Kia shares how EV9 trims and pricing will break down ahead of start of reservations this month
Days after announcing a concrete date for the start of reservations in the US this month, Kia has followed up with even more pertinent details surrounding the EV9 SUV, including its trim levels and pricing. Here’s the latest.
The EV9 is the upcoming, all-electric large SUV from Kia that has garnered a lot of hype and consumer interest since its debut this past March. Naturally, we have covered the SUV’s progress every step of the way, through deliveries in South Korea over the summer, plans for North American assembly, and production delays due to such high demand.
While we’ve seen the EV in action on roads and through cold weather testing, we have been lacking some of the major details surrounding the EV9, especially for consumers – trims and pricing.
In late September, Kia America shared that the EV9 would start at an MSRP of $54,900 and serve as a “wake-up call” to the industry thanks to its advanced 800 V E-GMP platform, bidirectional charging capabilities, and massive interior space – all at competitive pricing.
While we had since learned that reservations for the SUV would open in the US on October 16, we had yet to know how this market’s trim levels would break down and what pricing options beyond the base version would be. Today, we have our answer.
Kia shares pricing for five different EV9 trim levels
Per details from Kia America posted this afternoon, the EV9 will, in fact, begin reservations in the US on October 16 as the first EV from the Korean automaker assembled in North America. We’ve been talking about the details of this incoming SUV for months, so let’s skip right into the good stuff.
Here’s how the trims of the Kia EV9 will break down, complete with pricing:
| EV9 Trim | MSRP* |
| Light RWD | $54,900 |
| Light Long Range RWD | $59,200 |
| Wind e-AWD | $63,900 |
| Land e-AWD | $69,900 |
| GT-Line e-AWD | $73,900 |
The single-motor RWD Light versions of the EV9 will offer 215 horsepower and 258 lb-ft of torque, while the Long Range RWD version will offer 201 HP and a larger 99.8 kWh battery pack and captain’s chairs.
The dual-motor AWD trims deliver 379 horsepower and 442 lb-ft of torque, plus a higher ground clearance of 7.8 inches. Additionally, a heat pump and heated steering wheel come equipped standard.
Finally, the GT-Line offers the same horsepower but with torque vectoring AWD and a bolstered 516 lb-ft of torque. Kia has plenty more details you can peruse in today’s press release, but one last key detail we are missing is the EPA estimated range for all these trims.
We are sure to learn more about that in the coming weeks as reservations begin. Speaking of which – US consumers can secure their own EV9 now that they know the pricing above by putting a fully refundable $750 deposit down, which includes a pretty sweet welcome package if you place a rezzie before November 27, 2023. Per Kia:
Customers who make a reservation request through November 27, 2023 will be eligible to receive a suite of gifts after their purchase or lease of an EV9, including a Webasto Go Dual Voltage Portable EV Charger, a complimentary three-year Kia Maintenance Plan, and one year of available Digital Features & Services. All customers purchasing or leasing the all-new EV9 will receive a 1,000-kWh charging credit with Electrify America.
Reservations open at 10 a.m. PST on October 16 and can be made at kia.com.
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Aerial view of Eleven Mile Solar in Coolidge, Az.
Photo: Van Applegate
Danish renewable energy developer Orsted won a $680 million investment from JPMorgan in two U.S. projects as incentives from the Biden Administration’s signature climate law — the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) — spur a clean energy boom in the U.S.
JPMorgan will provide tax equity financing for Orsted’s Eleven Mile Solar Center, a 600-megawatt solar and storage project near Coolidge, Arizona, and the 250-megawatt Sparta Solar project in Mineral, Texas.
Eleven Mile Solar, which includes more than 857,000 solar panels and 2,000 batteries from domestic manufacturers First Solar and Fluence, respectively, as well as tracking systems from Nextracker, qualifies for a one-time investment tax credit for the storage system, as well as an annual credit from a production tax credit for the solar array. Both credits were extended under the IRA.
Clean energy projects have relied on tax equity partnerships for years. Put simply, large financial institutions provide part of the financing for a renewable energy project, in exchange for the project’s tax credits. Developers themselves rarely have high enough tax bills, so a partnership allows them to monetize their credits.
But the partnerships are complex and the markets are limited. Smaller developers don’t always have the means to enter into these partnerships, and the appetite from large financial institutions to take stakes in renewable energy projects is limited.
The IRA sought to change that by adding in a provision allowing the credits to be transferred to a third party, creating a new pool of potential capital from corporations looking to offset tax bills. The project developer can either sell the credits themselves, or the tax equity partner — in this case JPMorgan — can decide to sell the credits to another party.
Prior to the IRA, the tax equity market was between $18 billion and $20 billion per year, according to the American Council on Renewable Energy. That’s “[s]till far short of what is needed in the post-IRA clean energy investment landscape,” the investment bank Evercore ISI noted. The bank estimates the potential market for tax credit transfers hitting $47 billion in 2024, and rising to more than $100 billion annually by 2030.
Aerial view of Eleven Mile Solar in Coolidge, Az.
Photo: Van Applegate
“This is the first time we’ve been able to do something like this…and it really opens the doors for a lot more corporates and companies with tax liability in the United States to come in and help support clean energy projects,” Melissa Peterson, head of onshore and origination at Orsted, told CNBC. “It’s really a unique structure that we hope to replicate over and over again.”
Construction at the $1 billion Eleven Mile Solar site began in January 2023 and, once operational later this year, it will be able to power roughly 65,000 homes. Two-thirds of the power will be used for a new Meta Platforms data center under construction nearby. Orsted is selling the power to Salt River Project — the local utility — who’s then selling it to Meta.
Boston Consulting Group estimates that between 2022 and 2030 data center electricity consumption will more than triple, requiring the same amount of power as 40 million households by the end of the decade. This comes on top of load growth from increased use of electricity, meaning U.S. power demand is now growing significantly for the first time in decades.
“We’ve been working in the United States for over 10 years, and this is probably the best time as a renewable energy developer to be working here in the U.S.,” said Orsted’s Peterson. “We see tons of opportunity with the increasing demand we’re seeing from reshoring manufacturing, big tech companies, paired with things like the Inflation Reduction Act, paired with lots of corporates who have ambitious climate targets.”
“We really see this as the pinnacle of opportunity for us,” she added.
– CNBC’s Harriet Taylor and Van Applegate contributed reporting.
Environment
Kia reveals full specs and launch dates of incoming EV3 compact SUV, but will it come to the US?
After months of teasing its new compact SUV, Kia has officially unveiled full images and specs of the EV3, and it looks like another winner from the Korean automaker. Launching later this summer, the EV3 takes much of the design and technology from its larger EV9 sibling and delivers it as a smaller, more affordable option to global consumers.
We’ve been covering scattered details of Kia’s plans for a new compact SUV called the EV3 since the fall of 2023, when we learned its interior will feature plant-derived materials, including a center console made from mushrooms.
Since then, we’ve seen several shadowy teaser images of its exterior, followed by the first fully visible (albeit limited) peeks at its front and rear earlier this month. Other than visuals, we hadn’t learned much about the EV3 other than that it had been seen testing in Korea and that it would also come in a sportier GT Line trim.
We also heard the compact SUV was expected to debut in July with a starting MSRP under $30,000. Following a live-streamed event in Korea unveiling the EV3 to the public, Kia is not sharing official pricing yet, but we do know what sort of technology and performance it will deliver and where it will be sold first.
Kia EV3 will launch in Korea in July, followed by the EU
Although the EV3’s design language is very similar to that of the super popular EV9, which is currently sold globally, Kia said the EV3 “carves out its own identity” and brings with it standards that have yet to be seen in the electric compact SUV segment.
You’ll definitely notice Kia’s “Opposites United” design philosophy inside and out of the EV3, including multi-colored and textured textiles inside and a minimalist feel that is still loaded with advanced technology. Per Karim Habib, Executive Vice President and Head of Kia Global Design:
The EV3 embodies our design philosophy perfectly – a combination of playful design combined with thoughtful functionality. Though compact, the inspiring exterior envelops an open interior space that emphasizes restorative relaxation for every journey. Its future-facing aesthetic is further emboldened by the choice of daring colors; inside, the spacious cabin and the incorporation of new organic materials express a youthful sense of energy and playfulness.
The compact SUV will arrive in nine color choices, including two new shades exclusive to the model: Aventurine Green and Terracotta (seen above). As previously promised, Kia has introduced a GT-Line trim of the EV3 in addition to the Base model, offering a slightly more rugged look from the outside. Have a look.
The EV3 will arrive with two different battery sizes within the SUV’s E-GMP platform from Hyundai Motor Group. The standard model utilizes a 58.3 kWh pack, but customers can opt for a larger 81.4 kWh battery in the Long Range version.
Both models feature 150 kW single-motor RWD regardless of battery size, accelerating from 0-100 km/h (0-62 mph) in 7.5 seconds. The EV3’s top speed is 170 km/h (~106 mph). Regarding range, Kia shared that the Long Range model will offer 600 km (373 miles) of WLTP range on a single charge and can replenish from 10 to 80% in 31 minutes on a DC fast charger.
Like all the EVs on the E-GMP platform, the Kia EV3 has vehicle-to-load (V2L) capabilities, but it’s another first for the compact SUV segment. This will also be the first model to feature Kia’s new i-Pedal 3.0 technology, which gives the driver more freedom to customize their regenerative braking preferences.
There is so much more to unfold here, so we recommend checking out Kia’s full release to see exactly what the EV3 is all about. If you’re looking for starting pricing, however, you’ll have to wait a tad longer.
Those details shouldn’t be too far behind, however; as Kia said, the EV3 will be introduced in Korea this July, followed by a European launch in the second half of 2024. There have been no confirmed plans to sell the SUV in the US just yet, but Kia shared it has plans to “further expand the sales of EV3 into other regions, with subsequent launches to be expected after the European market entry.”
What do you think? Do you want to see the EV3 in the US? Would you buy one?
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Southern California’s largest heavy-duty electric truck charging depot, powered by the US’s largest electric truck microgrid, is now online and fueled by natural gas.
US’s largest heavy-duty electric truck microgrid
Prologis (NYSE: PLD) and Performance Team, A Maersk Company, have launched the heavy-duty electric truck charging depot near the Ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach.
The Denker Avenue charging depot is off the Harbor (110) Freeway, within five miles of Interstate 405 and California State Route 91 (SR91), and it’s capable of charging up to 96 electric trucks simultaneously.
Heavy-duty EV charging hub developer Prologis and logistics services company Performance Team constructed the charging hub in an impressive five months. Performance Team will charge its fleet of Volvo VNR Electric trucks there – the e-trucks have a range of 240 miles and can charge up to 80% in 90 minutes. (Performance Team operates more than 140 EVs across the US.)
Charles van der Steene, regional president for Maersk North America, said, “This facility strengthens our ability to offer customers a decarbonized alternative to conventional trucking and brings us closer to our goal of reaching net zero by 2040.”
Citing California’s requirement to end the sale of electric drayage trucks by 2035 and electric heavy-duty trucks by 2045, Prologis and Maersk said they wanted to get electric trucks on the road faster, so they decided to go the microgrid route.
The Prologis Denker microgrid uses 2.75 MW of Mainspring Energy‘s fuel-flexible linear generators paired with 18 MWh of batteries to provide up to 9 MW of charging capacity. The Mainspring Linear Generator is versatile – it can switch between fuels like hydrogen, ammonia, and biogas.
Electrek’s Take
Prologis and Maersk are powering this microgrid, and thus Southern California’s largest heavy-duty electric truck charging depot, with natural gas.
I asked a Prologis spokesperson when they’d the microgrid would be switched to hydrogen, as Prologis made a point of describing the linear generators in its announcement as “hydrogen ready.” They replied, “We don’t have a timeline for hydrogen.”
(And if you’re thinking, “What about solar and storage?” as I did, I asked – it’s because the project doesn’t have enough acreage for the power it needs.)
I won’t get on my high horse about this disappointing discovery buried at the end of the press release. When the public uses DC fast chargers connected to the grid on a road trip, we usually don’t know what’s powering our fast charging stations. However, the US has set a 100% clean electricity goal by 2035, and California already has around 60% low-carbon electricity generation on its grid.
The Denker Avenue charging depot can be switched to sustainable fuels, and getting more heavy-duty electric trucks on the road as quickly as possible is excellent because it reduces transport emissions.
Plus, this microgrid will work if there’s a power outage, which is also a clear advantage over diesel trucks – if the power is out, they can’t charge, either.
I wish that Prologis had been more transparent about why the microgrid will be on natural gas indefinitely and that there was a projected timeline for switching it to hydrogen. Had they committed to that goal, this project would have been a true trailblazer.
Read more: Einride partners with Maersk to electrify over one million shipments over the next five years
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