Kia’s EV5 has come out on top in a comparative test of electric SUVs conducted by German automotive publication Auto Motor und Sport, giving the Korean carmaker a useful credibility boost in one of the industry’s most competitive segments.
The EV5 GT-Line finished the evaluation with 588 points, 31 points ahead of the second-place vehicle on 557. The remaining two models scored 541 and 528 points. Kia did not identify the competing vehicles by name in its announcement, describing them only as models from US and Chinese manufacturers, which limits how much can be drawn from the ranking without the full comparison.
Still, the individual results offer a clearer picture of where the EV5 performed well. Auto Motor und Sport assessed the electric SUVs across seven areas: body design, safety, convenience, powertrain, driving performance, environmental performance and cost-effectiveness. The Kia won four of those categories.
Its strongest result came in body design, where it scored 100 points and finished 24 points ahead of its US rival. Practicality appears to have played an important role, with the EV5 offering between 566 and 1,650 litres of cargo capacity depending on the rear-seat configuration. The five-seat SUV also uses second-row seats that can fold flat, reinforcing its positioning as a family-focused electric crossover.
Safety produced an even larger 29-point advantage. According to the test figures provided by Kia, the EV5 recorded braking distances of 35.1 metres and 35.0 metres from 100 km/h under cold and warm test conditions respectively, the shortest distances in the comparison.
The EV5 also led the convenience category by 11 points. Steering-wheel paddles allow drivers to adjust regenerative braking and access one-pedal driving without digging through touchscreen menus, a relatively simple feature that can make a noticeable difference in everyday EV use. Driving performance brought another category victory, this time by nine points, with the German publication highlighting the vehicle’s composure over uneven road surfaces.
Underneath, the EV5 is based on Kia’s E-GMP electric vehicle architecture. The specification detailed by Kia uses an 81.4kWh battery and a front-mounted electric motor, with claimed range of up to 329 miles. Kia says charging from 10 to 80 percent can take around 30 minutes under suitable fast-charging conditions.
The tested GT-Line is offered with front-wheel drive, while an optional all-wheel-drive configuration adds a 35kW rear induction motor. The trim also includes Vehicle-to-Load functionality, wireless phone charging, ambient lighting and a powered tailgate. Inside, Kia combines a 12.3-inch digital instrument display and 12.3-inch infotainment screen with a separate 5.3-inch climate display.
A single comparison test does not settle the increasingly crowded electric SUV contest, particularly without the rival models being identified in Kia’s release. But the EV5’s margins in braking, practicality and usability are notable because they concern everyday attributes rather than headline acceleration figures. As electric SUVs become increasingly similar on paper, those less glamorous details may prove more important in separating them.
