SUVs and the spread of electrification have gone hand in hand, and for good reason. Demand for crossovers and SUVs continues to grow, potentially making it easier to nudge buyers away from internal combustion and into an EV. Meanwhile, performance expectations for SUVs tend to be more conservative, handy when you're working around a beefy battery pack.
What's still far more rare, though, is an electric SUV with three rows of seating, like the Kia EV9 . In fact, there are a mere handful of such options, despite the fact that American drivers certainly love their big, capacious, and flexible SUVs. Typically, each comes with a compromise: the Tesla Model Y and Mercedes EQB are relatively affordable, but decidedly snug in the rearmost seats; a Rivian R1S or Mercedes EQS SUV lean into luxury, but with a suitably high-end price tag.
Kia could've done something straightforward, and given us an electric Telluride. Instead, the EV9 picks up the baton from the EV6 before it, intentionally opting for a more love-it-or-hate-it aesthetic. It also picks up where the Telluride leaves off in terms of pricing, justifying that in part with a healthy standard spec sheet that includes luxuries many vehicles charge extra for.
Like a lot of recent Kia models, the EV9 strays from what we've come to expect from its segment. There's something chunkily futuristic about it: an SUV silhouette, but with detailing borrowed from a sci-fi show. Will it date more rapidly as a result, compared to a more "clas.