How is the battery of this four-year-old Kia Niro after 140,000 kilometers?
With flying colours
Gerjan Bronkhorst is a maintenance and breakdown technician at Schimmel Techniek in Barneveld. He travels through part of Central Netherlands by Kia Niro to carry out maintenance and repairs at customers. So far nothing special. This Niro from 2019 is therefore fully electric and now has 140,000 kilometers on the clock. A new Volkswagen ID Buzz will soon replace the four-year-old Niro, with which the Korean will enter the used car market. High time for a check of the battery pack. What do you get when you buy this Niro used?
Durable
“Maintenance and repair of heat pumps is our largest business. If you work there, you also have to be sustainable yourself. That is why the company decided to buy a fully electric Niro in 2019,” Gerjan starts. “After a year I started driving it. We are now moving towards one and a half tons and the Niro is out, but I don’t think there is anything wrong with it yet.”
Before Gerjan got into the Niro, he had never driven electrically. Privately, he has a four-wheeler with an internal combustion engine. “I have to say that the Niro suits me very well,” he says. “We bought it partly because of its considerable range. When it’s cold, you still get 300 to 350 kilometers. That is almost always enough for my work. Occasionally I go to the fast charger during the day when I’m on the road, but that’s incidental.”
Colleagues of Gerjan who have to drive across the country, go on the road with a diesel van, that’s the way it is again, but the region that Gerjan has under his care is doable per Niro EV. Especially in the summer, because then the Niro will travel a maximum of 450 kilometers. As for charging logistics: when Gerjan works from the office, he always puts him at the charging station. As a result, it always goes out with a full battery.
Pull up eagerly
He continues to praise his Niro for a while. “It’s a nice car to be on the road with,” he says. “It is nice and smooth and pulls like crazy. The car is so eager that it wants to spin when accelerating from a standstill. Perhaps that has to do with the drive shaft that died once in those 140,000 kilometers. For the rest, only regular maintenance has been carried out. Think of tires, but also of a battery. That’s pretty fast.”
As reported, the Niro is going out soon. Although Gerjan is happy with his Kia, he can also report a downside. “There is no space left. It is fine for normal daily use as a private car, but if I have a lot of stuff with me, such as tools, then it is tight.”
Schimmel Techniek is therefore taking a step up and so there will be an ID Buzz. Gerjan is happy. “I’ve been driving it for a while and it drives great, and the bus is of course a lot more spacious,” he says. This Niro is also recommended as an electric occasion. The battery is still top after our test. “My boss will be happy about that.”
– Thanks for information from Autoweek.nl