Route 66 road trip by Kia EV6: why we got our kicks with a Korean SUV

Richard Bosselman
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The sign and the car don't really go together. Or do they? Let's find out.

The sign and the car don't really go together. Or do they? Let's find out.

How special to take an electric vehicle (EV) along the legendary road symbolising as a time capsule of America’s history, with all its struggles and triumphs? On a personal achievement scale: totally.

Kia EV6 on Route 66.
No, it's not American. But the Kia EV6 proved its worth on our Route 66 adventure,

My choice of a medium electric crossover to drive on the New Zealand-orchestrated, mostly Australasian-supported Gilligans Route 66 deep-dive drive exploration was a first for organiser Sam Murray of Waimate, for whom this would be a 12th run. Save for a British couple who’d come from Spain, none of our fellow travellers had EV experience; most also had no interest.

Kia EV6 on Route 66.
In Auburn, Illinois, they decided bricks would work for Route 66. That's paving, right?

Trail-blazer status in achieving the epic 4000km, eight-state link between Chicago and Los Angeles on battery oomph only existed within our group, all the same.

As a feat to win local attention? The opportunity was snapped up by Ford with the Mach-E. Just two years ago, yet a lifetime. There’s been so much progress since.

In taking on the Mother Road over the last two weeks of September and first fortnight of October, it quickly dawned I wasn’t a man alone.

Kia EV6 on Route 66.
Braidwood, Illinois: be honest now, this is the sort of thing you really want to see.

Daily sights of all the Japanese, South Korea and European EVs we know so well plus those we only get to read about - Rivians, Lucids, several Hummers - suggest the battery baton is being carried by many.

Jim Hinckley, foremost Route 66 author (22 books, more coming to boil) and acknowledged automotive expert is happy to see it.

Kia EV6 on Route 66.
Route 66 historian Jim Hinckley meets tourist and Kia enthusiast Richard Bosselman.

Speaking in his hometown Kingman, Arizona - whose latest attraction is an eclectic EV museum — he can see that EVs are not for everyone, and probably never will be, but the technology is proven and is deserving a place in the traffic stream on a route that has long been about freedom, independence and great change.

“Electric cars are now relevant; we will keep seeing them in greater numbers.”

Kia EV6 on Route 66.
EV6 meets Hummer: who's the 800-volt big daddy now?

The tech will introduce a new generation to Route 66, he feels, and might very well be core to securing its future.

Recharging opportunity here is already generally good, but intent to add even more chargers, timed with the road’s 100th birthday in 2026, is a good thing. Better still, that’s supplemental to another happening thing, the US-wide opening up of the Tesla Supercharger network to rival brands.

Kia EV6 on Route 66.
A section of decommissioned road near Lexington, Illinois is a reminder of the past.

At present, there already seem to be more superchargers, in more places, on 66 than there are provisions for cars dedicating to the international Combined Charging System format. But on strength of my sightings, outside of California, Americans are favouring CCS cars as much as they do Teslas.

Unity relies on a proprietary adapter from Tesla. Just Rivian and Ford presently have the crucial NACS device. Up to six other brands are lining up, but distribution has been slow. The Kia EV6 I drove will conceivably be Supercharger-ready next year. Having a NACS for my trip would have made it even easier.

Kia EV6 on Route 66.
Galena, Kansas, leverages its association with a certain Disney movie.

As is, zoning in on the domestic big guns of DC fast charging, Electrify America and EVGo, and their 150kWh "ultra" and 350kW "hyper" chargers was the best idea for my car’s advanced 800-volt platform.

Created from a $US2 billion seeding fund from VW’s Dieselgate fine, EA has been criticised for middling reliability and maintenance of its stations.

Kia EV6 on Route 66.
Relics everywhere: remains of an old upright piano in Canute, Oklahoma.

I didn’t find that to issue, but would agree you can easily see where the funding didn’t go. Sites are rather "industrial". Of almost three dozen visited, I recall only one having shade.

Locations are low key edge-of-town and easiest nailed down by Google or a specialist app. If neither avails, best head to a Walmart; they seem to have a tie-up. America’s famous mega-shop offers clean rest rooms and guaranteed delight for fans of the humour blog depicting customers of these stores.

Kia EV6 on Route 66.
EV6 from the Boomarang Diner in Chandler, Oklahoma.

As in NZ, chargers here are app-driven; unlike here, they also accept credit cards. Setting up an account unlocks tastier prices, if you can show US residency, but so long as your credit card has a security chip, you’re zipping into zap. Mostly. Some readers were wary of my card. Fortunately, my wife’s never failed.

Halloween prep was big during our trip and some hubs were being ghoulish in showing up online as being active yet very much playing dead on arrival. Pontiac’s only DC station was taped off like a crime scene. Las Vegas was a gamble; two of four visited on a single afternoon were inoperative; one still in build, the other apparently under de-construction.

Kia EV6 on Route 66.
McLaren, Texas: not all motels from the classic period have been able to survive.

There was only one time when an overnight stop failed to provide any useful option. The conjoined cities of Laughlin, Nevada, and Bullhead City, Arizona, are home to 54,000 souls. And, for non-Teslarati, a single puny AC trickle charger.

Long trips can ruin a car’s reputation or raise it. I liked EV6 before. I really admire it now.

Kia EV6 on Route 66.
Old signage everywhere adds to the heritage mood.

Comfort, quietness, a spacious cabin - and a mega-sized boot that simply swallowed the four bags we started with and five brought home. Ours was the entry all-wheel-drive, but far from basic in content; top of the "cool" list for us were the in-seat cold air blowers. You cannot believe how appreciated these are in desert driving.

Hyundai’s E-GMP platform remains tech-forward, but this example represented a small step back in time in a US market sense. America received the mid-life facelift last year, with numerous improvements and styling changes. This one was an original-era 77kW edition and came to me with 34,458 miles (55,454km) on the clock, to which I added 2999 miles/4826km. If that seems old for a rental, I’d say it’s ripple from the whole Hertz/Tesla saga.

Kia EV6 on Route 66.
Electrify America's 150kW and 350kW DC units got the most out of the EV6's 800-volt technology.

Taking a crossover, let alone an electric one, on a muscle-car drive route will seem a sacrilege, but only if you believe the BS about that automotive genre’s link to the road. Assuredly, it is highly tenuous.

Anyone out to honour historic credential really needs to be in a vehicle from the 1920s to 1950s. Slim picks there; even V8s have been pulled by mainstream rental firms now. Likewise many EVs. The Hertz-Tesla debacle has seriously re-set EV hire opportunity. This story should have been about taking a classic, but now electric, NZ-relevant US nameplate car on the classic US drive. But Cadillac and Ford couldn’t come through with press cars and, in respect to a Mustang Mach-E, nether could the rentals I hit next.

Kia EV6 on Route 66.
Anzac in New Mexico really is named after the Gallipoli campaign.

Gilligans’ specialises in putting guests onto very original roads. When 66 inaugurated, only a tiny portion was tarred and though intent was to seal it all - if not with tarmac then in concrete and in Auburn near "not the cats and dogs" Springfield, Illinois, in hand-made brick - some of the zones that were gravel and dirt a century ago still are now. They’re not mandatory, but for those intent on staying true to the course and tour credo, crave experience. No sweat for SUVs. But if the V6 Dodge Challenger and four-pot Mustang convertible on our tour went back feeling loose, these places would be why.

The EV6 is more about competence than character, but what it does well, it does very well indeed. Ambling along for maximum local environment immersion made the car all but noiseless. I suspect stealth is why we saw many hand-sized black shapes scuttling across an Arizona byway.  Male tarantulas spiders risk all to find a mate, we later learned, but potentially they were oblivious to us.

Kia EV6 on Route 66.
The Blue Swallow in Tucumcari, New Mexico, is an international Route 66 icon.

Absolute range anxiety never arose, but from Texas and beyond, driving the car in its thriftiest mode ended. America was in a heatwave and the air con is too tempered in Eco. Also, from the Lone Star state on, there’s unavoidably more motorway running. Locals don’t mess about on the interstate and aren’t impressed by those in EVs who try to.

Rising ambient heat also hurt the battery’s performance. Gone were the days when it registered 533 kilometres’ maximum range. On 30-35 Celsius days, it mostly determined on giving us 80kms less from a full charge.

Kia EV6 on Route 66.
Oatman, Arizona is famous for its wandering donkeys.

All this, and ahead were the two longest days on the road.

Being just 381km, Tucumcari to Albuquerque doesn’t seem so bad. But it’s a continual climb to mid-point Santa Fe; America’s second oldest city is at 2194 metres above seas level also the second highest. The car climbed effortless, but needed a big midday refill. To be fair, so did the petrol stuff.

Kia EV6 on Route 66.
Roy's is another Route 66 icon that provides respite from the Mojave Desert heat.

Laughlin to Pasadena, California, was in much kinder terrain, but further. Plan was again to replenish mid-point, in Barstow. All going well we’d be in the pool by 4.30pm. Reality was frazzled last-in arrival, three hours behind schedule.

Everything that could go wrong, did. A faulty charger. Traffic jams. Tough navigation in Pasadena rush hour. That last hour of freeway driving being into sun glare. Our last full day at the wheel was the worst.

Kia EV6 on Route 66.
Thirty-plus charges later and we saw the back of Route 66 in California.

Did it all add up? As a feel-good proof of potential, absolutely. I’ve no regrets on that side of things.

We charged almost three dozen times; every time paying less for electricity that we often could here. But similar-sized four-cylinder SUVs on our tour were less expensive to hire, generally refuelled every three days, and most supped cheapest-kind 88 octane. They were simply more cost-effective.

As for Route 66? It’s one of those gems for which no price is too high.