The Kia EV6 GT has acquitted itself well next to a Lamborghini Aventador SVJ in a drag race that shows how just how fast EVs can be, even next to supercars like the Lamborghini, which are built for insane performance and cost many, many times more than the Kia EV6 even in GT spec.
While many people are familiar with the characteristic torque of an EV — either from firsthand experience or from watching videos like this — it’s still worth a watch to see how close the Kia family crossover gets to beating the special-edition Lamborghini in a quarter-mile drag race; you might be surprised at how little space separates the two vehicles, despite the machines being worlds apart in every other metric.
Here, follow along as Mat Watson from Carwow sets up the race and pilots the KIA EV6 GT to near-victory:
Again, I know the novelty of how these all-electric cars launch off the line is wearing off by now. Still, it’s just incredible that a Kia crossover that’ll probably spend its life getting groceries and picking up the kids from school puts up a legitimately good fight against an Italian mid-engine supercar.
The Kia EV6 GT clocks in a mere second behind the Lamborghini Aventador SVJ, with the Kia completing the quarter-mile sprint in 11.9 seconds and the Lambo doing so in 10.9. In fact, the Kia EV6 GT gets off the line ahead of the Lamborghini. Watson was so impressed, he had to ask the “race officials” if he jumped the gun (he didn’t).
After the first drag race, Watson jumps into an Audi E-Tron GT but pretends it’s still the Kia EV6 GT. It turns into an elaborate joke where they keep pretending it’s the Kia EV6 (both cars are silver). It’s all very British in the dryness of the humour, but if anything, it’s still a testament to the performance of modern EVs. The Audi runs an 11.2-second quarter-mile, staying even closer to the Lambo.
The dual-motor KIA EV is just that quick in a standing-start competition. And really, looking at the spec sheet, that’s not a huge surprise: the Kia EV6 GT makes 248 kg-ft of torque, while the Lamborghini Aventador SJV makes 241 kg-ft. And for reference, the Lambo is powered by a 6.5-litre V12 making 669 horsepower, while the Kia’s two electric motors make a total of 576 hp.
There’s also a massive weight difference between the two cars, with the Kia weighing about 2,125 kg due to the heavy battery, and the Lambo weighing in at 1,525 kg.
The victory in the supercar comes at a premium in price, of course. The Lamborghini Aventador SVJ costs over $US461,000 ($639,960), while the Kia starts just below $US76,500 ($106,197). And even though I know the comparison is hardly apples-to-apples, you can decide for yourself if that one-second difference in the quarter mile is worth a $US384,500 ($533,763) difference. Of course, that Lamborghini V12 shriek has got to be worth something.