Kia now sells two electric SUVs at almost exactly the same money, and does not explain anywhere on its own site why. The EV5 GT-Line with all wheel drive is £45,645 on the road. The EV6 Air is £45,635. Ten pounds apart.
So this is not really a question of which is better. It is a question of what you want, because at that price one of them is a mid trim version of the newer, roomier car and the other is the entry version of the older, faster charging one. Everything below comes from Kia's own UK pages and Euro NCAP's own assessments, and where Kia contradicts itself we have said so.
Kia EV5
New, nine versions
Kia EV6
Established, eight versions
The Ten Pound Question
Start with where the two ranges actually sit, because the overlap is the whole story. The EV5 runs from £39,345 to £54,295 on the road. The EV6 runs from £45,635 to £60,035, with the EV6 GT above that. So about two thirds of the EV5 range sits inside the EV6's.
| Money | What the EV5 gives you | What the EV6 gives you |
|---|---|---|
| Under £45,635 | Four versions, including the 329 mile Air | Nothing |
| About £45,640 | GT-Line with all wheel drive and 261bhp | Air, rear drive, 225bhp, 361 miles |
| £47,000 to £54,000 | GT-Line S and the 301bhp GT | GT-Line and GT-Line S |
| Above £54,295 | Nothing | GT-Line S AWD and the 641bhp GT |
At roughly £45,640 you are choosing between an EV5 GT-Line with all wheel drive, 261bhp and a 566 litre boot, and an EV6 Air with rear wheel drive, 225bhp, a 490 litre boot, 361 miles of range and 800 volt charging. Those are not versions of the same proposition. One is specification and space, the other is range and charging speed, for the same money.
Worth knowing before you shortlist: there is no seven seat version of either car. Kia does not publish a seat count on either specification table, but no seven seat derivative appears in either price list. If you need seven seats in an electric Kia, that is the EV9.
Charging Is Where the Older Car Wins, and It Is Not Close
These two cars are not the same thing underneath, which surprises people who assume a newer Kia must be more advanced. Kia does not name a platform on either page, but it states the architecture plainly in each car's own charging footnote, and that is better evidence than a platform name.
| Kia EV5 | Kia EV6 | |
|---|---|---|
| Architecture | 400 volt | 800 volt |
| Battery | 81.4kWh | 84.0kWh |
| Peak DC | 150kW | 350kW |
| 10% to 80% on DC | 30 minutes | 18 minutes |
| On a 50kW post | 1 hour 10 | 1 hour 16 |
| AC rate | 11kW | 11kW |
| 0% to 100% on AC | 7 hours 20 | 7 hours 35 |
| Nominal voltage published? | No | Yes, 697V |
Eighteen minutes against thirty is the single biggest functional difference between these cars. On a long journey with two stops that gap compounds, so if you do regular distance the EV6 is the easier car to live with even though it is older.
On a slower 50kW post the EV5 is actually marginally quicker, 1 hour 10 against 1 hour 16, because it has slightly less battery to fill. So the EV6's advantage only appears on chargers fast enough to use it. If your charging is mostly at home and occasionally on a 50kW unit at a supermarket, the headline difference never reaches you.
Both cars take 11kW on AC and, to Kia's credit, Kia states the phase: the row is labelled as an 11kW three phase charger. That is a disclosure several premium brands do not make. The catch is that neither car's page publishes a 7.4kW single phase charge time at all, and most UK homes are single phase, so the only usable wallbox figure on either page assumes a supply you probably do not have. Expect roughly double those seven hour figures on an ordinary home charger.
Range, Space and the Towing Trap
| Kia EV5 | Kia EV6 | |
|---|---|---|
| Best range | 329 miles, 18 inch Air | 361 miles, 19 inch rear drive |
| Worst range | 295 miles, GT on 20 inch | 279 miles, GT |
| Boot, rear seats upright | 566 litres | 490 litres, or 480 with the premium sound |
| Front boot | 44 litres | 52 litres rear drive, 20 litres all wheel drive |
| Braked towing | 1,200kg front drive, 1,800kg AWD | 1,800kg on every version |
| Tow ball weight | 100kg | 100kg |
| Euro NCAP body class | 5 door SUV, Large SUV | 5 door hatchback, Large Family Car |
Every EV6 tows 1,800kg braked, including the entry Air. The front wheel drive EV5s tow only 1,200kg, and that is most of the range including the £39,345 Air. So if you tow anything meaningful, the cheap EV5 is out, and to match the £45,635 EV6 Air you have to spend £45,645 on an all wheel drive EV5. The ten pound coincidence turns out to matter. Note also that neither car publishes an unbraked figure at all.
The boot numbers deserve a word on labelling, because Kia is better than most here and still not consistent. Both cars give the figure with the rear seats upright, which is clear. But neither specification table publishes a seats folded figure, and the EV6's 1,270 litre folded number exists only as marketing copy on its model page rather than as a labelled specification row. The EV5's folded figure is not published anywhere we could find.
On space generally the EV5 is the more practical shape, and Euro NCAP's own classification is the neatest evidence: it treats the EV5 as a large SUV and the EV6 as a large family hatchback. Seventy six litres more boot with the seats up, in the cheaper car, is a real argument.
Safety, and Why You Must Not Line the Scores Up
Both cars hold five Euro NCAP stars. The scores look comparable and they are not, because they were awarded under different protocols three years apart. Two separate tables, deliberately.
Kia EV5, tested 2025
| Category | Score |
|---|---|
| Adult occupant | 83% |
| Child occupant | 85% |
| Vulnerable road users | 74% |
| Safety assist | 80% |
Kia EV6, tested 2022
| Category | Score |
|---|---|
| Adult occupant | 90% |
| Child occupant | 86% |
| Vulnerable road users | 64% |
| Safety assist | 87% |
The EV5 is ten points better at not hurting pedestrians and cyclists, which is a real improvement and reflects a tougher 2025 test. The EV6 is better on adult and child occupant protection, and the fair reading is that the 2022 protocol was easier overall rather than that the older car protects you better. Anybody presenting these eight numbers as one comparison table is presenting two different measuring systems as one.
This matters because of what happened with its siblings. The EV3 and the EV4 are four stars with standard equipment and five only with an optional safety pack, and Kia's own safety page lists both as a flat five stars with no mention of the pack and no test year. The EV5 has no such split: one result, five stars, standard equipment, and every UK derivative is in the covered variants list. So the EV5 is the one Kia can honestly call a five star car, and Kia's page is correct about the EV5 while still being wrong about the EV3 and EV4.
Two cautions on the EV6's rating. Its covered variants list is written around the older 77.4kWh standard and long range split that the UK no longer sells, and the EV6 GT's output appears nowhere in it, so we would not claim the GT is covered by that five star result. And on Euro NCAP's six year convention a 2022 rating lapses at the start of 2029, though that date is arithmetic rather than something Euro NCAP prints.
The EV6 separately holds five Green NCAP stars at 94%, awarded in 2024. That is an environmental assessment covering energy use and emissions, it has nothing to do with crash safety, and it sits on Euro NCAP's own newsroom domain using the same stars. The EV5 has no Green NCAP assessment. If you see the EV6 described as five stars at 94%, that is the environmental score, not a safety one.
Neither Car Gets the Electric Car Grant
Worth being clear about, because the EV5's £39,345 starting price looks like grant territory and is not. The scheme caps recommended retail price at £37,000, with a route for a version in the same interpolation family as one under the cap up to a £42,000 ceiling, and two bands worth £3,750 and £1,500.
| Kia model | Band | Amount |
|---|---|---|
| EV2 Long Range | Band 1 | £3,750 |
| EV4 | Band 1 | £3,750 |
| EV2 | Band 2 | £1,500 |
| EV3 | Band 2 | £1,500 |
| PV5 Passenger | Band 2 | £1,500 |
| EV5 | Not listed | Nothing |
| EV6 | Not listed | Nothing |
| EV6 GT and EV9 | Not listed | Nothing |
So the grant stops at about £37,000 in Kia's range, and both cars in this comparison sit above it. One thing to watch if you are comparing the cheaper Kias: Kia's own offers page splits the EV2 grant by trim while the government splits it by battery, which are two different ways of cutting the same range and will not always agree at version level. Kia's own grant footnote is also stamped as correct as at July 2026. Our electric car leasing pages cover how the scheme actually works.
Four Things Kia's Own Website Gets Wrong
We check manufacturer sources rather than press releases, and on these two cars Kia contradicts itself four times. None of it changes which car to buy, but all of it will confuse you if you are researching on Kia's site.
| What Kia says | What is actually the case |
|---|---|
| The EV5 page says there are three trim variants | Its own pricing block on the same page lists five, adding Storm and GT |
| The same page says the EV5 has an advanced front wheel drive powertrain | It then describes the GT's dual motor all wheel drive |
| The EV6 page still advertises a 63.0kWh standard range car at up to 265 miles, and a battery range of 77.4 to 84.0kWh | No 63.0kWh or 77.4kWh version appears in the UK price list at all |
| V2L is listed on the EV5 as available on GT-Line S models only | Which would mean not even the £54,295 GT has it. That reads like a page error and is worth confirming |
One more, smaller: the EV6 pricing page carries the expensive car supplement footnote and the EV5 page does not, even though every EV5 except the Air also breaches the £40,000 threshold. And Kia publishes no dated UK price list for either car, which is why any dated Kia price list you find in a search is probably from another market.
So Which One Should You Lease?
Take the EV5 if you want space and equipment for the money
At £39,345 the Air undercuts everything in the EV6 range by £6,290 and still does 329 miles with a 566 litre boot. If your driving is mostly local with a home charger, the EV6's charging advantage never reaches you and the EV5 is simply the more useful car. Just check the towing figure if that matters.
Take the EV6 if you do distance
Eighteen minutes against thirty, 361 miles against 329, and 800 volt architecture. For regular long journeys this is not a close call, and the entry Air at £45,635 gets you all of it: the range and charging figures are best on the cheapest EV6, not the dearest.
Take an all wheel drive EV5 if you tow
Because the front wheel drive cars are limited to 1,200kg braked, and an EV5 GT-Line AWD at £45,645 matches the EV6's 1,800kg while keeping the bigger boot.
Look at the EV6 GT only if you want the performance car
641bhp, 3.5 seconds and 161mph for £60,035, against 301bhp and 6.2 seconds for the £54,295 EV5 GT. The EV6 GT is £5,740 more and in a different class of car entirely. It is also the version whose Euro NCAP coverage we would not rely on.
Get both quoted before deciding, because the two cars are close enough on paper that the monthly will settle it, and funders price a newer model and an established one very differently. Tell us how you charge and whether you tow, since those two answers decide this comparison far more than the specification does. Worth putting the Hyundai Ioniq 5 and the Tesla Model Y on the same quote while you are at it.
EV5 or EV6, priced side by side
We will quote both across our funders so you can see what the ten pound price gap actually costs you each month.
Talk to LetsLeaseFrequently Asked Questions
Yes. Kia UK's own offers page carries a dated window, with an offer available on purchase of a new Kia EV5 Storm in the United Kingdom between 1 October 2026 and 15 December 2026, and the same window runs on the EV3 and EV4. That dated window is the evidence we use, because a live configurator on its own proves nothing. Worth knowing that Kia publishes no dated UK price list at all, so any dated Kia price list PDF you find in a search is probably from another market.
They are genuinely different cars rather than two prices for one idea. The EV5 is a 400 volt car with an 81.4kWh battery, front wheel drive at the bottom of the range, 150kW peak charging and a 566 litre boot, classed by Euro NCAP as a large SUV. The EV6 is an 800 volt car with an 84.0kWh battery, rear wheel drive at the bottom of the range, 350kW peak charging and a 490 litre boot, classed as a large family hatchback. They share an 11kW three phase onboard charger and a 1,800kg towing ceiling on their all wheel drive versions, and not much else.
It depends entirely on how you drive. Below £45,635 only the EV5 exists, and the £39,345 Air gives you 329 miles and the bigger boot for £6,290 less than any EV6. But at about £45,640 the two collide: an EV5 GT-Line with all wheel drive is £45,645 and an EV6 Air is £45,635, ten pounds apart. At that price you are choosing specification and space against range and charging speed, and only you can say which matters more.
The EV6, by a wide margin, because it runs 800 volt architecture against the EV5's 400 volts. The EV6 peaks at 350kW and does 10% to 80% in 18 minutes. The EV5 peaks at 150kW and takes 30 minutes. One detail goes the other way: on a slower 50kW post the EV5 is marginally quicker, 1 hour 10 against 1 hour 16, because it has slightly less battery to fill. So the EV6's advantage only shows up on chargers fast enough to use it.
Probably not, though Kia is more honest about this than most. Both cars take 11kW on AC and Kia labels the row as an 11kW three phase charger, which is a disclosure several premium brands never make. The problem is that neither car's specification page publishes a 7.4kW single phase charge time, and most UK homes are single phase. So the only usable wallbox figure on either page assumes a supply you probably do not have, and on an ordinary home charger you should expect roughly double the seven hour figures quoted.
This is the most useful difference between them. Every EV6 tows 1,800kg braked, including the entry Air. The front wheel drive EV5s tow only 1,200kg, and that covers most of the range including the £39,345 Air. To match the EV6 Air's towing you have to buy an all wheel drive EV5, which is £45,645 against the EV6 Air's £45,635. Both cars have a 100kg tow ball limit and neither publishes an unbraked figure at all.
No, and that is worth saying clearly because its siblings do. The EV5 holds one five star result from 2025 with standard equipment, scoring 83% adult occupant, 85 child, 74 vulnerable road users and 80 safety assist, and every UK version is in the covered variants list. The EV3 and EV4 are different: both are four stars with standard equipment and five only with an optional safety pack. Kia's own safety page lists the EV3 and EV4 as a flat five stars with no mention of the pack, while its EV5 claim is accurate.
No, and this is the trap. The EV5 was tested in 2025 and the EV6 in 2022, under different protocols. The EV5 scores ten points better on vulnerable road users, 74% against 64, which reflects a genuinely tougher modern test. The EV6 scores better on adult and child occupant, 90 against 83 and 86 against 85, and the fair reading is that the older protocol was easier overall rather than that the older car protects you better. Any table lining up all eight numbers is presenting two measuring systems as one.
Yes, it is current. On Euro NCAP's six year convention a 2022 rating would lapse at the start of 2029, though that date is our arithmetic rather than something Euro NCAP publishes. Two cautions though. The covered variants list is written around the older 77.4kWh standard and long range split that the UK no longer sells, and the EV6 GT's output appears nowhere in it, so we would not claim the GT is covered by that result. Separately, the EV6 holds five Green NCAP stars at 94%, which is an environmental score and not a safety one.
No. The scheme caps recommended retail price at £37,000, with a route for a version in the same interpolation family as one under the cap up to a £42,000 ceiling, and two bands worth £3,750 and £1,500. Kia has five entries on the government list, the EV2 Long Range and EV4 in Band 1 and the EV2, EV3 and PV5 Passenger in Band 2. The EV5, EV6, EV6 GT and EV9 are all absent, and the EV5's cheapest version at £39,345 is above the cap.
No. Kia does not publish a seat count on either car's specification table, which is an odd gap, but no seven seat version of either the EV5 or the EV6 appears in the UK price list. If you need seven seats in an electric Kia, the EV9 is the one to look at. The EV5 is the more practical five seater of these two, with 566 litres behind the rear seats against the EV6's 490, and Euro NCAP classes it as a large SUV where the EV6 is a large family hatchback.
Four things worth knowing if you research on Kia's site. The EV5 page says there are three trim variants while its own pricing block on the same page lists five. The same page describes the EV5 as having an advanced front wheel drive powertrain and then describes the GT's dual motor all wheel drive. The EV6 model page still advertises a 63.0kWh standard range car at up to 265 miles and a 77.4 to 84.0kWh battery range, none of which appears in the UK price list. And V2L is listed on the EV5 as GT-Line S only, which would exclude the GT and looks like an error.
LetsLease is a credit broker rather than the lender. We arrange the agreement and place it with a funder such as Lex Autolease, Novuna, Ayvens or Santander, and that funder owns the vehicle and holds the agreement with you. Because we work across several funders rather than one, we can compare how each prices the same car.