Kia EV6 or Sorento plug in hybrid ?

I also visited my local Kia dealer to look at the EV6, mainly out of curiosity and because I definitely will not be replacing my current car with a diesel. I must admit I was impressed but I personally find it hard to justify the price on the mileage that I travel in a car (less than 3000 a year) but I do require a load carrier like the V70 5 door D5 I currently own.

Have you seen Andreww Ditton's >U-Tube videos< about towing with the EV6.

peedee

Hi Peedee yes i have seen 4 videos he has done which i found interesting and it was his video that brought me to visit my local Kia dealership however i would like to gain what thoughts from others regarding moving to full EV and also Plug in Hybrids, my worry is with the EV could i damage or overheat the batteries or EV motor when towing and with the PHEV`s is a 1.6 lt petrol engine really capable of pulling a caravan when the batteries have died.

i have also come across another one thats shocked me today the Land rover Discovery Sport have a PHEV in the form of a P300e however its a 1.5lt 3 cylinder petrol engine WOW  REALLY a 3 cylinder engine can pull 1600kg when the batteries go flat ????????

i guess only time will tell 

I find it difficult to consider a Hybrid for towing. After a very short time the benefit of the extra  electric shove will have gone and you are down to towing with the conventional engine that is now penalised by carrying the extra weight of the batteries etc.

I suppose it is down to your mileage split between solo and towing. Ours is about 50-50 as we have a small runaround for local driving.

I believe it was Whatcar that worked out the costs on buying and running a new vehicle for 3/5 years and the Hybrid was the most expensive, then diesel, petrol and finally full electric as the cheapest.

We are 60 and 61 and I think in a few years time we will replace our runaround VW Up with a good specification small electric car that we would probably keep long term. At this time our 1,5 petrol Audi A3 towcar will be 6 years old and by then if range and charging infrastructure has improved I think we will go electric on that vehicle as well, or possibly just the one full electric.

Colin

Towing with the EV6 will be sublime. I would not worry about the motors over heating anymore than I would any other car rated to tow 1600Kg. Key question - can you charge at home? Second key question, do you expect to tow for more than 2hrs / 130 miles in a single go. I tow with a Polestar 2 EV (range 120-130 towing) and find that he need to recharge coincides nicely with the need for a rest!

I also have a V60 D6 Twin Engine (previous generation V60) which has the same PHEV system as the current set of Volvo 60 and 90 series cars. Mine has the 212hp 5 cylinder diesel with a 78hp electric rear motor and an 11kWh battery good for about 20 to 25 miles solo electric only range. 

In my experience towing with the V60 car, just sticking it in hybrid default mode at letting it get on with the job worked absolutely fine. Trying to outthink the hybrid system beyond selecting one of the 5 drive modes (hybrid default), pure (electric only), power (optimise for performance), AWD (optimise for traction), Save( keep the battery for later - e.g. driving to a city to use electric only in the built up area)) for what you generally needed is pointless. It towed our Bailey unicorn Vigo S3 (MTPLM 1550) with out any bother at all. Actually a better tow car than the XC90 (D5 185hp) in everything except space and seat count. And the 2nd best tow-car I have had. The best being the full Electric Polestar 2 which outshines the V60 for everything except max towed load (not a problem), space (also not a problem) and range (also not a problem).

Thank you for that i do see what you are saying and i think i have read one of your posts regarding towing with the Polster 2 which i have also considered.

if i am honest i am just very nervous about going full EV even though on paper its a winning formula if you can live within the parameters that comes with an EV which i believe i can.

The problem for me i think is i am not usually this early to the party in the respect of buying something that is still in the early stages ie: i carnt say i have seen one EV on any caravan site or even towing on the roads i have been on, along with the other fact the the Kia EV6 is also brand new out so no demons have come to light yet. 

The EV6 GT line rear wheel drive seems good value at £46000 compared to the Sorento 3 PHEV AWD at £51000

I have considered sticking with my BMW 5 Series for a while longer but not sure about the millage that's now sitting the wrong side of 100k  at 105000 that said she owes me nothing and returns good mpg both solo and towing and its only £30 road tax its been by far the best tow car i have ever owned so i want to make sure my next is equally as good.

Being cautious is right - its a lot of money however you look at it for an EV OR a PHEV. Really you need to look hard at your use case as a whole. Whats your annual mileage? What is you towing annual mileage? Can you home charge (do you have off road parking, is your house on a looped supply)? Do you have (or can you get) a smart meter for a low cost tariff? Do you like the car ??? (thats quite a big one?). What does an average week of driving look like? How far do you normally tow? Do you use off grid CLs (no car charging) or bigger sites with hookup? Do you like to tour (one or two nites at each stop) or stay put for a week? Do you like to drive 600 miles to the south of France or north of Scotland towing in one go?

There are lots of questions to consider - but 1st and foremost - get a test drive in an EV6 (and maybe even a Polestar 2 single motor long range, and Hyundai Ioniq 5). See how you feel about an electric car. Polestar do 48 hour test drives. You can also get one from the EV centre in Milton Keynes if you are close. 

Also - ask about lead times - they are long (for any car) and factor that in too. 

Don't be put off by the idea of electric (it seems you are not or you would not have got this far). But do look at the pros and cons. 

BTW- if you cant home charge - a PHEV is not for you. It's even more important for PHEV than for EV. They ONLY work to save money if you charge them fully before every journey. Even then, they only save money if you do a good number of journeys inside their electric range. Otherwise, it's just an underpowered extra heavy petrol car. Volvo PHEV are a bit different to most PHEV in having a fairly potent combustion engine as well as the electric, but you really pay for that privilege. 

Keep asking questions and the answers will come!

As someone who is on their second PHEV I am better placed than most to comment on their merits. It is true that without a home charger ANY PHEV or EV is pointless. After a Volvo with a real world PHEV range barely two thirds the theoretical distance I personally wouldn’t touch Volvo. We spent a lot of time investigating a range of new PHEV options last summer with a cost ceiling of £45k. From research the KiaHyundai options have a short real world range and lack features such as battery conditioning (heating/cooling) and use too much of the battery capacity leaving too small buffer. That buffer is important both for longevity of battery life but also back up power still available when required. Long story short we went for a RAV4 PHEV. Combined power exceeding 300 horses and over 180 horses in ICE mode from the manufacturer who has built more and sold hybrids longer than anyone else. The real world EV mode distance is 35-45 miles from a theoretical 47. And if you want to read about the pitfalls of going EV to tow just read the letter in April edition of Diesel and Eco car from a caravaner who went to EV and immediately back to diesel after one trip. 

@FC Do you have a link to that article from Diesel and Eco car? I would love to know what issues the driver ran into.  Having towed over 1600 miles in my EV last season, it definitely can work. Charging on route is not simple, is definitely a two person job, and comes with the issues associated with any EV and public charging as well as a few of its own. But for me as an individual its definitely worth it. I do about 15k miles a year, perhaps 2k towing. The 13K solo and actual towing part of towing (as opposed to the public charging with a caravan part) makes up for the deficiencies and then some (for me).

@winni1974 If you have not seen it, have a look at my pinned post at the top of this section (Tow Cars and Towing) of CT, on towing with an EV. It's a long post but will give you an idea of what a longish (258 miles one way) tow with an EV is like. 

Also - ask about lead times - they are long (for any car) and factor that in too.

I was told that the delivery on the EV6 was at least a year.

peedee

Yes i have seen some cars are over a year from date of order, i think on the EV6 it depends on model and spec i was going for the EV6 GT Line rear wheel drive and was told August / September this year if i order in April so not too bad however Polestar 2 have stopped taking orders...