Kia PV5 Electric Van First Look: More Details on a Potential (Volkswagen) Buzz Kill "It's a smallish (Kia calls it a "midsize," but that seems to be from an international, not American, perspective) electric van that mines battery and motor tech from elsewhere in the Hyundai-Kia product portfolio. At 184.8 inches long, 74.6 inches wide, and 74.8 inches tall (with a long 117.9-inch wheelbase), the PV5 fits in the shadow of a modern compact car such as a Honda Civic or Kia's own upcoming EV4 electric sedan. It is, of course, much taller, but within bounds—it's certainly more garage-able than any other commercial van on the market."
Slotted somewhere between a Mazda5 and an OG Sienna (or 90s Previa)? Pricing seems much, much lower than the ID.Buzz. If that comes here with that kind of pricing, it'll definitely steal sales from the ID.Buzz. The ID.Buzz is a nice car. It looks cool and has lots of functionality. But $80k is a lot of money even compared to a Pacifica PHEV or a Sienna Hybrid.
I think it is a big if for it to come here. As for the Buzz, it is more of a contender against the short wheelbase version VW sells in elsewhere.
The Kia PV5 — 1st Dedicated "PBV" from Kia Unveiled - CleanTechnica "Sales of the PV5 models will begin in Korea and Europe in the second half of this year, followed by launches in other markets in 2026. Conversion models are set to start production sequentially between 2025 and 2026. Pre-orders are expected to commence in the first half of this year for Korean and European markets."
I agree with @Tideland Prius, this would work a lot like a Mazda5. The buzz is aimed at a luxury/nostalgia niche anyway. This Kia would appeal to a bigger slice of regular families. It even looks good, apart from the wheels.
The thing is, the PV5 currently comes with small-ish batteries (for its size). The smallest one at 51.5kWh is clearly aimed at the fleet crowd that will do a circuit around down or a metro area and will charge up daily at home base. Heck, it might even work in more dense cities or smaller countries where 400 miles isn't needed. The 71.2kWh battery is smaller than any of the long range offerings in North America so it's not gonna clear 250 miles EPA. (It's 250 miles WLTP I think?). They need to steal the 80-odd kWh battery from the EV5 at the minimum (not sure if the larger 99kWh or 110kWh from the EV9/Ioniq9 respectively is compatible given they're 800V cars).
That strikes me as a very useful setup, honestly. I love the idea of a large family car with relatively short range. A small minivan counts as a large family car, as far as I'm concerned. Most days we drive our sedan around ~17 miles, and it parks in a garage every night. Maybe 10x a year we need to do a 200-mile weekend, and once or twice a year we need some 400-mile-per-day roadtripping action. A van like that and its small battery + a couple of gas car rentals a year would easily cover us, and we aren't stuck buying or maintaining a larger battery pack than we need.
