Kia Confirms Small Electric EV3 SUV Is Coming to the U.S.

• Kia confirms the new EV3 subcompact electric SUV will come to America.
• It launches later this year, with a projected starting price of around $35,000.
• The 400-volt charging architecture will give it a slower charging speed than the EV6 and EV9.

We don't have full details of the EV3 just yet — it will make its world debut on the morning of May 23 — but the teaser photos show design elements identical to those on the Concept EV3. Given Kia's propensity for production vehicle design to hew closely to concept design, it's safe to assume we've seen a lot of the EV3 already.

We know the EV3 will ride on the same E-GMP architecture that underpins the Kia EV6 and EV9 (along with the Hyundai Ioniq 5 and Ioniq 6), but it likely won't charge as quickly. Those others use an 800-volt charging system to deliver lightning-fast charging speeds — our Edmunds charging speed test shows the Ioniq 6 is the quickest-charging EV on sale today — but the EV3 will employ a 400-volt rail with lower charging capacity to keep the vehicle price low. When we saw the concept last year, Kia insiders floated a $35,000 introductory price point. That's quite a bit lower than the Kia Niro EV's starting price of around $41,000.

Considering the EV3's focus on affordability, we don't expect the concept's rear-hinged rear doors to make it to production. We wish they would, though — who wouldn't want to feel like they're stepping out of a Rolls-Royce for less than 40 large?

Additional contribution by Nick Yekikian

Edmunds says

The 2025 Kia EV3 will be one of the only choices in the low-cost EV space when it goes on sale later this year. While we like the cute runabout conceptually, we question how Kia will differentiate it from the similarly sized and priced Niro EV.