the State giving £3500 towards the purchase. Perhaps most important of all, at last, there’s no ‘range anxiety’ at all, as it’ll cover 280 miles on a full-charge. At the time of writing, that’s way ahead of the majority of the current electric pack (and about the same range as my Petrol V6 Mondeo, way back in 2011!)

OK, in a year-or-so, there will be a lot more competition out there: the choice will be much greater and the battery tech and range will have improved. But for now, this is the best all-electric mainstream car out there – says everyone! 😁

Charging/Home Charger

Getting the Home Charger installed was pretty straightforward. The Government gives everyone a grant of £500 towards the cost – and for many people that will cover the total cost, including installation. We opted for the more powerful 7kW charger (so it charges more quickly) and that cost us a bit extra. There are plenty of suppliers to choose from, and we chose ChargeMaster – the biggest name in electric vehicle charging – now owned by the mighty BP (since June 2018). Oh, and one extra vital piece of information: the e-Niro comes supplied with not one charging leads but two, so we can even charge from a standard mains socket if needed (albeit a lot more slowly).

How Quick to Charge? (from empty)

Rapid (100kW)	Rapid (50 kW)	Fast (22kW)	Fast (7kW)	Slow (3kW)
30 minutes (to 80%)	1 hour (to 80%)	9 hours (to 100%)	9 hours (to 100%)	26 hours (to 100%)

How Much to Charge? (from empty)

Type	Cost p/kWh (night rate)	Cost to Charge (night rate)	Cost per mile (night rate)
Home (7kW Charger to 100%)	17.38p (12.25p)	£11.12 (£7.91)	4.22p (3p)
Public (Rapid Charger to 80%)	30.00p (n/a)	£15.36 (n/a)	7.1p (n/a)

Our current fuel provider offers a Green Tariff, so as you can see above, a complete fill-up-from-empty during the day, will cost us only £11.12. But at night, it’s even cheaper – just £7.91. When was the last time anyone paid that little for a full tank of fuel? I reckon around 1967!! 😀😀

Good news too, that it doesn’t mean getting up in the small hours to take advantage of off-peak electricity Nope! The start-time for charging can be pre-set from inside the vehicle. Clever tech ehh?!

The Technical Spec

Whistles and Bells

There is only ONE model at launch and it’s called the First Edition. This is an increasing trend by many motor manufacturers to add loads of ‘whistles and bells’ to their ‘first-launch’ cars to stimulate demand. Typically, with Kia, that means it sports many extras as standard that you pay err… extra for on other cars…

Our thanks to Jack and the team at Bells Kia Northampton for making it happen.

Now every car needs a friendly name doesn’t it? – and for us, the choice was obvious…

“Robert”
😁

Now, let’s see if Robert lives up to all his promises…