- Kia was initially targeting a starting price of $35,000 for the EV3. It’s gone even lower than that.
- Kia is also bringing a GT trim with simulated manual gear shifts.
- It will rival the Chevy Bolt and the Nissan Leaf.
Kia has finally announced pricing for the long-delayed EV3, which will start at $31,385 in the U.S. for the entry-level trim, including $1,495 in destination charges. That makes it Kia’s cheapest EV in the U.S. and among the most affordable EVs in America.
The EV3 has been on sale in Europe and other overseas markets for nearly two years. But the Trump administration’s tariffs and rollback of the federal EV tax credit derailed Kia’s original plans to bring the electric crossover to the U.S., since the EV3 was initially built only in South Korea. Kia recently finalized plans to assemble the EV3 in Mexico, however, making its U.S. launch far more feasible. Kia hasn’t officially confirmed where the U.S.-market cars will come from.
Kia will offer the EV3 in five trims: Light, Wind, Land, GT-Line and GT. Prices range from $31,385 to $47,385, including destination. That makes its starting price about $8,000 less than the EV6 crossover and nearly $10,000 less than the Niro EV, which Kia will discontinue model year 2027 onward.
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Source: Kia
The EV3 will be available in front- and all-wheel-drive configurations. That’s a big advantage over the Chevrolet Bolt and Nissan Leaf, its key rivals, which are not available with AWD. The FWD Light trim of the EV3 gets 58.3 kilowatt hours of battery capacity which delivers an EPA-estimated 221 miles of range. The rest of the trims get the 81.4 kWh Extended Range battery, which delivers 321 miles with a FWD configuration and 280 miles with AWD.
Its charging speeds appear to be on par with rivals. It will get a Tesla-style North American Charging Standard (NACS) port right from the factory. Kia says it can juice up from 10-80% at a 350 kW public fast-charging station in 29 minutes for the smaller battery and 31 minutes for the larger pack. A 240 volt, 11 kW Level 2 charger will do the same in about 5 hours for the smaller pack and 7 hours for the larger one.
It will also feature vehicle-to-load (V2L) functionality for bidirectional charging, allowing owners to power external appliances and devices using the EV3’s main battery.
The top of the line EV3 GT will also get virtual gear shifts and active sound design which will simulate the experience of a manual gas car with software trickery, similar to the Hyundai Ioniq 5 N. This range-topping version also has the most oomph, with 288 horsepower and 345 pound-feet of torque. The rest of the AWD trims are good for 261 hp and 284 lb-ft, whereas the FWD EV3 will output 201 hp and 209 lb-ft.
Kia’s EV sales in the U.S. have been lackluster so far this year. It sold only 8,685 units of the three-row EV9 and 4,717 units of the EV6 in the first six months of this year. And yet, the automaker’s overall sales have been reaching new heights thanks to its hybrids and gas-only models. We’ll now see if the EV3 can put Kia back into the game when it comes to all-electric cars.
Contact the author: suvrat.kothari@insideevs.com
