Electrifying took the long-range Kia EV2 to Norway and drove it until the battery gave up, shadowing the Norwegian Automobile Federation's twice-yearly real-world range convoy. The car uses a 61 kWh battery and carries an official WLTP figure of 256 miles, or 412 km, on its 19-inch wheels. The result beat the lab number. The EV2 covered 275 miles before dropping into reduced-power mode, averaging 4.56 miles per kWh across a hilly route with the air conditioning running and no efficiency tricks. The presenter started the day with the readout showing close to 300 miles at full charge, set out in normal driving mode, used regen freely, and refused to hypermile. For a small car on a battery this size, that distance is the headline most buyers will not expect.
What is worth pulling out of this test is not the distance but the question the presenter kept circling: with a 61 kWh car already clearing 250 real-world miles, does a bigger battery actually solve a problem most drivers have? For someone who charges at home and drives ordinary daily mileage, a real-world 250-plus-mile car covers nearly every single-day journey, which makes charging network access the thing worth shopping for rather than another slab of battery. That is a different buying lens than the spec-sheet range war the market has run on for years, and it is the one this test quietly argues for. The EV2 sits in the small-SUV class against cars like the Renault 5 and the Volkswagen ID Polo, so a buyer cross-shopping that segment is choosing between cars that are all efficient rather than long-legged, which makes efficiency the number that should decide it. The standard-range EV2, with a smaller 42.2 kWh battery, ran in the official field and beat its 191-mile WLTP figure by 5.5% for a result of 202 miles.
The route ran more than 400 km north out of Oslo through towns and fast mountain roads, with mandatory stops roughly every 100 km and close to a kilometre of total climbing. The official Norwegian test puts up to 25 cars through the same loop in both sub-zero winter and the 15 to 18 degree summer conditions Electrifying ran in, driving on public roads with every car system in full use until each vehicle hits its power-restricted mode. Halfway through, at 50% battery, the EV2 still showed 235 km on the readout, tracking ahead of its claim. Rain arrived later and cut efficiency as the road gained altitude, which is when the range fell quickly. At 0% the car kept going in a limp-home setting, still holding the speed limit, before finally losing power and ending the run at the nearest safe spot. The presenter also noted he could not fully drain the battery, since running a car completely flat is not allowed on the public roads the test uses. One caveat the presenter raised directly: the route involved no sustained motorway speeds, so UK drivers doing regular 70 mph stretches should expect figures meaningfully below what the EV2 managed here.
Bottom line: The number that matters is not 275 miles, it is 4.56 miles per kWh. Efficiency that strong on a 61 kWh pack is what makes the range feel generous, and it is a better signal of how the car behaves day to day than any WLTP figure. This is a car for someone who charges at home and does ordinary mileage, not for anyone chasing the longest battery on the forecourt. The catch is the motorway adjustment, so knock a real chunk off for UK driving. The shift worth watching is whether buyers start leading with charge speed instead of range, because on this evidence the range argument is already mostly settled.