Kia Motors has released more details about its forthcoming electric drivetrain offering of the Soul. The company had originally announced last month plans for an electric vehicle version of its popular urban styled ride to debut in 2014.
Deployment plans, said Kia officials, call for the Soul EV to be the automaker’s first all-electric offering outside of its home market of South Korea. Taking its design cues from the recently launched second generation Soul, it reportedly will be capable of an electric range of at least 120 miles that’s courtesy of a 109-hp electric motor mated with a 27 kWh lithium-ion polymer battery pack.
image via Kia Motors
Some key technical specifications unveiled for this front wheel drive electric car include 210 lb.-ft. of torque from the motor, 0 to 62 miles per hour in less than 12 seconds, a top speed of 90 miles per hour and battery recharging times of up to five hours regular/25 minutes fast charge.
Kia has put into the Soul EV some features it feels will appeal to would be owners, such as regenerative braking, special road noise sound proofing materials, an audio alert to those around the car when it travels at low speeds, projection type headlamps, LED positioning lamps, LED rear combination lamps, aerodynamically shaped 16-inch alloy wheels and a special instrument cluster that includes an eight-inch display screen.
The automaker, aiming to make the car more environmentally friendly as well, has fitted the interior components and trim with an increased range of recycled materials together with “low volatility organic compounds and newly developed antibacterial materials and paint.” No pricing information is yet known.
“The new Soul EV will be at the forefront of Kia’s ‘Clean Mobility’ program, which aims to provide environmentally-friendly vehicles to our customers around the world, when it goes on sale globally next year,” said Kia Motors America’s executive director of product planning, Orth Hedrick, in a statement. “Although it is Kia’s first globally sold all-electric vehicle, the Soul EV is our second-generation battery electric vehicle and significantly benefits from the in-depth knowledge gained during development of the Ray EV sold in Korea.”
