Kia officially launched the 2025 Ray EV in Korea with the same low starting price of under $21,000. However, the new model year gains additional features. With incentives, the entry-level electric car can be bought for as little as $15,000 (20 million won).
The “New Kia Ray” was reborn as an entry-level EV last year. After opening pre-orders last August, starting at around $20,500 (27.35 million won), the Kia Ray EV secured over 6,000 reservations in less than a month.
Oh Christ why is it so ugly
I thought the box-shaped car fad died out 10 years ago
I’m still too broke for that. Can I just steal one with a stick with the end shaved to be approximately the same dimensions as a usb A connector?
No, no no. They fixed opting not to put a cheap anti theft device in a decade of cars by “updating software” and installing “dont steal this” window stickers. Some lucky devils that couldn’t get software got a new metal ring in their steering column, and then a sticker. You could even go to your local police department in some locations and get a free, ridiculously useless steering wheel lock, if you heard about it. Mail them to customers? Nah, that might cost money.
Dont worry, they only did this in the US. Every other nation has laws about having an immobilizer in cars, but not the good ol’ USA. Kia even had them in the same models sold elsewhere, just not the US models.
It only affected about 1 million people so far though, who have at best had to go in and have a half ass fix applied at a dealership while being upsold. That just leaves 7 million unprotected cars out there.
At worst, whats a few thousand stolen cars and even more shattered windows among friends? Surely no fine or penalty should occur.
Ohh, also, the software update doesn’t seem to be working.
Please bring to North America
“We hear you! Here is another hideous SUV with absolutely awful, wildly inefficient energy-to-range figures. Enjoy!”
It’s made exclusively for the SK market.
It also likely wouldn’t pass US safety ratings because it’s lightweight and tiny.
120ish miles range is more than enough for majority of us drivers despite what people think. Yes long trip will require recharge (which will be quick with tiny battery) or a second car.
This is the near term EV future we should strive for vs expensive, heavy, and environmentally painful 300+ mi SUV and truck.
Alternative is PHEV+range extender like that byd truck
It was found recently that most trips were less than three miles, with only 2% of all trips made are more than 50 miles.
@lurker8008 @MyOpinion Mazda offers a series hybrid PHEV+range extender just not ever in Canada. I had a hard time sourcing new winter tires for my Fit because there is no Canadian market for small tires anymore.
This is the near term EV future we should strive for vs expensive, heavy, and environmentally painful 300+ mi SUV and truck.
Even for the 300+mi vehicles we should be striving for sedans and wagons, not SUVs and trucks. Less weight and height means a better combination of handling and ride quality. There’s a good reason Mercedes charges you more for the S-Class sedan than the bigger, heavier GLS-Class SUV. The former is optimized for luxury, the latter they market as the “S-Class of SUVs”, but really, it’s optimized for size. This is despite the fact that usually there’s a “SUV tax”. SUVs just cost more than their equivalent sedans and wagons.
@lurker8008 @MyOpinion a lot of people have 2 cars so there is definitely scope for a smaller vehicle for around town.
As someone who drove an original fiat 500e with a similar range, I can assure you this is not enough battery for anywhere but the market it’s designed for (South Korea). You will eat through that “best estimate” of 120 miles in a day’s worth of driving, especially with additional passengers and the AC running.
The average US daily drive is less than 40 miles. Accounting for outliers and a margin, let’s conservatively say 60 miles. That’s still probably more than most average commutes.
That’s half the best case rated mileage, which is for sure more than the “realistic” mileage with a full vehicle and A/C running. There’s no way that would reduce it by half, even from the best case rating.
You’re going to get 100 miles of real world range out of that 120 rating. Then you will lose 20 for running the AC. That’s 80 miles. If you add passengers, that’s another 20 you will lose. You’re now down to 60 miles of range. Better hope your commute is under 30 miles each way and that you don’t have to stop for groceries or something on the way home. Also that last 20 miles of battery power, the car is going to go into power saving mode and will turn off the AC.
I have an EV with 250 miles range. Typically gets more than that, not less, in the summer with AC on.
Lucky you. Neither of the EVs I’ve owned have worked this way. The guess o meter in the Bolt automatically goes down when the AC is turned on.
https://cars.usnews.com/cars-trucks/advice/what-ac-does-to-your-ev-range
“A study by AAA found that a temperature of 95 degrees outside translates to a 17% range loss.”
I have a 2016 EV with 130km of range. Your estimates are pessimistic unless you add in snow and change AC to heat and your passenger is huuuuge.
BTW its range is fine for town and nearby so it’s a great daily driver.
Most people really do drive less than 80km/day. We need two vehicles so the 21-year old ICE vehicle is used for road trips. Otherwise we would simply rent for the rare long haul.
Losing range has way more to do with speed than AC or an extra passenger. Taking side roads going 40 mph will give me a massive range boost vs the highway going 70-75 mph (2011 Leaf with “82 miles” range on the fully charged GOM).
I barely notice a difference with extra passengers and weight (which makes sense since an extra passenger adds about 0.5% to the cars weight.
And running heat kills battery much more than AC. AC will impact it a bit, but usually only about 5% in my estimation
Can confirm, I had a '11 Leaf SV in the boiling desert heat. I could get 85 miles out of it when the gom started at 70 (I think the highest I saw was 5.4mi/kW) but if you - hypothetically cough cough - ran it flat out at the 93mph top speed, it could eat through that 70ish gom in about 15 miles. Speeds above ~50 absolutely tank the Leaf’s range.
Heat is bad unless your model has a heat pump. Late 1st gens had it (as an option, I think). I’ve heard it’s more than worth the upgrade. But heat on the battery is way worse, as it kills cells fast. I lost 10% SoH (I think that’s the correct term, been a while) in 4 months in the desert heat. Environment is the biggest factor by a massive margin for the Leaf. Range is short term pain but battery degradation is permanent and can only be solved with replacement. It’s the one thing I didn’t like about the Leaf - everything else is great.
Do they officially call it a guessometer?
I don’t think so. That’s just we all call it
1500 kg car and one 75 kg passenger makes 5%, with 3 passengers 15%.
I stand corrected. I still don’t think it affects range much
It’s fine for some. I’ve been driving my Leaf with 90 miles range for eight years and haven’t needed more. It’s a daily commuter car.
But I’m lucky enough to have two cars in the family.
How many miles a day did it actually get?
I got about 80 mile range with just me and the AC. If I forgot to plug it in at night I was screwed the next day. I ended up selling it and getting a Bolt. No more range anxiety. After my Bolt battery replacement I get 220 to 240.
That’s not enough to make it to the next major city over in some parts of the US ; sure for a daily driver commute vehicle with a charger at each end that’s great, but if you have to leave for any reason (such as say, a natural disaster like a hurricane that just hit), you’re fucked. Having to own multiple vehicles isn’t a solution, or an option for many.
Old used truck and a BEV is just great.
Neat, how long till we find out they did something insane like all use the same key or are all running a web server that allows access to the gas and brakes directly without authentication?
Edit: to be clear, no issue with the goal of more electric vehicles. But Kia is having some real deep seated quality issues the last… 13 years according to my insurance agent. They won’t even touch a Kia without factory installed push button ignition since 2011. Then there’s the whole “we’re leaking all your data and access to your car thing”
why are stupid looking cars so fashionable now?
What’s so dumb about a electric ‘panel van’ looking thing?
Got passed by a Toyota xD van today and was thinking about how well these would sell in the US with a decent battery in them. The rectangular design means you could double stack the battery capacity underneath the floorboard space.
It’s not like it’s a motherfucking Honda Odyssey.
Nice design, but only goes about 100 miles to the charge. That’s unacceptable in today’s market. It will go even fewer miles with additional passengers and the air conditioning turned on. I’d imagine they put a small battery in it to hit that lower price point.
It’s for the Korean market. It’ll get you from Seoul to the east coast on a single charge and there’s high-speed rail just about everywhere for your longer journeys. Perfectly fine for most people in such a small, densely-populated country.
That’s fine but people elsewhere shouldn’t get too excited about it. When the price is listed in US dollars as some sort of bargain instead of the currency where it’s sold, it gets misleading.
Probably because it’s reported by english-speakers
