Kia EV9 2024 review: Earth long-term | Part 2

“CHARGING COMPLETE!” announced the robotic voice triumphantly and probably a bit too loudly.

But loudly was good because it woke me up and saved me from sleeping through and being locked in the shopping centre car park… 

See, I’ve taken to charging our Kia EV9 long-term test car at night using the fast chargers at the shopping centre down the road. But I go late because that’s the only time the chargers seem to be free.

Sunday nights are the quietest and the plan was to go there at 9:00pm, plug the EV9 in and finish writing this review. It started well, the charger was humming away and my display told me that to fill up from 11 per cent to 80 per cent was going to take an hour and 18 minutes.

There were a dozen or so cars in the car park and within 15 minutes of me being there a couple in a Tesla Model 3 arrived and plugged into the charger beside me.

Anyway, I ended up putting the heater on and reclining the seat and yep fell asleep in about 2.7 seconds - it had been a rainy weekend of cabin fever with two kids under 10 (they were at home by the way, where I should have been) and I was beyond tired.

When the robot voice slapped me awake two hours later the Tesla had gone, the entire car park was empty, but the EV9’s battery was full. The car didn’t stop charging at 80 percent and had gone right through to 100 percent. 

Luckily the gate was still open and I was able to escape, but I know I’ll be back in a fortnight.

Maybe I’m doing it wrong? It seems we only charge when we’re almost out of battery, but trying to find a charger and an hour of free time is hard. Trying to have both of these things happen simultaneously when you’re a parent of two kids is harder.

I think after two months with the EV9 I’d install a wall unit to charge this big SUV at home, while I sleep, in a bed.

That’s been the biggest learning so far in this three-month long-term test of the fully-electric EV9. We’re two months in and never in my combustion-engine-car-driving history have I been haunted more by the energy ghost.

And it’s not to do with range (the EV9 can get about 500km on a full battery), it’s the inability to fill up whenever I want to or as quickly as you can with petrol or diesel.

I still stand by my declaration that the EV9 could be the best car I’ve ever tested in terms of being fit for purpose. It’s practical with an enormous cabin, huge boot, clever storage, seven seats and power outlets.

It’s also superb to drive in that its comfortable with good handling and body control, easy to steer and see out from while having brutally instant acceleration.

This month we’ve driven 959km which is spooky because last month we drove 959km. I didn’t plan it that way and I’d completely forgotten how far we drove last month until I did the sums.

And yep, it’s not mistake - I’ve checked it 14 times. It’s just a coincidence… or evidence we’re living in a simulation. Try not to think about it.

Our energy usage this month has been 20.2kWh/100km. In the latest full charge we got 416km out of the battery with a projected 52km of range left and according to the trip computer we used 19.4kWh/100km over this distance. 

We have found a couple of features of the EV9 we’re not fans of, apart from the charging dilemma.

The first is the design and placement of the shifter for Drive, Reverse, Neutral and Park isn’t ideal.

You can see from the images the shifter is located on the right side of the steering column and requires the driver to take their hand from the wheel and twist the paddle of the shifter to select Drive or Reverse.

It’s an awkward action that feels like that pat-your-head-and-rub-your-tummy at the same time mind trick. Mercedes-Benz and Tesla also have their shifters on the steering column but they do it much better with a design similar to an indicator stalk only requiring a finger flick to operate.

The second not great feature we’ve encountered is the overly busy media display which is a common issue for us in Kias and Hyundais.

Making things more frustrating is the speed warning which will 'bing' the moment you go even a kilometre over any speed limit and involves a process of going through multiple menu levels to switch it off.

A head-up display would be good, but there isn’t one on this grade. The kids have noticed that there are no sun shades either for their windows. The grade above ours is the GT-Line and it does come standard with the head-up display and sunshades.

Well, one month to go now and the grandparents and cousin are arriving this weekend. Will the EV9 cope with four adults and three children for a few days? Will I cope is the real question.   

Acquired: February, 2024

Distance travelled this month: 959km

Odometer: 2887km

Average energy consumption this month: 20.1kWh/100km