It’s hard not to love a van. The concept of a box on wheels for moving stuff is so perfectly utilitarian that it satisfies the same sort of brain itch normally cured by stackable chairs and those hard taco shells that stand up on their own. Recently, the Kia PV5 has aroused my curiosity. It’s electric, it’s reasonably compact, and it seems to offer strong value. However, a compact van sometimes isn’t large enough to get the job done, so Kia’s gone and rolled out the little van’s bigger brother. It’s called the PV7, and it seems surprisingly right for America.
So how much bigger are we talking? Well, width is up by nearly four inches over the PV5, and length is up 18.1 inches over the longer model of Kia’s smaller van. In short, we’re looking at a van 210.6 inches long, 78.5 inches wide, and 78.3 inches tall. That’s not far off a standard Ford Transit, despite the PV7 and the smaller PV5 sharing a common platform.
Under the skin, the PV7 is front-wheel-drive with a 268-horsepower motor mounted between the front wheels. That might not sound like much, but the instant torque of an electric motor should haul some serious cargo with little complaint. All PV7s feature an 800-volt architecture to take proper advantage of 350 kW DC fast chargers, and there are two battery packs on offer: A 71.5 kWh unit, which should be perfectly fine for urban deliveries, or a 96.2 kWh pack, which really sounds like the move for inter-city use. Kia claims the big pack will do 285 miles to a charge on the WLTP cycle, and while that’s definitely not bad, it’s also probably not quite what the camper conversion set is looking for.
Still, it’s a funky-looking thing, isn’t it? While there’s only so much you can usually do with the general shape of a van, Kia’s given the PV7 a bulldog face and huge quarter windows and a blacked-out hood to blend the greenhouse. Since the marque’s vision of the PV commercial vehicles is essentially a line of top hats on the same platform, one can only imagine a high-roof variant might arrive in the future. This thing features a subtle evolution of the styling language seen on the smaller PV5, familiarity without being entirely copy-paste. Smart.
Sliding inside the PV7, things get even more interesting. On the one hand, a lack of key physical comfort controls like a volume knob or buttons to adjust temperature blow chunks, but on the other, look at all that storage. There’s a shelf at the front of the dashboard, bins up top, a center stack that looks surprisingly old-school but features a household electrical socket. There’s even a bench seat in case the need arises to squeeze an extra passenger into the cargo van.
If three seats won’t cut it, take a gander at the PV7 Passenger, which does exactly what it says on the tin. Behind the front seats, you’ll find more seats, all elevated well above the van’s floor. Here’s a weird one: Check out the seat belt situation. The reels sit on the inboard side of each outboard seat, while the buckles are bolted to the outboard side of each seat. It’s clean packaging, but it also means third-row passengers can escape through the gap made by a slid-and-folded seat without getting hung up on belts. Nice.
By now, you’re probably wondering what the odds are of the PV7 making it to America. As it stands, the electric commercial vehicle market isn’t exactly popping off, but don’t write having a sliver of hope off yet. Canada gets the smaller PV5 and that model’s been previously spotted in America on manufacturer plates. At the same time, while the E-GMP.S platform currently only underpins Kia models, it’s rare for platforms to stay truly exclusive within Hyundai Motor Group forever. With Hyundai and GM already having announced a partnership on commercial vehicles, something like the PV7 with different styling and a new name could be just what America needs.
More importantly, Kia seems to be making the electric vans Volkswagen should’ve made. The PV5 offers slightly more range than an ID. Buzz for substantially less money, the PV7 is a genuine Transit-sized machine, and the existence of the PV1 concept suggests that Kia has room to take this platform even further.
Top graphic image: Kia
I thought that the Kia EV van was coming to America. Didn’t we discuss this a while ago?
“The PV5 offers slightly more range than an ID. Buzz…”
I know we all should hate VW like the authors and most of the commenters here, but this is actually not true. With the smaller battery the Kia has about 300 kms of range, the VW has350. With the larger battery it’s 400 vs. 480.
450, not 480.
https://www.adac.de/rund-ums-fahrzeug/autokatalog/marken-modelle/kia/pv5/1generation/340735/#messwerte-hersteller
https://www.adac.de/rund-ums-fahrzeug/autokatalog/marken-modelle/vw-nutzfahrzeuge/id-buzz/1generation/350813/#messwerte-hersteller
https://www.adac.de/rund-ums-fahrzeug/autokatalog/marken-modelle/kia/pv5/1generation/351709/#messwerte-hersteller
https://www.adac.de/rund-ums-fahrzeug/autokatalog/marken-modelle/vw-nutzfahrzeuge/id-buzz/1generation/350814/#messwerte-hersteller
We have tons of those Buzz vans here in Norway and they seem perfectly fine for their specific use case at least. Usually loads of plummers and electricians and stuff uses them.
I only hate VW because I’ve owned a bunch of them. 😛
And ‘hate’ is a strong word. I prefer ‘detest.’ Or any other word that conveys my intention to never buy another VW, let alone a new one.
VW could probably get me to buy a new VW, but they’re never going to bring over any of their small and truly interesting cars to America, so I’m never going to have to eat my words.
Looking at the images included in the press release, these PV7s have a row of physical buttons just below the central infotainment display. I wonder why these PV7s from the show floor don’t have them. Definitely hoping it’s something that was added (not removed) last minute. There’s also this quote from the press release:
This would probably sell well in Canada among those who want a non-American alternative to the e-Promaster (which yes, I know is built in Mexico) and e-Transit, but don’t want to shell out that much for an e-Sprinter
Built in Mexico by an Anglo-Dutch holding company controlled largely by French and Italian family trusts
Two words: Chicken Tax . . . which is why we’ll never see it in the USA.
Unless South Korea makes up a new award that comes with an elaborate gold trophy. Or finds an extra presidential yacht sitting around that they weren’t using and can give as a gift
Exceptions can be made
Those in to our belts probably also help people belt up without having to grope around their mates behind to find the clasp. This size van is often used as taxis in Europe too
I saw one of these the other day while out on a bike ride and thought, “shit, that is a sexy van!”
When does anyone ever think that about a van??
There was a time back in the 1970’s with a certain type of airbrushed art….
I think you are confusing “sexy van” with “sex in a van” 🙂
You may not remember the custom vans with Barbarella interiors and elaborate murals on the sides…
…but Pepperidge Farm remembers.
I was a child, and I lived in another country that was not blessed with Van Life 🙂
This just made me imagine a cocktail called “Hey baby, wanna come back to my van?”
I’m seeing a surprising number of the smaller PV5s in the U.K. Maybe not so surprising when it’s over $10k equiv. cheaper than the basic iD Buzz Cargo and has more range. I also note that the cheapest passenger PV5 is $35k (no typo) cheaper than the cheapest passenger iD Buzz.
Oh yeah because Frank the Plumber would ever drive something that stylish.
The trades want tried-and-true reliability with parts they can swap out from the local junk yard and their preferred mechanic can fix with some duct tape and some zip ties.
You mean the preferred mechanic who lives down the alley, works days at Mavis and does repair work on the side at his home garage, cash or Venmo only?
Whatever works. The powertrain in commercial vehicles is tried and true. Not the most efficient. Not the most powerful. Plumbers and Electricians don’t give a crap about that. They want something to go help Martha on Main street. Something that Cleatus can repair when its not running right.
Lots of tradespeople in my neck of the woods are running various hybrid/electric Fords/F-150’s that have 120v power on tap. It’s a helluva lot easier to do things like miter saw work when you don’t need a generator.
The problem with EV’s has long been that they incorporate a lot of tech that would go unused and unloved by regular people (when the Prius vs Honda hybrid launched in the US, that the Prius was distinct was a net marketing win, as people wished to demonstrate their ecological bona fides; that is not the case with tradespeople, who just want to pocket more money when the day is done).
If Kia could incorporate a decent amount of 120v power and make this a viable utility van, they could sell a ton of ’em.
I would drive this over an Express van. The biggest factors against an e-Van for myself at the moment: I drive A LOT in a rural area with my service vehicle, and would want a little more range for comfort. And two, would need to figure out getting reimbursed for charging at home…
I’m curious what “a lot” is considered for rural service folks? Like what would your typical daily travel distance be for someone in the mid west or something like that?
Pete, assuming you did the topshot, good job resisting the temptation to work in your 5th-grade school picture.
So, I doubt seriously this will offer more range than the ID.Buzz. The 285 mile rating is on the WLTP cycle, which is insanely optimistic and basically useless.
Real-world range is reported as 200-220 depending on conditions.
Still, with 800v architecture, that goes a long way toward mitigating a shorter range.
Is that a blue interior? An honest-to-Zod colored interior in 2026?
I was shocked that the article didn’t mention the colour of the interior!
I don’t think this is the van VW should have made. 4 more KWh is good but insignificant – the LWB ID.Buzz WLTP is 280, this claims WLTP of 285, so marginal difference.
As to the price – is that in the article? Has it been released? The internet says price estimates are 55k to 65k soooo not a whole lot cheaper?
I like the vehicle but as compared to the ID.Buzz it seems pretty similar on the big numbers.
Charging speeds of up to 350Kw is better than the Buzz’s 200, but 200 is still … pretty good?
Max charging speed is not a good indicator of how fast a vehicle can charge. In fact, it’s a terrible metric. For example, the Tesla Model Y and Hyundai Ioniq 5 have almost identical max charging rates, but the Hyundai’s 10% to 100% charge time is 30 minutes faster because it has a much better charging curve.
The ID.Buzz is on 400 volt architecture, so it can pull 200 kW for like a second, and then throttles badly. Meanwhile, my Ioniq 5 will pull well over 200kW all the way up to 70% SoC.
Also, these eGMP cars cannot accept 350 kW. They just need a 350+ kW charger to get their max rate, which is capped at around 260 kW. It’s confusing and this article didn’t actually state the PV7s max charging rate.
Wow! That’s … is sneaky the word I’m looking for? All the Kia materials I’ve found on this just say “while connected to a 350kW charger,” not that it actually pulls that much! Huh. Anyhow, these surely charge faster than the VW, but I’m not sure its a game changing difference.
I wouldn’t say it’s sneaky. eGMP cars need a 350 kW charger or greater to pull their max charging rate. Sooo many reviewers focus on the max charging rate that I don’t blame HMG for accurately stating the kind of charger needed, because these eGMP cars genuinely have an amazing charging curve.
And it is a game-changing difference. The 10% to 80% charge time may only be 10 minutes faster with the Kia compared to the id.Buzz, but the 10% to 100% is likely somewhere around 30 minutes faster. It’s hard to overstate just how fast these eGMP cars charge until you’ve lived with one. I regularly pull up to DCFC at a lower SoC and leave way earlier than other cars which arrived long before me.
Awesome!!
I zoomed in on the steering wheel, hoping against hope that I might see AC and volume buttons. Alas, alas.
It’s a cargo van. Ditch the $1k+ worth of useless technosquiggle circuit board trace lighting on the hood and give it some buttons on the dash.
I get it, but commercial vehicles are often the recipients of the cheapest available option from manufacturers, and one big screen is definitely cheaper.
Yeah, it’s counterintuitive, but we’re probably in a place now where the “single info/control touchscreen” is the stripped-down cheap option.
It feels weird for that to be true if you’re old enough to remember the “even a small map screen costs a fortune” era… we spent several decades having it ingrained that screens were an expensive, complicated luxury. Now you can probably say “it’s so stripped down it only has a screen” unironically.
I know. I was one of those who was excited for the screens, excited because they would mirror my phone. But I didn’t (and a whole lot of us) realize that it would mean a wholesale move of all controls into the screen.
Modern screens are so cheap these days! I picked up a Vizio 50-inch 4K OLED smart TV for a friend this afternoon. $US 208. I helped her set it up and now I want one. My 14-year-old LG 43-inch standard HD is finally starting to show its age. And I probably paid around three times that in 2012 dollars. Will it last 14 years? I don’t know. Will I last 14 more years? It might be a moot point.