According to figures released last week by SIMI, the number of new cars sold in Ireland during the month of February rose by 25% compared to the February 2023, but sales of electric cars dropped by 15%. However, with close to 6,000 new electric cars sold in the first two months of this year, the figure is still better than the first two months of 2023.
Responding to the drop in EV sales in February, SIMI Director General said: “This slowing down in EV sales is not unique to Ireland and is reflective of other new car markets. It is typical of the life cycle in the adaption of any new technology, where there is a gap between early adapters and the early majority consumers. This is happening at a time when we need to accelerate the growth in EV sales. For the motor industry, this means the rolling out of more EV models and for our Government, it means extending incentives and investing in the national charging infrastructure.”
I think the motor industry is doing their fair share with new EV’s being launched every week. It’s probably the lack of fast charging points around the country that is really putting off motorists from switching to an EV.
Kia have come a long way since they entered the Irish market in the early part of this century with their range of diesel and petrol cars. Their Soul EV was the first EV to win the Continental Irish Car of the Year award in 2020. Since then they have introduced the EV6 and now the massive EV9, which I drove last week.
The EV9 may be not be the most affordable family car on the market, but it’s certainly one of the most impressive and represents a major climb up the ranks for the Korean manufacturer.
Essentially, it’s what Kia call their battery electric flagship. It’s the one from which several smaller BEVs will take cues and tech in the coming years. You could say it’s a standard bearer at the start of the brand’s rapid move to electric vehicles. We will have the EV3 in Ireland later this year and in 2025 we should have the EV4, EV5 and EV2.
In a word the EV9 is enormous with a proud, boxy look to it. From a distance it looks huge and inside there is plenty of space for seven people. However, the boot is small if all seven seats are in use. It’s available as a five or six seater. The car is more than five metres long, 1,750mm tall and 2,350mm wide on a 3,100mm wheelbase. And it weighs 2.5 tonnes. Also there is a decent-sized frunk to store items.
If it’s speed you are looking for, the GT line, which is powered by twin 141kW electric motors and produces 378bhp, will get you from zero to 100km/h in a just over five seconds. A few years back that kind of speed would only be attainable in a sports car.
It’s a huge car, but still also easy to manoeuvre once you are not trying to go from zero to 100km in five seconds. The seats are very comfortable and if you are driving a six-seater the middle row is flexible.
At the Irish launch last December, Kia MD Ronan Flood said the company didn’t expect to sell a huge amount of EV9’s in Ireland, but they have already sold over 100 in the first two months, while their smaller EV6, which has been around much longer, had 200 buyers.
Charging is relatively pain free, but like most other cars the message on the dash while charging is the estimated time to reach 80%. So it looks very much like it’s a waste of time going beyond the 80% mark unless you are heading off on a long journey that has no charge point on route. In reasonable weather you should get around 450km with a full charge.
My test car came in a very attractive Ocean Blue colour. I got a lot of enquiries from people in various supermarket car parks, asking what the name of the car was and naturally the price and range were the next questions.
Three versions are available, five, six or seven seater. The EV9 Earth (7-seat) and GT-Line (6 or 7-seat) models are priced at €77,500 and €85,500 respectively.
It’s very impressive, but probably a bit too expensive for somebody making the switch from a petrol or diesel to electric, unless they have a growing family.
