ELECTRIC cars rather concentrate your mind on the not unimportant question of how far you can go before having to stop and recharge, writes William Scholes.
Until you've seen that electric range counter fall towards zero at a faster pace than you're covering the distance to home or the next charging point, you don't really appreciate the convenience of the process involved in filling up a petrol or diesel car when its fuel light starts blinking.
You just pull in at the next petrol station, put the hose in your tank for a few minutes and then go into the shop to pay, collecting a pint of milk, bag of Fruit Pastilles and a copy of that day's Irish News along the way. It's quick, easy and familiar.
'Refilling' the battery on an electric car using Northern Ireland's public charging network is not quick, easy or familiar.
I've written about and referred to this before, and it remains a legitimate reason for a lot of drivers having to think very carefully about making the switch from pistons to an electric motor.
Nonetheless, if you're in the position of being able to recharge your electric vehicle (EV) at home then the conversation starts to change.
They can all be charged overnight, meaning you can leave the house in the morning with a full 'tank'.
That's appealing, though the weaknesses of the north's public network still means you will feel 'tethered' to the security and reliability of your home charger.
In other words, you won't feel at ease if you go too far from base because of the jeopardy - let alone the time - involved in looking for a public charger.
All of this means that there is no substitute for range, ideally achieved through a big battery and high efficiency.
Which brings us to the Kia e-Niro. As far as the current crop of electric cars is concerned, this is a brilliant device.
Kia will sell you an e-Niro with a 39kWh battery, which is said to be good for just 180 miles, but the one you really want comes with a 64kWh battery and a range of more than 280 miles.
That puts it well ahead of the Peugeot, Vauxhall and Citroen models which share the same 50kWh battery and boast a range in the 200-miles territory. I've driven several of these cars and never got close to 200 miles in 'real world' conditions.
The e-Niro, on the other hand, gave me an easy 260 miles-plus...
The e-Niro is a brilliant device. Kia will sell you one with a 39kWh battery, which is said to be good for just 180 miles, but the one you really want comes with a 64kWh battery and a range of more than 280 miles
To better, or match, the e-Niro's range, you are looking at something like a Tesla, Polestar or Jaguar, or one of the bigger-battery Volkswagen ID cars. These are all more expensive than the Kia.
In fact, the Kia's closest rival is sister company Hyundai's Kona Electric, which can nudge 300 miles.
The Kona has more divisive styling - a purely subjective matter, of course - and doesn't feel as spacious or as practical as the Kia, which is another subjective judgment; either makes a strong case for being among the best EVs on sale today, of any size and price point.
It is stating the obvious to say that everyone uses their car differently and expects different things from it.
Car-makers like to trot out figures that say things like the average commute is 28 miles or whatever in order to explain why their EV's range is more than ample for the average punter.
That is all well and good, and there's no EV on sale today that can't cope with routine tootling about.
But it's the regular or semi-regular journeys that are the litmus test of whether a particular EV is going to comfortably slip into your life.
In my case, an approximately 130-mile run to Fermanagh and back home is the benchmark. Now, not all EV miles are created equal - a steady motorway cruise will typically eat up your battery quicker than the same distance in stop-start city traffic - and I found that the Peugeot set-up, even with its 200-mile claim, struggled to cope.
All such concerns are brushed away by the e-Niro, thanks not only to its theoretical range but also the fact that on the road, its projected range reading is perhaps the most accurate and consistent I've come across.
This gives you vital confidence that you will indeed have enough energy to get you to your destination... unlike the last Peugeot e-2008 I drove, which 'lost' range from its read out on a long journey at a disconcerting rate.
Other than its excellent range and efficiency, other noteworthy EV features on the e-Niro include intuitive regenerative braking, controlled by paddles on the steering wheel which allow immediate alterations of the level of braking available.
It's a sensation not unlike engine braking on an internal combustion car; soon you find yourself flicking at the paddles to put the car into maximum regeneration, say when approaching a junction, so you can draw to a stop without having to apply the brakes, while on the motorway you can turn it off altogether so the car can coast along with very little 'throttle'.
A simple rotary controller where you would otherwise find a gearstick is another tell-tale that this is a different sort of car - it's literally a case of twisting and going.
Other than that, the e-Niro is an accomplished family wagon. Size-wise, it isn't quite as large as something like Kia's own Sportage or a Nissan Qashqai, but it's a little bigger than a regular family hatchback such as a Kia Ceed or Ford Focus.
It is an inoffensively styled car - as mentioned earlier, the Hyundai Kona is a wilfully more striking take on the same theme - but neat and practical.
The Niro was designed from the ground up to be electrified - a 'self-charging' hybrid and a plug-in hybrid are also available - but arguably it makes most sense as a pure EV.
In e-Niro guise, it's more useful than the Kona Electric or even a plug-in Niro.
If you are considering an electric car, the Kia e-Niro needs to be on your check-list
It's a family-friendly EV. For example, you'll get three people across the back seat and the e-Niro's boot volume is a commodious 451 litres, compared to 332 litres for the Kona and a miserly 324 litres for the Niro plug-in (thank how the batteries are slung under the floor, whereas the plug-in has to put its battery under the boot).
In traditional Kia fashion, the e-Niro comes in '2', '3' and swanky '4+' trims. The government changed its plug-in car grant scheme in March, lowering the threshold from £50,000 to £35,000 and the grant itself from £3,000 to £2,500.
The e-Niro range straddles that £35k price-point, and like other manufacturers with similarly priced cars, Kia has recently re-jigged its pricing to take advantage of the grant.
That means you can get a '2' specification e-Niro for £30,345 (including the grant) if you are content with the 39kWh battery's 180-mile range.
I'd want the 64kWh battery for that excellent 280-mile range. It costs a very reasonable £32,445 (including the grant) which seems conspicuous value compared to the smaller battery car.
From there it's a big jump - to £37,350, on the wrong side of the grant threshold - for a '3' with the big battery. The fully-loaded '4+' e-Niro is £39,645.
As I hope you have gathered, I rather enjoyed the e-Niro. If you are considering an electric car, it needs to be on your check-list.
Even without its leggy range, it neatly exemplifies the best of EVs - smooth, easy to drive, super-refined, quiet, nippy, practical - in a useful family-friendly package.
But it is the Kia's range that sets it apart from similarly priced rivals.
That easy 260 mile-plus range makes life with the e-Niro stress-free, and the car something of an EV hero.
And there's much more to come from Kia, with its upcoming EV6 heralding the next phase in its electric programme. Just how good will e-Niro v2.0 be?
