Rival: 2027 Kia EV3 sales start at $29,890 in USA

[Administrator]

US 2027 Kia EV3 Trims, Price, Battery Size, Range. Now On Sale
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[gzebrick]

$31,385 with destination fee

 

[Supernintendo Chalmers]

Honestly, this falls in about the specs and price I expected for the fathom… except the truck stuff. Maybe we’ll see long range and AWD for the similar upper-30’s.

 

[gzebrick]

Cheapest with AWD is the WIND, and of course you get the crappy low-profile tires. It also gets you the heat pump, so I assume the base model only has inefficient resistive heating.

The WIND with AWD/heat pump/low profile wheel benders starts at 34,990 + 3.700 + 1,495 = $40,185 just to get AWD and you still can't get ventilated seats unless you go up yet another trim level.

I get why Kia bundles this way, but I sure as hell hate that you can't pick individual options like ventilated seats and AWD in the base trim, and of course skip the low profile crap.

As much as I think SLATE dropped the ball, I have to give them credit for pricing each option independently., The industry (talking to YOU Ford!) would be doing us all a favor by going with 1 trim and a list of all the options individually offered.

Screw Hyundai/Kia for bundle creep on their 'cheap' EV!
If you really want a SUV style EV, the better play is to enable a search (like autotempest.com) for a low miles lease return that's got what you want like an EV6 or Ioniq 5 with a ton of warranty left for less price than a new EV3 (it will fast charge quicker too!).

After all, all new cars become used cars once you drive them off the lot.

 

[commadorebob]

There's a balance between endless options and trim packages. From a manufacturing perspective, it's much cheaper for Ford to offer one package with everything and use dealer-installed options. Buying 150,000 sunroofs is cheaper than buying 75,000 and needing two different frames that could be delayed if the sunroof truck is late. Those savings can help keep the price low, which is what Ford is banking on.

 

[ChasingCoral]

It's only a rival if you're comparing apples and oranges -- or in this case CUVs and small trucks.

 

[gzebrick]

It's only a rival if you're comparing apples and oranges -- or in this case CUVs and small trucks.

It's an entry level EV with 4 doors that seats 4 or 5 in a pinch (that rapidly becomes an expensive EV) so I think it's fair game, same as the Bolt and Leaf. I think the Fathom is more of a trucklet than a small truck, but we'll have to wait for the specs to find out for sure. Anyone looking to buy a new low-cost EV will probably cross shop everything out there under 35K

 

[ScooterAsheville]

I often compare apples and oranges when selecting a new ride (I once cross-shopped a Miata and a Honda station wagon) - no hard requirements here for a truck. I was super interested in the EV3 a year ago. Since then the market has just moved, and it's a bit less compelling. But it's a hit in Europe.

I was interested because I like smaller vehicles - I really love that the EV3 is only 169". But I also like my tech. I want AWD, the bigger battery, and some tech features like the 360 degree camera. I figure I'd end up around $45K for an EV3, and there's a lot of competition at that price - hopefully including a nicely equipped Fathom. The EV3's major feature, I suppose, is that you can buy it now?

I saw news this morning that Riley had said on Reddit that orders open in Jan. Some of us were wondering if the Fathom was going to be revealed at the Nov LA auto show, the Jan Detroit show, or in a special Ford event. If orders open in Jan, I'm leaning to a 12 Jan formal reveal at the Detroit show.

Right now my eyes are on the Fathom. A huge plus for me as I age is BlueCruise - especially if they promise an eyes-off upgrade down the road.

 

[metroshot]

50kWh battery, FWD and 400V = PASS

 

[graycorgi]

The price for the EV3 GT-Line is about where I expect a fully loaded Fathom to land, but I'd never consider an EV3 due to the 31+ minute 10-80% charge time. That's a hard pass from me - in 2026/2027 we should expect better charging speeds than that.

Hopefully Ford can do much better than that with charge speed. Rivian proved that 400V doesn't have to mean slow charging. The R2 averages 150kW from 10-80%. EV3 by my math is only averaging about 106kW (which is still better than Slate's meager 88kW average).

If the Fathom can average at least 150kW from 10-80% with a smaller battery than the R2, they would have a very competitive vehicle for charge speed in North America. For example, if Ford's "big" battery option had the same usable battery capacity as my EV6 (about 74kWh), sustaining an average 150kW from 10-80% would mean a charge time of about 21 minutes.

 

[mark]

I often compare apples and oranges when selecting a new ride (I once cross-shopped a Miata and a Honda station wagon) - no hard requirements here for a truck. I was super interested in the EV3 a year ago. Since then the market has just moved, and it's a bit less compelling.

I was interested because I like smaller vehicles - I really love that the EV3 is only 169". But I also like my tech. I want AWD, the bigger battery, and some tech features like the 360 degree camera. I figure I'd end up around $45K for an EV3, and there's a lot of competition at that price - hopefully including a nicely equipped Fathom. The EV3's major feature, I suppose, is that you can buy it now?

I saw news this morning that Riley had said on Reddit that orders open in Jan. Some of us were wondering if the Fathom was going to be revealed at the Nov LA auto show, the Jan Detroit show, or in a special Ford event. If orders open in Jan, I'm leaning to a 12 Jan formal reveal at the Detroit show.

Right now my eyes are on the Fathom. A huge plus for me as I age is BlueCruise - especially if they promise an eyes-off upgrade down the road.

A few years ago I considered Kia/ Hyundai as an option for purchase. After reading some of the reviews from owners, there was a consistent list of compaliants on service and parts availabilty from the dealers. A 100,000 mile warranty for a parked auto does not work for me. This may have improved. I went with Honda, again, minimum repair history and excellent service department. I am considering the Ford Fathom since my brother has had excellent service and sales support from Autonation Ford locally. A second recommendation for Autonation Service Centers came from my local Firestone Dealer.
I’m 73, so I get your closing comments. I also live in a hurricane alley, so the power to home optioN is a real selling point for us, when you lose power for 48 to 60 hours after a storm.

 

[metroshot]

A few years ago I considered Kia/ Hyundai as an option for purchase.
......
I’m 73, so I get your closing comments. I also live in a hurricane alley, so the power to home optioN is a real selling point for us, when you lose power for 48 to 60 hours after a storm.

Just retired myself from the public government sector and agree that I found the same issue with Kia / Hyundai before I got my Ford Mach E.

Hyundai and Kia had major complaints on repair, parts availability, warranty support and loaner issues.

When I drove the EV6 for a week while my Mach E was in the shop for warranty repair, I enjoyed the ride as it was more comfortable; but lacked the spirited & fun drive of my Ford.

Looking forward to the new Fathom myself as it will have V2L which will be nice to power parts of your home while a power outage exists.

When I had the Lightning, it had V2H and V2L which came in handy during an extended power outage and used heavy duty extension cords to power the refrigerator, chest freezer, lights and microwave!

 

[Maverstang]

The Kia EV3 is more likely a competitor for the second UEV iteration after the Fathom, specifically the two row CUV which is expected to bring back the Escape name.

But in the short term it seems every $30k EV will be cross shopped!

 

[ChasingCoral]

US 2027 Kia EV3 Trims, Price, Battery Size, Range. Now On Sale
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[mark]

I asked Claude to compare the weight difference from the diffferent batteries as well as the electrical architecture based on the current Ford Fathom data and the EV3 specifications. The price increase for exended range and AWD increase are in the range I expect from Ford for the Fathom, based on Tim’s inference.

This was the response from Claude:

“Good technical comparison — here’s what’s confirmed vs. estimated for each, plus the physics behind the differences.


Chemistry & confirmed specs

	Ford Fathom (Standard Range)	Kia EV3
Chemistry	LFP (CATL-licensed)	NMC (nickel-manganese-cobalt)
Capacity	~51 kWh (Ford’s own guidance: ~15% smaller than BYD Atto 3’s 60.5 kWh usable — not yet officially published)	58.3 kWh (Light) / 81.4 kWh (Wind+) — confirmed
Voltage architecture	400V	400V
Motor layout	Rear permanent-magnet motor (RWD base); AWD adds a front induction motor	Front PM motor (FWD); AWD adds a second motor, 195–215 kW peak
Curb weight	~3,500–3,900 lb (estimated, whole vehicle)	4,398 lb (81.4 kWh AWD, confirmed)

The Fathom’s number is genuinely unconfirmed — Ford hasn’t published a spec sheet — so treat it as an industry-analyst estimate, not a spec.

Same-kWh weight comparison

This is the core chemistry tradeoff. LFP has lower gravimetric energy density than NMC — typically LFP packs land around 120–160 Wh/kg at the pack level, versus roughly 150–200 Wh/kg for NMC. That’s normally a 20–30% weight penalty for LFP at equal capacity.

So if you built a hypothetical 51 kWh pack in each chemistry: the NMC version would likely come in around 300–320 kg, while the LFP version would land closer to 370–430 kg — call it a 130–240 lb weight disadvantage for LFP at the same capacity. This is exactly why LFP vehicles (Tesla SR models, this Fathom) tend to spec smaller batteries and lean on affordability/cycle-life/safety rather than range or lightness as their selling point.

Is 400V better or worse than Ford’s design for efficiency?

Trick part of your question: they’re not actually different here — both the Fathom and the EV3 use 400V architecture. So there’s no voltage-class efficiency edge between these two specifically (unlike, say, comparing either to an 800V Ioniq 5/EV6, which reduces resistive losses and enables faster DC charging).

Where LFP vs. NMC does show up in efficiency:

Cold-weather performance: LFP has historically had higher internal resistance and more voltage sag at low temperatures than NMC, which costs real-world range in winter. CATL’s newer LFP formulations have narrowed this gap but haven’t eliminated it.

• Vehicle-level efficiency: the weight penalty from lower LFP energy density cascades — heavier pack means a heavier vehicle, which means more energy per mile everywhere (acceleration, braking, tire rolling resistance), even before you account for range differences.
• What LFP wins on: better cycle life, better thermal/thermal-runaway stability, no cobalt/nickel supply exposure — none of which is “efficiency” but all of which matters for a structural pack meant to last the life of a $28K truck.

Net: for your V2H use case where you care about backup capacity, cycle life, and cost more than outright range or peak efficiency, LFP’s tradeoffs line up with what you’re already prioritizing. If it were about maximizing miles per kWh or cold-climate range, NMC would have the edge — but Fathom’s target buyer isn’t chasing that.”

This is Ai, so treat it like another opinion. Just sharing for fun.