In the UK Kia has launched its charging service KiaCharge. This gives the brand’s BEV- and PHEV-drivers access to more than 13,900 charge points across the UK, meaning access to around 68 per cent of the public charging network from a single account.

Kia has once again updated its strategic plan ‘Plan S’ and extended it to the year 2030. The plan includes expanding future mobility services, and new targets for sales of electrified vehicles, which includes both electric cars as well as purpose-built vehicles (PBV) in the commercial and sharing sectors.

Toyota, Fiat Chrysler, Hyundai, Kia, Volkswagen and other major carmakers join General Motors in abandoning their support for former US President Trump. This is also an act to support and perhaps influence the Biden administration in setting new emission standards.

Apple is reportedly planning to invest around three billion euros in electric vehicle production and to cooperate with the South Korean carmaker Kia. Rumours that Apple could cooperate with the Hyundai Group already existed in January.

As manufacturers scrambled to meet EU (and Swiss) CO2 compliance levels with a last-minute registrations splash-and-dash in December, Schmidt Automotive Research crunched the numbers with some astonishing results.

South Korea plans to install 3,000 new fast-charging stations for electric cars throughout 2021. The Ministry of Finance also plans to include 43 ultra-fast charging stations for the first time this year and will subsidise carmakers to secure sites for at least another 80 HPC stations.

Energy supplier Wien Energie has purchased 48 Kia e-Niro electric cars for its sales staff. This means that a total of around 70 e-cars are now on the road for Wien Energie and thus the majority of the car fleet of around 100 cars.

Because the expansion of the Ionity fast-charging network is progressing too slowly, the owners are discussing attracting private equity capital for Ionity. According to a media report, financial circles are talking about at least 500 million euros in fresh money.

The South Korean government has decided to stop providing subsidies for electric vehicles that cost more than 90 million won (the equivalent of around 67,800 euros). A further price level will be added confirming what was rumoured over the summer.

Kia Motors UK has teamed up with both BP Chargemaster and Pod Point to offer electric car drivers preferential terms for the provision of a home charge point. Kia says home charging would cost less than £3 depending on tariffs.

Kia is rumoured to be planning to offer the new generation of its compact SUV Sportage not only as all different kinds of hybrid but also as a purely electric version. What casts some doubt over the rumour are earlier statements by a senior Kia manager.

The Hyundai Motor Group’s entry into the Ionity fast-charging network is now official. The Korean company through its Hyundai and Kia brands holds a 20 per cent stake in the Europe-wide high power charging network founded by BMW, Ford, Daimler and Volkswagen.

Based on their sales figures for the first half of 2020, the PSA Group, Volvo, FCA and the BMW Group already meet the EU targets for average CO2 emissions from new cars, as shown by an analysis by Transport & Environment.

The European offices of Hyundai and Kia, together with Digital Charging Solutions (DCS) are launching a new charging service for electric car drivers under the labels Charge myHyundai and KiaCharge. The service will be rolled out across various markets in Europe.

Kia has published an update on its electrification strategy that builds on the ‘Plan S’ presented in January. The Korean company presented the first sketch of the electric sedan scheduled for launch in 2021.

Hyundai Motor Group and SK Innovation have agreed to work together to develop a sustainable ecosystem for electric vehicle batteries. The cooperation of the South Korean companies will include various business areas not directly related to cell manufacturing.

Kia presents the Sorento plug-in hybrid set for launch in select European markets in early 2021. The Sorento is the brand’s first SUV riding on the platform, that forms the new technical basis for the firm’s electrification strategy.

In the UK, Kia has increased the supply of its e-Niro and Soul EV electric crossovers to meet “intense demand” and shorten waiting times. After the Korean brand offered new cheaper e-Niro options at the end of June, Kia said that July was its best month on record according to UK sales.

The Kia Soul has been taken off Kia websites and lists in the USA. It seems that the South Korean company will not be bringing the electric car to the USA as originally planned.

Kia is now offering the e-Niro in the UK with the 39 kWh battery and 100 kW drive, in addition to the 64 kWh and 150 kW versions available to date. More so, this means UK customers can now get a Kia electric car for less than £30,000.

In the USA, J.D.Power’s 2020 Initial Quality Study looked at Tesla for the first time this year. Tesla earned the worst score among the 32 major vehicle brands, but German premium brands did not look much better.

Hyundai, Kia and LG Chem have launched a start-up competition to identify promising newcomers in the field of e-mobility. The ‘EV & Battery Challenge’ calls domestic and foreign start-ups developing technologies and business models for EVs and batteries.

In 2014, Hyundai-Kia installed the first heat pump in the Kia Soul EV. Since then, the Korean companies have continued to develop the technology – in a new article, they provide some insights into the development.

Kia is examining plans to build a purely electric miniature car in the style of the Citroën Ami. Although the South Korean company has not revealed a timetable for these plans, it seems that Kia is already considering a new distribution model for the electric microcar.

According to a British media report, the Prophecy electric concept vehicle recently presented by Hyundai will go into series production and is to replace the Ioniq. The new electric limousine could come onto the market by 2021.

Electrify America announces agreement with Kia Motors America to offer ‘Kia Select,’ a new charging programme with optimised pricing for the all-electric Kia Niro on the DC fast-charging network of the VW subsidiary.

Any claimed range or specified maximum charging power must be treated with caution when wanting to know how fast you’ll really progress on longer journeys with one or more charging stops.

Following a successful ‘try before you buy‘ loan scheme for electric vehicles in Nottingham, DriveElectric the offer could “act as a blueprint for cities across the UK”.

Kia will be initially concentrating on getting its electric models to Europe before attempting to satisfy demand in the USA due to limited availability of batteries. The awkward situation for the popular carmaker was revealed in an interview with a top Kia manager in the USA.

Kia presented the new generation of the SUV Sorento this March. Kia has announced the new platform and powertrains and has published a little information about the hybrid and plug-in hybrid versions.