Long-Term 2024 Kia EV9 5,000-Mile Update

We’ve crossed the 5,000-mile mark in our long-term 2024 Kia EV9 Land with all-wheel drive, so it’s time to check in and see how things are going with our three-row all-electric SUV. Since our last update in July, we’ve dug into the EV9’s family-friendliness and towing capabilities, but things haven’t been entirely smooth sailing.

Related: Our 2024 Kia EV9’s Digital Gauges Keep Failing

Going Blank

Our EV9’s instrument panel occasionally going blank is an emphatic tick in the negative column of the ownership experience. It hasn’t happened to everyone on staff, but anyone driving the EV9 is understandably on edge until we can get the over-the-air update (part of a recall of over 14,000 2024 and 2025 EV9s) that should hopefully correct the issue.

Family Hauler

We’ve also tested the EV9’s family-friendliness, with praise for its interior room, comfortable ride and eye-catching style. Unfortunately, for some staffers, longer trips with larger families — and all their stuff — can stretch the limits of the EV9’s usually spacious interior, and some routes and destinations don’t have the infrastructure yet to soothe range anxiety. When the EV9 works for families, it works very well; unfortunately, it doesn’t work for every family road trip.

We wanted an EV9 with the optional Towing Package that increases towing capacity to 5,000 pounds from the standard 3,500, and Managing Editor Joe Bruzek became the first staff member to put its range while towing to the test. We learned a lot about the EV9’s capabilities and towing-specific settings, but towing with an electric vehicle remains a fraught experience.

More From Cars.com:

• We Weren’t Alone: Kia Recalls 14,000 EV9s for Blank Instrument Panels
• How Well Does the Kia EV9 Handle Family Duty?
• Testing the 2024 Kia EV9’s Range While Towing
• How Usable Is the Kia EV9’s Third Row?
• Find a Kia EV9 for Sale Near You

Efficiency Is Key

Besides its excellent road manners, the EV9’s efficiency is one of its strongest suits. We’ve added nearly 3,000 miles to the odometer since our last update, and our overall efficiency has only dipped slightly to 2.9 miles per kilowatt-hour from 2.95 — both higher than our EV9’s 2.4 miles/kWh rating from the EPA. We’ve been able to track $504.34 in total charging costs — both home and at public charging stations — with $385.72 of that going to public DC fast charging. As mentioned in our previous update, tracking every cent of charging costs has proved elusive due to the nature of our charging equipment, method of charging and more.

Using DC fast charging remains the best way to charge mid-trip, though it is not the most affordable. These charging sessions have cost an average of $32.14 per session, but the time cost is also significant, averaging just under 31 minutes per session (note: we are lumping all DC fast-charging sessions together for this regardless of advertised or observed charging speeds). The EV9 may be a comfortable road-trip chariot, but longer trips will become even longer if you have to stop and charge along the way.

What’s on Deck

Stay tuned for more feature-specific coverage, including of the EV9’s digital key, what it’s like to charge the EV9 at a Tesla Supercharger and more.

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