Kia’s Newest EV and Its Minivan Swept Two Green Car Awards

The 2027 Kia EV3 is Green Car Journal’s 2027 Green Car of the Year, and the Carnival Hybrid is its Green Minivan of the Year. That gives Kia two of the nine trophies in this year’s Green Car Awards.

The EV3 won the overall award as an electric compact crossover priced under $30,000, with a $29,890 starting price, a range of 221 to 321 miles depending on trim and nearly 30 inches of digital displays inherited from the larger EV9. The Carnival Hybrid took the minivan category on a $41,490 starting price, 33 mpg combined, a 608-mile driving range, seating for up to eight and second-row seats that fold into the floor.

Green Car Journal’s editors published the full list of winners in a September 1 announcement, and Kia repeated both wins in its October 1 sales release, the same day it confirmed the EV3 had reached U.S. dealers.

The rest of the 2027 awards went to the BMW iX3 as Premium Green Car of the Year, the Fiat 500e as Urban Green Car, the Fiat Topolino as Neighborhood Green Car, the Karma Gyesera Grand Coupe as Luxury Green Car, the Mitsubishi Eclipse Sportback EV as Green SUV, the Ram ProMaster City as Commercial Green Car and the Toyota Grand Highlander Hybrid as Family Green Car of the Year. The magazine’s write-up credited the EV3 with bringing the EV9’s design and technology to a smaller, more affordable vehicle and called it a defining entry in Kia’s electric lineup.

Kia’s own EV3 release lists seven trims from the $29,890 Light with a 58.3-kWh battery and 221 miles of range to the $45,890 GT with 288 horsepower, all before a $1,495 destination charge, and puts the long-range 81.4-kWh pack at 321 miles with front-wheel drive. The EV3 sold 514 units in September, its first full month.

The Carnival is already on a run of its own. Kia’s sales release shows the minivan up 21 percent in September to 6,804 units and up to 61,540 for the year from 51,205, with the Carnival Hybrid up 47 percent, part of a hybrid lineup Kia calls the second-largest in the industry.

The HyundaiHQ Take

An award for a car that had sold six copies before September says more about Green Car Journal’s priorities than the EV3’s track record, but the priorities are the right ones: the cheapest new EV with a real 321-mile option deserves the attention. The Carnival Hybrid is the more useful endorsement for buyers today, because a 33 mpg eight-seater at $41,490 is the kind of family vehicle the Toyota Sienna has had mostly to itself, and Kia now has the sales trend to prove the point.