Car of the Year Awards 2026: Best electric 7-seat SUV
Just because you need seven seats shouldn't mean you can't go electric - as the winner of our electric seven-seater demonstrates...
Kia EV9 RWD Air
Okay, so there aren’t exactly dozens of electric seven-seat SUVs to choose from yet, but that should take nothing away from Kia’s achievement with the EV9. Indeed, this five-metre-long behemoth can cart around seven tall adults far more comfortably than a Mercedes EQB or Peugeot e-5008 – and even with bums on every seat, there’s still a Skoda Fabia-sized boot left over for luggage.
But being supremely spacious inside would be of little use if the Kia EV9 needed to stop to charge every half an hour. Thankfully, that isn’t the case, because our favourite RWD version can officially cover up to 349 miles between top-ups (it managed 314 miles in our real-world tests).
And even when you do need to stop to recharge, the EV9 can hoover up electrons far quicker than most of its rivals. A peak charging rate of 210kW means a 10-80% top-up can take as little as 24 minutes.
The closely related Hyundai Ioniq 9 runs the EV9 close in most areas and actually has a slightly longer range, but it isn’t as good to drive and, thus far, we’ve tested only the pricier four-wheel-drive versions of that car. So, if you need a big electric SUV with seven seats, the EV9 is your best bet.
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