January Meeting at Kia of Portland

Thursday January 9th, 7 to 9 PM

Kia of Portland, 720 NE Grand Ave, Portland 

Learn about Kia and enjoy Famous Dave's Bar-B-Que!

Our January Oregon Electric Vehicle Association general meeting will be at Kia of Portland this Thursday. Find out about the Kia EV6 and new for 2024 EV9, which have proven to be popular in the US. The EV9 is of particular interest as a large 6 or 7 passenger EV at a reasonable price, a standout when compared with earlier compact EVs. The Cox Automotive Kelley Blue Book Electric Vehicle Sales Report Q4, 2024, with full-year US sales estimates for all EVs, will be coming out very soon and I'm excited to see how the EV horse race last year turned out. The EV6 and EV9 are very likely to give a quite respectable showing. I'll be updating the Cars page of the OEVA website with sales data and updated spec sheets prior to the Oregon International Auto Show in February.

I'm curious if Portland Kia has any information about the 2026 model year Kia EV6 and EV9 SUVs, to be made in the USA at Kia's factory in West Point, Georgia, coming out later this year. According to FuelEconomy.gov, the 2026 models will be eligible for the $7,500 tax credit. It's uncertain whether the tax credit will be repealed by congress at the request of the next administration, so if you're looking to take advantage of the credit, best be ready to purchase when these models become available. They will have the NACS charging port, the future of EV charging. At least, that's what I've heard. I wonder what we'll find out more about the upcoming models at the meeting?

Kia has always had interesting features in their EVs, of particular note are the 120 volt power outlets on the EV6 and EV9. Remember that cold snap last year, when temperatures dropped to 15 degrees out? We lost power at our house for five days, but kept the house tolerably warm thanks to pulling power from our Model 3 to run our gas fireplace blower and gas recirculating hot water heater. It took a bit of inside knowledge to use an external power inverter with my Tesla, but that would have been a piece of cake for anyone with an EV6 or EV9. Just plug a power cord in the socket!

Kia of Portland's general manager, Ken Cornelison, is serious about selling EVs. He's on the left in the photo above, personally showing a Kia EV at one of our Test Drive & Information Expo events. He was a great host when we visited Kia of Portland a year ago, and this time he is stepping it up providing dinner for us from Famous Dave's Bar-B-Que! I know we're really there to learn about EVs, and make connections with other EV owners, but hey, it's Famous Dave's!

You're encouraged to bring a dessert to share. Maybe bring some of those remaining holiday treats you've been trying to not binge on. I've decided to postpone my annual holiday dietary repentance until after this meeting.