Bold Claim: Even a small city car can conquer a brutal winter and still finish with power left. Now, here’s the full story behind that claim and why it matters.
The Kia EV2 is the Korean automaker’s newest, smallest electric model. Despite its compact size, it’s designed to perform strongly in the core EV expectations of today: range retention in cold weather, efficiency, and practical everyday usability.
A standout moment in its coverage came from one of the toughest winter range tests conducted annually by the Norwegian Automotive Federation (NAF). This test challenges fresh EVs under icy, subfreezing conditions to see how much real-world range they can deliver. In the most recent edition, a Kia EV2 prototype equipped with a 61-kWh long-range battery achieved an unusually small drop from its official range. The car covered 193 miles (about 310.6 km) while temperatures stayed at or below 17.6°F (-8°C). That means it lost less than 25% of its claimed 256-mile (413 km) range.
You’ll see the full ride in a video from Everything Electric Cars, which follows the car from start to the moment it simply ran out of power. Notably, the test constraints included driving at normal speeds on B-roads (not highways), avoiding Eco mode, and keeping the cabin comfortable around 70°F (21°C) using the car’s climate control. In short: they were driving like everyday users, not chasing hypermiling gains.
A curious detail from the footage is that the EV2 didn’t hit 0% in the tank when it stopped. There was still about 1% remaining and an indicated 9.3 miles (roughly 15 km) of predicted range. This likely reflects the prototype status and an imperfect range prediction system, rather than a dramatic surge in efficiency at the end.
Throughout the test, the EV2 demonstrated an average efficiency around 3.45 miles per kilowatt-hour (roughly 18 kWh per 100 km). Early in the run, before conditions dipped further, efficiency likely improved as the battery thermal management worked harder to keep batteries warm, which can draw more energy but helps protect battery health and performance in the long run.
Even though the EV2 is a compact vehicle primarily aimed at city use, its ability to keep going toward a near-200-mile mark in genuinely cold, Nordic weather is a strong indicator of how far EV technology has come. It reinforces the idea that modern electric cars can be practical, resilient, and ready for real-world winter driving—not just sunny-day demonstrations.
If a model like the EV2 can deliver these results in harsh winter conditions, it provides meaningful peace of mind for potential buyers in other cold-climate regions.
We want to hear from you: Do you think winter range performance will continue to improve at this pace, or will cold-weather penalties remain a stubborn hurdle for subcompact EVs? Share your thoughts in the comments.
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- The InsideEVs team
