Kia EV2: 'I test drove Kia's smallest and most affordable electric car - and now I want one'

Some accelerate as quickly as an Aston Martin, and all are at least nippy, and none of them seems to break down.

I am in the new EV2 from Kia. This is its smallest and most affordable electric car, in a series which runs with a few gaps to the EV9, a people carrying thingy.

Prices start at £24,245 for the EV2 Air model in white. Look no further. It has all you need. The price is after a gift of £3,750 from the government greening funds, aka the taxpayer.

Add £650 if you want a choice of five colours. The custard colour you see here is new, called vanilla blossom if for some weird reason you want to order it.

A three-year PCP rental is £235.63 a month with a first payment of £4,850.

The 61 kWh battery gives up to 275 miles and 133bhp and 0-62mph in 9.5 seconds.

The better equipped GT-Line is £28,995 and the S version is £32,595 (£700 extra with a heat pump to help cold climate efficiency).

Both run on fancier 19-inch wheels and Michelin’s low profile rubber, giving sharper handling. Battery range suffers slightly.

The Air is on 16-inch budget Hankook tyres with deeper sidewalls which soften the ride.

It lacks the GT-Line’s plusher seating and fancier cosmetics and a sunroof but all three models have plenty of hard plastic on the door panels in lacklustre grey. Never mind that.

There is a lot to like in the cabin, most obviously the super-wide screen which includes navigation, a permanent climate control panel and the driving data, backed up by separate buttons and voice control.

At four metres or just over 13 feet long it is roomy enough to carry four large adults, or four and a slim one. (The EV3 is ten inches longer but a similar width and height.)

Battery recharge times are on the ball, going from 10 to 80 percent in 30 minutes on a 150 kWh fast charger.

On a 50 kW DC charger the same charge will take 70 minutes, whilst a 10 to 100% charge on an 11 kW AC home charger will take 5 hours and 35 minutes, they say.

With a quoted electric consumption of four miles per kWh, the Air would cost around £2 per 100 miles on a domestic EV-friendly tariff. It only needs a service every two years.

Kia doesn’t need to boast any more. It is established and confident. Its car launches have the calm modesty of a Quaker religious meeting.

The South Korean brand was the second top seller in the first seven months, just ahead of BMW, both well behind Volkswagen.

Around half of the cars it sells to us are made in Europe, surely one of many reasons to favour this new electric hatchback over subsidised Chinese-made usurpers.

Kia makes the Sportage, EV2, EV4 and Xceed in Slovakia. Sportage is a top three seller. All have seven-year warranties and eight years for the EV battery.

Its Korean-made EV3 was number two in July in electric sales nudging the unmissable Renault 5.

We are in Surrey, on a family farm which has embraced hospitality. You can sleep there, be married, charge your EV, shop and eat food which is grown and reared there.

One in five new cars sold this year was pure electric. Dependable battery charging is as useful as an internet connection these days.

I believe golf is being planned: never mind, maybe they’ll be segregated in this rural landscape of rare chalk streams. The Mimram runs by on its way to the Thames.

I didn’t encounter hills but did find motorways and 60mph roads on which to assess poise and consumption and ornery surfaces to test comfort and mid-range acceleration.

If you like its blatantly chunky body and frumpy rear lights then this EV2 is a contender. I suppose some panel of experts will choose it as their ‘car of the year’. And why not.

I’d be happy to find space for a white one if only I had a household battery charger and somewhere to plug in.

I’d forgive the van-like clunk made when the bonnet is released to get the charging cable. The charging port is on a wing, which obviates expensive repairs in a front end shunt.

The tailgate opens onto a luggage deck 38 inches wide and 22 inches deep, extending to 46 inches when the seats are folded flat.

There is additional storage under the false floor. Natty tweaks include panels under the rear to expedite airflow over the mechanical gubbins.

In the niches for the interior door release latches it says Have a nice day. If only they all were. The pivoting outer handles lie flush. Motor ignition is a button on the handy twist stalk which selects back, forward and park — as easy as it gets.

There will be more, but I had a train to catch back to the dales and delays which missed my connection in Leeds by a minute and spoiled my nice day.

Kia EV2 Air as tested £24,895; power 133bhp; torque 184lb/ft; transmission automatic; top speed 100mph; 0-62mph, 9.5 seconds; economy 4.08 miles/kWh; matched on test; range 275 miles, verified on test, city 403 miles; CO2 zero; weight 1630 kg; towing 750 kg; length 157 inches/4m. More information at kia.co.uk