Uploaded July 2026 | Updated September 2026, 3 weeks ago
The 2026 Kia PV5 Cargo is the small electric work van that finally does the sums, and it is exactly the kind of van America stopped selling. Kia's first purpose-built van starts under £23,000 excluding VAT after the Plug-in Van Grant, thousands below a Volkswagen ID Buzz Cargo and well below a Ford E-Transit Custom, and it took 2026 International Van of the Year on the way through. This film was shot around a real showroom example, a 71.2 kWh Cargo in Plus trim, right down to the price card on the windscreen.
0:00 Introduction, Price & Van Grant
0:31 Purpose-Built Design & Warranty
0:57 Load Space, Height & Payload
1:19 Rear Doors, Battery & Trade-Offs
1:36 Cab Interior, Storage & Office Features
2:02 Mains Power, Door Width & Load Bay
2:30 Screens, Fleet Tools & Passenger Seat
2:58 Towing Capacity & Target Users
If you are watching from the United States, this is the part that stings. The compact work van is extinct there. Ford dropped the Transit Connect after the 2023 model year, Ram dropped the ProMaster City after 2022, and the Nissan NV200, Chevrolet City Express and Mercedes Metris had already gone. The smallest new work van an American can order today is a full-size Ram ProMaster 1500 low roof on the 118-inch wheelbase: 195.4 inches long, 259 cu ft of load space, from $45,325 before destination. Relief is coming, but not yet. Ram showed the 2027 ProMaster City at Work Truck Week in March, targeting under $40,000, with sales starting in the first quarter of 2027. The PV5 itself is not part of that: Kia sells it in Korea, Europe, Australia, the Middle East and Canada, where the 2027 Cargo has been priced at CAD 46,995. Kia has announced nothing for the US.
So the prices and dimensions in this video stay in pounds, francs and millimetres, because that is where this van is actually sold. Where it helps, the figure is given both ways.
What it is trying to replace is the diesel van on the driveway that does the job, the school run and the tip run, and puts every mile through a fuel card. Then we get honest about what the cheap one cannot do. The headline is the value. The catch is the choosing. Going for the long-range 71.2 kWh battery drops the payload from 790 kg to 690 kg, so the range you buy costs you carrying capacity. The E-GMP.S platform gives a 419 mm load lip, just over sixteen inches, which will save your back on a parcel round, but the suspension housings pinch the load floor to 920 mm at their narrowest, which is why reviewers keep calling the load bay awkward. And it tows 750 kg, about sixteen hundred pounds. A Ford E-Transit Custom pulls 2,300 kg, roughly three times as much.
So this is a van for the plumber, the electrician, the courier and the small fleet that never leaves town. If you pull a plant trailer for a living, no discount fixes that.
SPECS AT A GLANCE
Motor / drive: single front motor, 120 kW (163 PS), front-wheel drive
Battery: 51.5 kWh or 71.2 kWh (this van: 71.2 kWh)
Range: up to 184 miles or up to 258 miles WLTP (416 km)
Charging: 150 kW DC, 10-80% in under 30 minutes; 11 kW AC
Payload: 790 kg standard range (1,742 lb) / 690 kg long range (1,521 lb)
Load volume: 3.4 m³ (L1H1), 4.5 m³ (L2H1), 5.1 m³ (L2H2); load lip 419 mm (16.5 in)
Towing: 750 kg braked (1,653 lb)
Price: from £27,645 excluding VAT, under £23,000 after the Plug-in Van Grant
Sold in: Korea, Europe, Australia, the Middle East, Canada (CAD 46,995). Not sold in the United States.
For scale, the smallest work van on sale in the US: Ram ProMaster 1500 low roof 118-inch WB, 195.4 in, 259 cu ft, from $45,325.
Awards: 2026 International Van of the Year · What Van? Van of the Year and Compact Van of the Year 2026 · Auto Express Electric Van of the Year 2026.
Subscribe if you are weighing up an electric van for actual work rather than for a driveway. We shoot the real showroom cars, sticker and all, and we tell you which trim ruins the numbers.
#KiaPV5 #ElectricVan #KiaPV5Cargo #EVVan
The 2026 Kia PV5 Cargo is the small electric work van that finally does the sums, and it is exactly the kind of van America stopped selling. Kia's first purpose-built van starts under £23,000 excluding VAT after the Plug-in Van Grant, thousands below a Volkswagen ID Buzz Cargo and well below a Ford E-Transit Custom, and it took 2026 International Van of the Year on the way through. This film was shot around a real showroom example, a 71.2 kWh Cargo in Plus trim, right down to the price card on the windscreen.
0:00 Introduction, Price & Van Grant
0:31 Purpose-Built Design & Warranty
0:57 Load Space, Height & Payload
1:19 Rear Doors, Battery & Trade-Offs
1:36 Cab Interior, Storage & Office Features
2:02 Mains Power, Door Width & Load Bay
2:30 Screens, Fleet Tools & Passenger Seat
2:58 Towing Capacity & Target Users
If you are watching from the United States, this is the part that stings. The compact work van is extinct there. Ford dropped the Transit Connect after the 2023 model year, Ram dropped the ProMaster City after 2022, and the Nissan NV200, Chevrolet City Express and Mercedes Metris had already gone. The smallest new work van an American can order today is a full-size Ram ProMaster 1500 low roof on the 118-inch wheelbase: 195.4 inches long, 259 cu ft of load space, from $45,325 before destination. Relief is coming, but not yet. Ram showed the 2027 ProMaster City at Work Truck Week in March, targeting under $40,000, with sales starting in the first quarter of 2027. The PV5 itself is not part of that: Kia sells it in Korea, Europe, Australia, the Middle East and Canada, where the 2027 Cargo has been priced at CAD 46,995. Kia has announced nothing for the US.
So the prices and dimensions in this video stay in pounds, francs and millimetres, because that is where this van is actually sold. Where it helps, the figure is given both ways.
What it is trying to replace is the diesel van on the driveway that does the job, the school run and the tip run, and puts every mile through a fuel card. Then we get honest about what the cheap one cannot do. The headline is the value. The catch is the choosing. Going for the long-range 71.2 kWh battery drops the payload from 790 kg to 690 kg, so the range you buy costs you carrying capacity. The E-GMP.S platform gives a 419 mm load lip, just over sixteen inches, which will save your back on a parcel round, but the suspension housings pinch the load floor to 920 mm at their narrowest, which is why reviewers keep calling the load bay awkward. And it tows 750 kg, about sixteen hundred pounds. A Ford E-Transit Custom pulls 2,300 kg, roughly three times as much.
So this is a van for the plumber, the electrician, the courier and the small fleet that never leaves town. If you pull a plant trailer for a living, no discount fixes that.
SPECS AT A GLANCE
Motor / drive: single front motor, 120 kW (163 PS), front-wheel drive
Battery: 51.5 kWh or 71.2 kWh (this van: 71.2 kWh)
Range: up to 184 miles or up to 258 miles WLTP (416 km)
Charging: 150 kW DC, 10-80% in under 30 minutes; 11 kW AC
Payload: 790 kg standard range (1,742 lb) / 690 kg long range (1,521 lb)
Load volume: 3.4 m³ (L1H1), 4.5 m³ (L2H1), 5.1 m³ (L2H2); load lip 419 mm (16.5 in)
Towing: 750 kg braked (1,653 lb)
Price: from £27,645 excluding VAT, under £23,000 after the Plug-in Van Grant
Sold in: Korea, Europe, Australia, the Middle East, Canada (CAD 46,995). Not sold in the United States.
For scale, the smallest work van on sale in the US: Ram ProMaster 1500 low roof 118-inch WB, 195.4 in, 259 cu ft, from $45,325.
Awards: 2026 International Van of the Year · What Van? Van of the Year and Compact Van of the Year 2026 · Auto Express Electric Van of the Year 2026.
Subscribe if you are weighing up an electric van for actual work rather than for a driveway. We shoot the real showroom cars, sticker and all, and we tell you which trim ruins the numbers.
#KiaPV5 #ElectricVan #KiaPV5Cargo #EVVan
