How does the plug-in hybrid edition of a well-regarded large SUV stand up against ‘fake electric’ claims?

Price: $89,990
Powertrain and economy: 1.6-litre turbo petrol engine and permanent magnet synchronous electric motorl, 195kW/350Nm combined, 6-speed automatic, AWD, published combined economy 1.6 L/100km, CO2 emissions 39g/km.
Vital statistics: 4810mm long, 1700mm high, 1900mm wide, 2815mm wheelbase, ground clearance 174mm. Luggage space 604 litres (with five seats in use). 19-inch alloys wheels.
We like: Most environmentally friendly Sorento yet; high level of standard specification; excellent drive due to lowered centre of gravity.
We don’t like: Claimed consumption unreachable; price disqualifies it from Clean Car rebate.

KIA is working towards having electric vehicles, hybrids and plug-in hybrids making up at least 40 percent of its vehicle sales by 2030.

That’s good news for consumers, simply because it increases model choice.

In New Zealand that choice is becoming doubly important, following the Government’s introduction of various measures aimed at encouraging (forcing?) motorists to move away from pure petrol and diesel-engined product and into the much cleaner plug-in varieties.

Here’s an example of how Kia is working to meet the challenge. When the latest generation of the Sorento large sports utility launched here, it arrived exclusively with a 2.2-litre turbo diesel engine and all-wheel drive, and available with LX, EX, Deluxe and Premium levels of specification. Those vehicles all emit 177 grams per kilometre of CO2, a count likely to become unacceptably high in our climate change-focussed future.

Then EX and Premium petrol-electric hybrid models arrived on the scene, available with a choice of front-wheel drive and AWD. Being hybrids with a powertrain that includes a 1.6-litre turbocharged petrol engine, these models are cleaner with tailpipe emissions ranging from 138 g/km with the 2WD models and 169 g/km with the AWD versions.

That took the Sorento choice to a total of eight models. Now the choice has increased further to 10 via the arrival of a pair of AWD plug-in hybrid models, specified to the EX and Premium levels. And these Sorentos, according to Kia, sip petrol at a rate of a mere 1.6 L/100km and therefore have tailpipe emissions of a low 39 g/km.

Oh really?

The European Federation for Transport and Environment, an umbrella for non-governmental organisations working in the field of transport, argues that PHEVs are ‘fake electric’ because although their makers claim they comply with latest CO2 standards through being able to operate as EVs, in reality the petrol engines are involving most of the time.

Transport and Environment claims PHEVs emit 3-4 times more CO2 than official procedures show. And that, the group says, shows that such vehicles are being built for lab tests and tax breaks – not real driving.

Now it has to be said that Transport and Environment is an EV-centric campaign group that considers that any vehicle with a fossil-fuelled engine does not have a place in the future of motoring.

It is true that unless something outstanding happens, such as the availability of fossil-free petrol, our longer-term motoring future will be all electric. But hybrids and now plug-in hybrids will always be stop-gap product until full EVs become more acceptable and accessible to all of the motoring public.

So is the Transport and Environment criticism of PHEVs unfair? Not really. Such vehicles are designed to be able to run as EVs for short distances at low around-town speeds, and as petrol-electric hybrids at the higher speeds. Most of the time their electric motors and petrol engines run together, with their control units constantly varying the amount of drive from each. And that makes it very difficult for them to achieve the low fuel use and CO2 counts their makers claim.

Every time I have driven a PHEV I have indeed been able to operate it as an EV via careful driving in urban environments. But I have never been able to achieve their on-paper fuel consumption figures, which have been reached using the World Harmonised Light Vehicle Test Procedure (WLTP).

The reasons are obvious: it’s because we drive our vehicles in real-world conditions. We encounter hills. Accelerate away at the lights. Our roads aren’t made of smooth concrete or tarmac. And that’s why the car manufacturers will always supply their vehicles with the warning that actual fuel consumption results will always differ according to operating conditions and driving style.

So let’s turn our attention to the subject of this review, the Kia Sorento PHEV Premium, which Kia New Zealand claims is the antithesis of an SUV gas-guzzler, capable of an emissions-free all-electric driving range of up to 57km in EV mode. It also claims the average fuel economy of 1.6 L/100km, and CO2 emissions of 36 g/km.

I spent a week in the vehicle, operating it around town and out on the open road, in EV and hybrid modes, and I couldn’t get the average consumption below 6.0 L/100km. Adds a bit of credence to the claims by that European Federation of Transport and Environment, doesn’t it?

But we have to give the Sorento PHEV some credit. Even at 6.0 L/100km, the Sorento PHEV’s average fuel use is lower than its hybrid sibling, and very good for a full-sized seven-seater that, thanks to its electric motor and battery pack, weighs in at a hefty 2057kg which is the heaviest of the Sorento fleet.

On paper it’s also the most powerful of the Sorento fleet, thanks to a 1.6-litre turbo petrol engine, a high-capacity battery pack and high output electric motor, which all combine to provide up to 195kW of power and 350Nm of torque. By way of comparison, the hybrids offer 169kW and the 350Nm, while the diesels produce 148kW and 440Nm.

I jumped into the Sorento PHEV immediately after spending a week with another PHEV, the Mitsubishi Eclipse Cross, and it was interesting to compare the two.

The Mitsi works its magic in three ways – as a low-speed EV, as a series hybrid during which its petrol engine acts as a generator to power the electric motor, and as a parallel hybrid in which the engine and the motor combine forces.

Meanwhile the Kia is built to operate in two ways – as an EV at the lower speeds, or as a parallel hybrid. Maybe this was the reason why I often found it difficult to run the big SUV purely on battery power, even when in EV mode. At times the engine cut in when I was stationary and with sufficient battery charge showing on the energy metering. This was particularly when the vehicle was cold, its onboard computers obviously judging that additional juice was required to operate other functions such as heating.

At the Premium level, from a visual perspective the Sorento PHEV is almost identical to the diesel model. On the exterior the only giveaway that this is a plug-in hybrid is one small badge on the rear that says ECO plug-in, and the alloys wheels are 19-inch instead of 20-inch on the diesel. And of course there’s a charging port on the SUV’s rear flank, opposite the fuel tank.

But there are big changes inside. Under the bonnet the 1.6-litre petrol engine, which is virtually straight out of the much smaller Cerato hatch, is compact enough to allow the 66.9kW/304Nm electric motor to be mounted between the engine and transmission.

Meanwhile the hybrid’s 13.8 kWh lithium-ion polymer battery pack is located under the front and front passenger seats, sandwiched between the cabin floor and underfloor. It is saddle shaped, so it can lay over the top of the AWD propshaft.

This all means that despite the extra weight this gives the PHEV, ride and handling remain as good – maybe even better – than the other Sorentos because of good weight distribution and low centre of gravity.

Location of all that stuff also does not impact on the Sorento’s ability to offer three rows of seats, and very good rear load space. With all three rows in use it is 175 litres, growing to 604 litres as a five-seater, growing further to 1988 litres with the second row folded down.

Inside, thankfully the Sorento PHEV doesn’t have the same amount of energy flow data and metering that other similar product has. In place of a tachometer alongside the speedometer there’s a big dial with a needle that swing between Charge, Eco and Power depending on how the vehicle is being driven. Really, that’s all you need – because when you are behind the wheel of any vehicle you should be spending most of your time concentrating on driving.

The automatic transmission is a six-speeder instead of the diesel model’s eight speeder, and just like with the other Premium models there is a rotary gear selector. And just like the other AWD models, this Sorento has a Drive Mode Select which allows the driver to choose Comfort, Eco, Sport and Smart modes, as well as a Terrain Mode Select which adjusts transmission shift timings to suit different surfaces with its Snow, Mud and Sand modes.

All the rest of the interior is the same as the other Sorento Premium models, offering leather seating with 14-way power adjustment for the driver, a panoramic power sunroof, a Bose Premium sound system with 12 speakers, and smart power tailgate.

Driving assistance features include forward collision avoidance assist, blind spot collision avoidance assist, rear cross-traffic alert, land keep assist, and lane follow assist. It’s all very good – as it should be for a vehicle that carries a retail price of $89,990.

And that raises an interesting point: the price is over the Government’s $80,000 threshold for its Clean Car Discount, which means the Sorento PHEV Premium doesn’t qualify for a $5750 rebate on its purchase price.

The $73,990 EX version does though, and once the rebate is factored in, its purchase price is a massive $21,750 less than the Premium’s RRP. Obviously the EX doesn’t get a lot of the Premium’s luxuries including sunroof, interior mood lighting, the Bose audio and the smart tailgate, and the driver’s seat has 10-way electric adjustability instead of 14. It also doesn’t get some of the top-end safety specification either, including the parking collision avoidance assist and the flash blind spot monitor which displays left or right whenever the turn indicators are activated.

But the EX does get all the plug-in hybrid technology, and the claimed super-low fuel consumption and CO2 emissions. Food for thought on which model represents the best value for the money in this day and age of Government-funded clean car discounts, huh?