Your questions answered: Should I wait for Kia EV5 or the Hyundai alternative?

It’s EV overload in this week’s carsales mailbox, although there’s a refreshing variety of questions.

The Kia EV5 is clearly creating a buzz with people looking to make the leap into electric cars, something that has prompted a couple of readers this week.

Interest continues to bubble away on the Volvo EX30, too.

Plus, one reader wants to know why EVs cost as much as they do and another is dealing with a crazy insurance scenario that involves trucking a hail-damaged electric car so that the battery pack can be disconnected to carry out repair work.

And in the middle of all that we’ve got a mum wondering which cool-looking car her 26-year-old daughter should be buying next.

Question:

Answer: Typically, Hyundai and Kia models vaguely line up, although there are some exceptions. The Hyundai Tucson and Kia Sportage, for example, and Hyundai Santa Fe and Kia Sorento.

However, in the people-mover realm the Kia Carnival is a very different beast to the Hyundai Staria. And when Hyundai had the Veloster sports car (even if it was more hatchback beneath the skin), there was no Kia equivalent.

With the Kia EV9, though, there will be a Hyundai equivalent in the IONIQ 7.

As for the new Kia EV5, that’s a bit trickier. We’re not aware of anything imminent set to line up with the EV5. That’s partly because the EV5 is a bit different to other Kia models.

For starters, it’ll be built in China rather than Korea. Secondly, it’s utilising LFP batteries, which are cheaper to manufacture than the NMC batteries favoured by most traditional car-makers (including Hyundai and Kia until now).

Those LFP batteries look set to create a circa-$65K drive-away price tag for the EV5, something makes it a tempting proposition against the class-leading Tesla Model Y.

Question: I’m getting to the point where I think I should buy an EV. My question is, why are they all so expensive? I’m happy to pay a bit more, but it seems like they’re a lot more. – Reggie

Answer: The short answer is batteries.

Lithium-ion batteries – as used in smartphones, laptops and most other portable devices – aren’t cheap to manufacture, especially when you build them to last 10 or 20 years, as people will expect in a car (most consumer items have much lower expectations).

The battery packs also require sophisticated computer management systems and temperature controls, again with the aim of making them last longer and ensuring they’re safe (battery fires in electric cars – as opposed to e-bikes and e-scooters – are extremely rare).

And, obviously, EVs require enormous battery packs. Most have between 50kWh and 100kWh of capacity.

To put that in perspective, many people have power tools with an 18V battery with 4/5/6Ah of capacity. A 5Ah/18V battery works out to 90Wh of capacity, or 0.09kWh. So for a Tesla with a 60kWh battery you’d need almost 700 of those 5Ah batteries.

Check out prices and you’ll find a single one of those batteries from a reputable brand is at least $100, sometimes closer to $150. So there’s something like $80,000 of battery in each car, assuming you’re buying them individually like that.

Of course, car-makers aren’t paying retail prices, but you get my point: the tech ain’t cheap. And the battery is the single most expensive component in an EV (perhaps with the exception of the $770K Rolls-Royce Spectre…).

Battery prices have been coming down and we’d expect that to continue, especially with the introduction of new battery chemistries, including long-hyped solid-state batteries due by the end of the decade.

Even then, it’s likely batteries will be an expensive component of EVs. So while we may have some more competition and cheaper model variants, we wouldn’t be expecting a $20K EV anytime soon…

Question: My 26-year-old daughter Ruby had an accident in her Mazda3 and the vehicle has been written off, hence she needs a new car. She wants to outlay mid-to-high $20K. Ruby likes the Jeep Wrangler, however we are all trying to discourage this choice!

It’s all about the looks for her, however after having driven my thirsty Cruiser for a few months she is beginning to realise looks aren’t everything!! You may be able to throw a few suggestions her way? Ruby does not want a small car, more like a medium-size SUV. If you can offer any advice we will be grateful. – Dayle

Answer: Dealing with 20-somethings wanting a car that has some head-turning fashion built into it can be tricky, but hopefully common sense prevails!

A Jeep Wrangler certainly ticks the cool boxes, but it’s a car designed to do serious off-road work and comes with significant on-road compromises that make it pretty sloppy to drive. Plus the cabin isn’t overly practical, especially when it comes to the boot and space for the driver’s left foot.

And there’s the potential issue of future repairs, especially if the one you’re looking at has actually done the serious off-road work it was designed for.

If her heart is set on a cool-looking four-wheel drive then a Toyota FJ Cruiser would be a safer bet. It also has those on-road compromises and the rear-hinged back doors make it tricky to get into. Oh, and the 4.0-litre V6 petrol engine is thirsty.

But… it should at least be reliable and tough. But, again, check the car’s history and try to avoid one that looks like it’s been to the moon and back.

If she wants to play it super-sensible then a Mazda CX-30, Hyundai Kona or Kia Seltos would be a far better bet. They’re fantastic SUVs that have a bit of pizazz and drive nicely.

There are also plenty of each on the used car market, making it easy to find a well-looked-after example.

Question:

Answer: Since your email, the pricing of the Toyota bZ4X (a twin of the Solterra) has been announced and it’s sharper than the Subaru, albeit in single-motor/front-drive guise (the Subaru is dual-motor only) and missing some safety gear, including blind spot monitoring. The bZ4X dual-motor/AWD model is almost the same price and picks up more safety kit.

As for lining it up with the Kia, it’s difficult to say until we see the price and equipment of the EV5. We also haven’t driven the EV5 so can’t comment on that all-important aspect of it.

But it appears the Kia will undercut the Solterra by around $10K, which is nothing to be sneezed at. That will be for a front-drive model, but it bodes well for sharp pricing.

So sorry to sit on the fence, but we really need to know more about the EV5 before we make a call. If you have the luxury of waiting a few months then that would be the ideal scenario, at which point you can get a more complete picture of the market.

Question: Just wondering when the Volvo EX30 will be available in Australia as I haven’t seen one in the wild yet. I thought it was supposed to arrive in February, wasn’t it? Have you driven it yet? I’ve read a lot of good things but interested in your opinion. – Craig

Answer: Like so many new arrivals, the Volvo EX30 is running late, but it is on the way.

We’ve touched base with Volvo Australia and been told first deliveries are expected in May, so look out for some in dealerships soon.

I haven’t driven one but am looking forward to getting behind the wheel. It’s a terrific-looking car and is sharply priced in the premium end of the EV market.

Rest assured we’ll bring you all the details and a full review!

Question:

I then get a call from the repairer saying they can't commence the repair as the car has to be tilt trayed down to Cupra at Artarmon (100km away) to have the high-voltage power supply disconnected, and the earliest they could get an appointment was some 10 days away. Once disconnected, it has to be tilt trayed back for the hail repair.

Once the hail repair is complete, the car has to be tilt trayed back down to Cupra at Artarmon again to have the high-voltage reconnected and then my car has to be tilt trayed back hope for me to pick the car back up. So, four 100km tilt tray trips.

The repairer told me that their own auto electrician had intended to do the disconnection and reconnection, he went through the process of contacting Cupra, even Cupra (Volkswagen Group) in Germany, to learn how to do the disconnection process, but this involved a $1000 fee on his part just to learn the process and pay a software license fee to be able to do the disconnection.

And because he correctly could not see any financial benefit in this for him (how long would it take him to recoup this cost/how many Cupra Borns would he have to disconnect/reconnect to cover his cost) he did not proceed, and hence the only other alternative was for the car to be transported back to Cupra Artarmon.

My question, as this claim only involves minor hail damage that is going to be done via paintless dent repair, why did the high-voltage battery/electric motors have to be disconnected? They would have not been working anywhere near the battery and electric motor, which are under the floor/on the axle.

The rest of the car electrically, the instruments, lights, door locking, power windows, air-con, wipers etc etc all operate on a 12-volt system as in a normal internal combustion-engined car, and the 12V circuits are already isolated from the high-voltage battery and electric motor.

This requirement by NRMA insurance seems completely unnecessary to me, adding considerably to the time taken, and the cost of the claim to them, which may in turn increase insurance future premiums for EVs.

Is this disconnection process technically necessary in this situation, or is this just overkill, or an oversight by NRMA insurance with this particular claim?

Also, it would seem that there are not enough trained technicians in the EV space yet to be able to deal with these situations, despite EVs being around for some time now, when a major repairer such as the one I used does not have anyone trained to make the disconnection when required. If this type of difficulty, inconvenience and additional cost is going to be the norm experienced by EV owners, then people may think twice before owning one. I am already starting to regret my purchase. — Richard

Answer: Disconnecting the high-voltage systems of an EV is a common precaution undertaken when doing body work on an electric vehicle. With 400V in most EVs (some are 800V) there’s plenty that can go wrong.

However, Cupra has informed us that for paintless dent removal the high-voltage system would not need to be disconnected. Perhaps there’s more work that goes beyond that and the repairer has decided that disconnecting the system is a requirement?

Which then brings us to the next point…

It seems part of the issue is the sharing of service information with independent repairers. The issue has been bubbling away here and in other parts of the world for years and culminated in the ACCC implementing the Motor Vehicle Information Scheme.

It states that manufacturers must make available information to independent repairers “at a price that does not exceed the fair market value”. Clearly there’s wriggle room in the wording, although Cupra has told us it charges $350 for third-party repairers to access the software.

Either way, the crazy part here is that the insurance company is allowing the trucking and factory-approved connection and disconnection of the high-voltage system to occur rather than shelling out the money for the software. Even if it was $1000 – and, as mentioned, Cupra is saying it charges $350 – it would be the more affordable option.

Given the Cupra Born rides on the Volkswagen MEB architecture that also underpins the Skoda Enyaq, Volkswagen ID.3, ID.4, ID.5 and ID. Buzz, we’d assume the info could be shared across those models when they arrive in the months ahead (the ID.3 is slated for 2025).

None of which helps the situation you’ve found yourself in. We’d suggest touching base with the insurance company again to see if you can convince them that investing in software is a lot better than 400km of trucking – for everyone involved, the environment included!

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