Kia EV2 Beats Its Official Range in Norway’s Summer EV Test With 325km Result

The new Kia EV2 has gone further than its official range figure in one of the toughest independent EV tests around, travelling 325km on a charge in the Norwegian Automobile Federation’s Summer El Prix. That result put the compact electric SUV first among all the small and mid-size electric cars in the test.

The number works out at 105% of the EV2’s official WLTP figure of 308km, meaning the car covered 17km more than the lab rating rather than falling short of it. For a class of car where real-world range often lands well below the official number, beating it outright is the kind of result that should reassure anyone weighing up an affordable electric car for daily use.

What the NAF El Prix test measures

The El Prix test is run by the NAF and Norwegian motoring title Motor, and it has built a reputation as the world’s largest independent EV range test. Every car is driven under the same real-world conditions, on the same roads, until the battery runs flat, so the results show how far each model travels in practice rather than on paper.

The summer edition took place on 3 June around Oslo, on dry roads with temperatures between 12 and 18C. The federation also runs a winter version in the depths of the Norwegian cold, which gives buyers a sense of how range holds up at both ends of the calendar.

How the EV2 performed

Two versions of the EV2 took part. The standard-range car, fitted with a 42.2kWh battery, managed 325km and topped its class, while a long-range GT-Line prototype with a 61.0kWh pack and 19-inch wheels covered 428km. The bigger battery car reached 102% of its expected WLTP figure of 418km, again going further than the official rating suggested.

Both cars returned an average energy use of 12.4kWh per 100km, a figure that points to efficient hardware. Lower consumption means more miles from every kilowatt-hour, which feeds straight into lower charging costs and longer gaps between top-ups.

“Achieving the best real world performance among compact and mid-size in the NAF Summer El Prix EV Test is a strong validation of EV2’s customer focused engineering,” said Pablo Martinez Masip, Vice President Product, Marketing & Customer Experience of Kia Europe. “By exceeding 105% of its WLTP range, EV2 clearly demonstrates outstanding efficiency and reliability. These independent results confirm that EV2 is designed around real customer needs – delivering dependable everyday usability while giving drivers the confidence to travel further, whether on daily commutes or longer holiday journeys.”

The summer figures back up an earlier showing in the winter test, when the long-range GT-Line prototype covered 310.6km in what the NAF called the coldest edition on record. Taken together, the two results suggest the EV2 holds its range reasonably well whether it is a mild June day or a hard Scandinavian freeze.

Why real-world range counts for buyers

Range anxiety remains one of the main reasons people hesitate over an electric car, and the gap between official and real-world figures has not helped. When a car is rated for one distance and delivers noticeably less, trust takes a knock. A model that meets or beats its rating in independent testing does the opposite.

The EV2 is worth attention here because of where it sits in Kia’s range. It is the brand’s smallest and most affordable member of its electric family, aimed at buyers stepping into an EV for the first time or downsizing from a larger car. Those are exactly the drivers most likely to worry about whether the range on the brochure will survive a motorway run or a cold morning.

Kia has been busy at the affordable end of the market. The larger EV4 recently became the first Kia to qualify for the full £3,750 Electric Car Grant, and the choice of electric models on UK roads has grown sharply, with Britain going from 14 EV models a decade ago to well over 150 today. A small Kia that can back up its range claims gives that growing field another credible option.

To put the standard car’s 325km into everyday terms, that is comfortably more than a week of average UK commuting between charges, with room to spare for the school run and the weekly shop on top. Drivers who rarely venture far may find the smaller 42.2kWh battery is all they need, leaving the longer-range version for those who regularly tackle motorway journeys. Having two batteries that both beat their official ratings means the choice comes down to how far you drive rather than which figure you can trust.

UK prices and specifications for the EV2 are still to be confirmed in full, but on the evidence of Norway’s test the car has the efficiency to match its billing. For buyers who care more about getting where they are going than about headline horsepower, that is the number that counts.