Kia Charge Continues to Gain Traction in Europe

Back in 2023, the Kia Corp launched a new service to generate interest in its upcoming battery-electric vehicle (BEV) lineup. With the intention of becoming a leader in BEV sales in the auto industry, the automaker needed to make some pretty bold moves. One of these was the Kia Charge package, and it’s not just about BEVs and plug-in hybrid options. Kia Charge is more focused on giving consumers the option to connect their cars to the consumer’s home for a more connected experience, much like consumers currently do with their smartphones and integrated Alexa apps. It all started in the Netherlands overseas, but is quickly seeing interest in Europe with over 100,000 subscriptions already locked in.

“The rising popularity of Kia Charge is proof that the consolidated one-contract concept is exactly what customers need, helping them to easily access charging stations where and when they want…The service also offers full price transparency, without any hidden expenses, for a charging network that continues to grow every week.” – Martin Enthofer, Director of Customer Experience Strategy and Solutions at Kia Europe

With the rising interest in various nations, maybe we’ll Kia Charge in America, too. We’ve already seen Kia put in the effort to get consumers more interested in plug-in hybrid electric vehicles (PHEVs) and BEVs with their partnership with Electrify America. The Kia EV6 was just coming out, and to get consumers attention, Kia was offering 1,000 kilowatt-hours (kWh), free of charge, at any Electrify America station across the U.S. Based on information from Kelley Blue Book about the average driving consumers do a month, that’s about 3-4 months of zero charging costs. Later that year (2022), Kia expanded its partnership with Electrify America to the Kia Niro EV, offering up to 500 kWh – 1950 miles of driving for free – complimentary EV charging at any Electrify America station across the U.S. with the new collaboration.

Circling back to Kia Charge, it’s not so much a service as it’s a term that applies to all BEVs and BEV charging solutions, like allowing cars to connect to a consumer’s home. We’ve already seen a variation of this, such as Level 2 charging station installations to a consumer’s garage for vehicle-to-grid (V2G) charging solutions. The next step is to implement vehicle-to-home (V2H) technology. Starting off as a pilot project, Kia wants to make it even easier to manage the energy used by the home and plug-in electric vehicles with the construction of homes that collect and convert solar energy into electrical energy with solar panels, energy by Vattenfall and smart charging (V1G). Without the need to plug into the city’s power grid, a consumer can charge their vehicle and their home without spending a dime.

Why this is currently only overseas is due to the larger interest in BEVs and the city infrastructure in Europe. For instance, the Kia Charge network has around 700,000 charging points in 28 European countries. As for the U.S., most charging stations are hidden away in a shopping plaza or found out of the way of a consumer’s current route. Kia Corp is one of the many automakers that entered into a joint venture to build a high-powered EV charging network across North America, called IONNA, but that will take some time to really show some development. In the past, Kia and the Hyundai Motor Group joined IONITY to expand the BEV charging network in Europe, but only made 600 charging stations. By 2023, it aims to have 17,000 stations along European highways.

Will we see more homes powered by solar panels and a BEV in every garage in 2023? Unlikely, but with the growing interest in electric power with plug-in hybrids, consumers are slowly opening up to the idea of going electric. Do you also want to go green? Find new Kia BEVs and new Kia plug-in hybrids at Miami Lakes Automall.

Photo Source/Copyright: Kia Media