Kia Rio 2008 Review

Cutting-edge technology costs a bundle and the cost is inevitably passed on to customers, but Kia wants to give the world hybrids and fuel-cell cars that don't break the bank.

Kia and its sister company Hyundai have already developed a petrol-electric hybrid Rio sedan and have also created a fuel-cell version of the Sportage crossover wagon.

And they are not just pie-in-the-sky concept cars.

They are running vehicles and Kia is working hard to bring the technology to showrooms at the right price.

Kia admits its fuel-cell vehicles are still a way off, but petrol-electric hybrids could join the range as early as 2009, although a 2010 start is more likely.

The Rio hybrid might not be for public sale yet, but the South Korean government is already running 780 of them and will expand the fleet to around 3400 over the next two years.

At this stage, each Rio hybrid costs about $40,000 because the numbers are so small, but Kia's aim is to substantially undercut the existing Honda Civic hybrid at $32,990 and the Toyota Prius at $37,400.

Understandably, keeping quiet about exact prices.

But Kia is happy to show what it is doing. It rolled out a Rio hybrid in Seoul just before it was delivered for South Korean government duty.

The Rio is not a groundbreaker but does show the company has the expertise to produce a competent hybrid vehicle.

It uses a 1.4-litre four-cylinder petrol engine linked to a 12kW and 95Nm electric motor situated between the engine and the continuously variable automatic gearbox, a similar layout to the Honda IMA hybrid system.

A battery pack in the boot is recharged through engine braking.

The petrol engine, which has been slightly modified to run in the Rio Hybrid, switches off at idle and fires up when the driver lifts his or her foot off the brake.

The electric motor assists the petrol unit under acceleration, which allows it to use less fuel.

At this stage, the fuel economy of the Rio Hybrid stands at 5.3 litres/100km, which is pretty good, but greater gains are expected with the next-generation hybrid that Kia and Hyundai are working on at the moment.

Further into the future, it has a green system that could deliver far greater improvements using a hydrogen fuel cell to power an electric motor.

There are still a lot of challenges to overcome, including fuel-cell stack life and a hydrogen fuel infrastructure, but the benefit is that there are no exhaust-pipe emissions except water.

The Kia/Hyundai fuel-cell work started in 2000 with technology bought from US-based UTC Power.

Since then, it has developed and improved the system and took the honours at this year's Challenge Bibendum in China, beating fuel-cell vehicles from much bigger players including Daimler, General Motors and Nissan.

The Sportage fuel cell is more than a concept car, with cars operating in South Korean and US government test fleets.

Kia's fuel-cell senior research engineer Kim Saehoon says the company is not sure when it will introduce a fuel-cell model but is on track for production by 2012.

He says hydrogen-powered cars will cost more, but not for long.

“It may cost 20 per cent more (than a petrol model) but you would save money because hydrogen would be much cheaper than petrol,” he says.

“Our target is that by 2020 to 2025, a fuel-cell vehicle would cost the same as a regular ICE (internal combustion engine) car.”

On the road

A brief test drive at the Hyundai-Kia Technology Research Institute just outside Seoul proved the company is serious about fuel-cell technology.

The test car was a Sportage fuel-cell prototype that had an 80kW fuel stack powered by hydrogen stored under pressure at 350 bar.

It had a range of around 380km and can crank up to a top speed of 140km/h, but the project is limited by the life of the fuel-cell stack, which stands at 1500 hours.

A rough calculation reveals that a car operating with an average speed of 60km/h would need a new stack after around 90,000km, but stack life is expected to be increased as technology improves.

As for the drive, the fuel-cell Sportage drove much like an ordinary model, with a few major differences.

First, it was almost silent. There was a slight electric whine from a gear reducer under the bonnet, but that was pretty much it.

There were no gear-style step changes from the transmission and the Sportage accelerated smoothly. The performance was adequate for city driving.

The test car was 250kg heavier than an ordinary model, which doesn't help, but Kia is confident that future fuel-cell models will actually be lighter.

It might not be quite as exciting as a potential car of the future, but the Rio hybrid was impressive.

The drive experience was much the same as an ordinary model's and it accelerated just as hard as an ordinary petrol Rio.

The continuously variable automatic transmission meant the Rio engine made a slurring sound as it worked away, but it was no different from other CVTs in showrooms today.

A charge indicator showed the electric motor lending a hand under acceleration and drawing energy when the car slowed.

The engine stopped as soon as the car did, but fired up when the brake was lifted as the current model needs the petrol engine to run whenever the car moves forward.

Kia is planning to develop its hybrid drivetrain further so the car can run up to a certain speed on electric power alone. That would be a big plus.

The Kia-Hyundai developments are good news for the car world, as opening hybrid technology to budget-conscious buyers would be a major step forward for the fast-developing South Korean brands.