New Skoda Enyaq iV vs Kia e-Niro: charging
Kia's e-Niro was the first electric SUV to offer a long range and serious practicality for sensible money, but now it faces fresh competition from the Skoda Enyaq iV...
Charging
Speed, charger locations and how you pay
One option worth adding to the Enyaq is 100kW fast charging (£440). As standard, it charges at 50kW, and doubling the speed gives the potential for a 10-80% charge in as little as 30 minutes. The e-Niro’s maximum rate of 77kW and slightly bigger battery accounts for a longer delay of around 45 minutes. A 7kW home wallbox takes them both from empty to full in about 10 hours.
So, on the subject of charging, how did we find the infrastructure? Well, we made it home so in essence it works, but our journey would’ve undoubtedly been quicker in a petrol or diesel car.
Scotland has fewer fast chargers outside of its main cities, but its national charging network is free to use. In England, you’re more likely to find a rapid charger (on average these are 50-100kW) but some require you to sign up before you can use them, and reliability is decidedly variable; occasionally, we had to make phone calls to get chargers online, while others refused to work at all.
Some chargers offer contactless card payment, and all are cheaper per mile than filling up with petrol. We’d qualify the current infrastructure as adequate, but some way behind Tesla’s prolific, reliable and easy-to-use Supercharger network. So, our advice is to plan your route carefully between charging stations (the ZapMap app is one useful aid to help you) and always leave yourself spare capacity, just in case a charger isn’t working and you need to get to another one.
Range and battery performance
Skoda Enyaq iV
Real-world range 180 miles
Official range 256 miles
Efficiency on test 3.1 miles/kWh
Battery capacity (total/usable) 62kWh/58kWh
Rapid charging type CCS
Maximum charging rate 50kW (optional 100kW tested)
7kW home wallbox (0-100% charging time) 9hr 30min
Rapid charger, peak rate (10-80% charging time) 33min
Kia e-Niro
Real-world range 243 miles
Official range 282 miles
Efficiency on test 3.8 miles/kWh
Battery capacity (total/usable) 67.5kWh/64kWh
Rapid charging type CCS
Maximum charging rate 77kW
7kW home wallbox (0-100% charging time) 10hr 30min
Rapid charger, peak rate (10-80% charging time) 44min
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