Kia Seltos Hybrid taps small battery for V2L

The Kia Seltos Hybrid has a socket in the trunk waiting to be put to work: Up to 3.6 kW can be supplied to external devices through its 230-volt outlet. Kia calls this V2L—“Vehicle to Load,” meaning electricity from the car for appliances outside the vehicle. The new hybrid will be delivered from October, but its power source is unusually small: its battery stores just 1.32 kWh.

The Seltos uses a parallel hybrid drivetrain. A 1.6-liter four-cylinder engine and a 45-kW electric motor work together; the all-wheel-drive model also has a 50-kW electric motor on the rear axle. System output is 113 kW with front-wheel drive and 131 kW with all-wheel drive. The battery is charged through regenerative braking and by the combustion engine, not at an external charging station.

The technical trick is called load-point shifting. If the combustion engine produces more power than is currently needed, it uses a generator to charge the battery. When demand is higher, the electric motor supports the combustion engine. This is intended to keep the gasoline engine operating more often in an efficient range—especially where speed frequently changes.

The consumption figures show where the effect lies. Under WLTP, a standardized consumption test, the Seltos Hybrid achieves 5.1 liters in the city with front-wheel drive and 6 liters with all-wheel drive. On the highway, the gap compared with combustion-only models shrinks to 1 to 1.3 liters. For combined WLTP, Kia quotes 5.4 to 5.8 liters.

What about it? For owners, the socket can be a practical connection for external devices, for example when electricity is needed at the vehicle. How long the small battery can manage this remains unclear; according to the report, it may be possible to draw only 900 Wh. There are also everyday limitations: the hybrid models reach 158 and 155 km/h respectively, while the tank holds 38 instead of 50 liters. V2L is also available only in the GT-Line and X-Line trims, which raise the price to at least €44,090.