Kia Eyes PHEVs With 60 Miles Of Electric Range: Here In “A Couple Of Years”

Kia’s current PHEVs can travel roughly 30 miles on electric power before switching on the gas engine.

• Kia's plug-in hybrids might offer 60 miles of electric range in a "couple of years."
• The statement comes from Steven Center, Kia America's chief operating officer and executive vice president.
• Current Kia PHEVs can deliver roughly 30 miles of electric range.

Besides kicking things into high gear in the all-electric vehicle game, Kia also wants to increase its footprint in the plug-in hybrid vehicle market. Not only by offering more battery-assisted cars which are more fuel efficient if plugged in regularly, but also by upping the maximum range of these models while running on battery power.

Currently, Kia’s PHEVs can cover up to 34 miles on electricity with a full battery before kicking in the gas engine. This could be enough for drivers who only do short journeys and can recharge at home, but how would 60 miles of all-electric range sound?

That’s almost double the number available today. It would significantly open up the market to people who wouldn’t consider a battery-powered car otherwise. They could drive the car on electricity most of the time for the usual errands around town and then fill up the gas tank if a long trip is coming up.

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With battery tech advancing at a rapid pace and new vehicle platforms designed to fit bigger battery packs for gas-powered cars, these 60-mile PHEVs might come in as little as “a couple of years,” according to Steven Center, Kia America’s chief operating officer and executive vice president, who spoke with Green Car Reports during the Los Angeles Auto Show.

The 60-mile figure came from an “engineering statistic,” Center said, and it relates to the total daily driving distance for Americans. According to data from mobility analytics platform Replica, people in the United States travel a nationwide average of 42 daily miles. This includes all forms of transportation, including personal vehicles, mass transit, biking and walking.

At the same time, a study from the Maryland Transportation Institute and Center for Advanced Transportation Technology Laboratory at the University of Maryland showed that 52% of all trips made by Americans in 2021 were shorter than three miles and just 2% of trips were longer than 50 miles. In this study, a trip was defined as a movement that includes a stay of longer than 10 minutes at a location away from home.

Reaching and even exceeding 60 miles of electric range on a PHEV isn’t impossible with today’s technology. Audi recently revealed the facelifted A3 hatchback in Europe–in plug-in hybrid guise, the 25.7-kilowatt-hour (19.7 kWh usable) battery enables a WLTP-rated electric range of 88 miles on a full charge. It can drive on electricity at up to 87 miles per hour and it also supports DC fast charging at up to 50 kilowatts.