For large families and lovers of an outdoor active lifestyle, very little comes close in terms of practicality and versatility than a van.
Full disclosure: I run a diesel-powered Volkswagen Transporter (apologies, Earth) as a daily, purely because it’s the best thing to fit kids, mountain bikes, surfboards and the odd broken down motorcycle onboard. You can keep your SUVs, they just can’t compete on roominess.
Up until this point, the electric van market has been relatively slow to catch up with its passenger car counterpart, with the likes of Ford electrifying its popular Transit Custom and E-Tourneo, while Citroën also offers an ë-SpaceTourer in Europe.
Arguably, the VW ID Buzz, with its funky exterior looks and retro touches, was the first to truly appeal to the non-business buyer, but even that vehicle has its issues. The efficiency is poor, the asking price is astronomical and there isn’t actually that much room inside.
Kia thinks it can capitalize on this, which is why it has invested eye-watering sums of money into its Platform Beyond Vehicle (PBV) EV skateboard chassis, which will eventually underpin a whole host of commercial and lifestyle vehicles.
Small vans, large vans, vans with fridges and pizza ovens on the back, pick-up truck vans, vans that can transport people, and vans that are easily accessible for wheelchair users are all on the way very soon.
But for now, Europe has the PV5 Passenger and PV5 Cargo to get to grips with.
A working class hero
Let’s kick this off with the pricing, which we know for certain will start at £32,995 in the UK for the PV5 Passenger in the most affordable ‘Essential’ trim. There’s no word on whether it will go on sale in the US any time soon, but that figure is around $44,000 roughly converted, or AU$67,000.
This is almost half the price of its closest rival in the funky, retro-styled ID Buzz, yet it still offers 183-miles of range, only slightly down on the cheapest ID Buzz.
Step up to the larger 71.2kWh battery, which still only costs £35,995 (around $48,000/AU$73,000), and you’ll get 256-miles on the combined cycle. That’s less than so many rival electric SUVs that offer a fraction of the interior roominess and range.
Power and performance is perfectly adequate for a massive family-mover like this, with the 160bhp developed by the single motor, which is good enough to accelerate from rest to 62mph in 10.6 seconds and on to a max speed of 84mph.
Despite its size, it drives fantastically well, remaining flat and composed through tight corners, offering beautifully light steering around town and sealing the cabin away from the outside world for a near-silent cruising experience.
The ace of space
As previously mentioned, Kia is going to release numerous versions of the PV5, as well as smaller and larger vans that will sit on the same platform.
Currently, both Passenger and Cargo are available, the former of which offers five flexible seats inside, while the latter is a proper two-seat commercial van that’s designed to haul kit and equipment in its sparse rear.
Now, the world of commercial vehicles is a complex landscape, with fleet buyers choosing their chariots based on payloads, dimensions and financial information that I don’t have the spreadsheet knowhow to bother working out.
In short, I wanted to focus on the Passenger model because this is thing customers are most likely to buy over a seven-seat SUV or similar.
As a people-mover, it’s absolutely fantastic, with a massive amount of room in the rear for three passengers to sit comfortably. Those back seats are also heated in the more lavish Plus models, with footrests and plenty of USB-C ports for keeping devices topped up.
The second row is also flexible, so it folds flat if you do need to use the cavernous rear cargo space for transporting surfboards, mountain bikes of just a mountain of family-related stuff. It’s not quite the same versatility as a crew van, where seats can be completely removed, but gets what? That’s coming.
More car-like than most
I’ve always harped on about the the Volkswagen Transporter to anyone who will listen, claiming it as being one of the most ‘car-like’ vans money can buy, in so much as it boasts the sort of handling characteristics and refinement that elevate it beyond being merely a big box on wheels.
The ID Buzz took that mantra and ran with it, but it also used VW’s latest and slightly rubbish infotainment system. Plus it felt big and heavy on the roads when I drove it. The Kia PV5, weirdly, doesn’t and it uses a bespoke Android Automotive infotainment system to boot.
This isn’t the same widescreen as the one found in the latest Kia EV3, EV4 and so on, but a 12.9-inch unit that’s mounted bang-slap in the middle of the dash. Kia has done this so commercial users can download and run bespoke apps that assist with lubricating the wheels of commerce.
It’s very simple and intuitive to operate, with the added bonus that owners get access to an Android-based app store of software to download on it. There’s also a neat and customizable digital display behind the steering wheel that takes care of speed, range and other vital information.
Despite the presence of a few physical buttons dotted around the cabin, I’d happily take more, especially to adjust things like the heating and air-con, as well as turning off all of the nannying bongs and beeps from the safety systems.
The only other issue I had was with the driving position because, unlike most other commercial vehicles, the floor is placed relatively high to package the electrical gubbins that power the PV5.
This creates a neat stowage area underneath, but it also means you drive it a bit like you would a saloon, without that upright, outstretched position leg like you get with many traditional, internal combustion engine rivals.
It also means you sit with your hip practically level with the side windows that, while creating a beautifully airy interior for anyone riding up front, it does require that all occupants are dressed appropriately. It just feels a bit weird at first.
An impressive debut
I simply can’t fault the PV5 for its practicality, with the Passenger version offering more trunk space than the massive Kia EV9 with its rear seats folded.
Fold the rear seats flat in the PV5 and it does a good impression of a proper commercial vehicle, with the sort of cavernous cargo area that can swallow bicycles whole. To talk liters for a minute, you get 1,330 with all seats up and a massive 2,300 with second row folded.
As a comparison, the hugely spacious Tesla Model Y offers around 2,000-liters of space with its rear seats folded flat, but not the same practicality that’s afforded with such a tall, square rear like the PV5. What’s more, it’s a big chunk of change more expensive, too.
Versatile, stylish, comfortable inside and offering the sort of range that most can live with, the PV5 brings back the halcyon days of MPVs and people carriers, but packages it all up in a platform that’s versatile enough to ensure it will be profitable for the company.
Sure, there’s not mammoth 300+ mile version just yet, and the 400V electrical architecture means charging speeds are throttled at 150kW, but Kia’s debut van is fantastically efficient, meaning you’ll get the range the read-out predicts.
It’s the first electric van that I’ve tested that’s had me considering giving up diesel… something the VW ID Buzz couldn’t manage.
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