The Kia EV6 is one of the most popular electric car models in the U.S. For the 2024 model year, the EV6 has eight versions. In today’s post, we will take a closer look at the current offer.

The South Korean manufacturer has maintained the 2023 model year prices, while adding a more affordable Long Range trim.

The lineup starts with the entry-level Kia EV6 Light (rear-wheel drive) with a 58.0-kilowatt-hour battery, priced at $42,600 (plus a $1,325 destination charge). This version has a 125-kilowatt electric motor and an EPA Combined range of 232 miles.

The two new options, are Kia EV6 Light trim with a 77.4-kWh battery and rear-wheel drive (168 kW) or all-wheel drive powertrain (239 kW), which offer an EPA Combined range of respectively 310 miles or 282 miles. The driving range and performance are the same as in the case of the Wind trim, but the prices of the Light trim are lower by $2,750: $45,950 (RWD) and $49,850 (AWD).

The time will tell, whether the more affordable Kia EV6 Light Long Range will allow to increase sales. One of the main issues that Kia has is that the EV6—like other imported models—is not eligible for the $7,500 federal tax credit when purchasing, but there is a possibility to get the incentive through leasing.

Next, we can see the more well-equipped Wind and GT-Line trims (both with a 77.4 kWh battery, with RWD or AWD powertrain). The Wind starts at an MSRP of $48,700 (AWD costs $3,900 more), while the GT-Line starts at $52,900 (AWD version costs $4,700 more).

The top-of-the-line Kia EV6 GT is even more expensive at $61,600, but it has the most powerful powertrain with a peak output of 430 kilowatts and can accelerate from 0 to 60 mph in just about 3.4 seconds.

* the $7,500 federal tax credit might be available through leasing.

One thing worth noting is that the Kia EV6 GT-Line AWD comes standard with 20-inch wheels, which right away cuts its EPA Combined range to 252 miles (30 miles or 12% less than using 19-inch wheels in the AWD Light and Wind trims).

The top-of-the-line Kia EV6 GT has even larger wheels (21-inch), which combined with the powerful powertrain makes it the least efficient and cuts the range further to 218 miles. However, that’s 12 miles more than in the case of the 2023 Kia EV6 GT, which was rated at just 206 miles.

The recently published 2024 Kia EV6 EPA range and efficiency ratings reveal that the new 2024 Kia EV6 GT is simply more efficient by several percent than the 2023 model year.

Energy consumption, including charging losses, of the 2024 Kia EV6 GT with 21-inch wheels is 83 MPGe or 406 watt-hours per mile. The most efficient versions are the rear-wheel drive Light trims, rated at 117 MPGe or about 288 Wh/mi. In other words, we are talking about a 41% increase in overall energy consumption between the base and performance versions.

We attached all the efficiency numbers below:

It’s worth noting that the all-wheel drive versions of the Kia EV6 are equipped with a range-preserving heat pump system. This should help in cold weather driving, so maybe the difference between the RWD and AWD will not be as big in the winter as the raw EPA numbers indicate.

In terms of charging, the 2024 Kia EV6 is equipped with a 10.9-kilowatt on-board charger, which is expected to recharge the 58-kWh battery in less than six hours (10-100%) and the 77.4-kWh battery in slightly over seven hours (10-100%).

A strong point of the Kia EV6 is its fast charging capability from 10 to 80 percent of state-of-charge (SOC) in just 18 minutes (at least in optimum conditions and when an 800 V high-power charger is available). The Kia EV6’s batteries are nominally 523 volts (58 kWh) or 697 volts (77.4 kWh) and if a DC fast charger can’t deliver such kind of voltage, then the charging speed might be significantly compromised.

The car also comes with 1,000 kWh of charging credits on the Electrify America fast charging network, which according to the manufacturer is equivalent to about 3,000–3,500 miles of driving.