“The Optima HEV adds hybrid efficiency to the standout styling and vehicle dynamics of our all-new Optima, and the PHEV takes things one step further with all-electric range that is among the best in the segment,” said Orth Hedrick, vice president, product planning, Kia Motors America.

Even now, amid an explosion of alternative powertrain vehicles, many people still do not know how hybrid-electric vehicles work and remain suspicious of what it would be like to live with one. Kia’s all-new 2017 Optima Plug-In Electric Vehicle (PHEV) can change your mind.

Let’s start with the basics:

• a standard gasoline-powered vehicle has only one method of propulsion; an internal combustion engine (ICE) that burns gasoline to create power.
• A hybrid-electric vehicle (HEV) drives very much the same but has two sources of power: typically, a small, more efficient ICE gas engine that works in unison with a powerful electric motor or motors. Because the gas engine is small and efficient, it relies heavily on the electric motor(s) to provide most of the thrust during acceleration.

The ICE engine still requires a gas tank to refill, but the electric motor also needs to be “refuelled” and draws its power from a battery pack hidden inside the car’s chassis. Obviously, when a gas engine is running low on fuel, you stop and fill the tank. With a typical hybrid (HEV), you never need to plug it in because every time you press the brakes, the electric motor becomes a generator, producing energy that then goes directly back into the battery pack.

So, what is a PHEV Hybrid?

What makes a Hybrid PHEV vehicle unique is that although it can do everything that an HEV hybrid can do, you also have the ability to drive on pure electric power and you have the option to plug-in your vehicle to better control when and how you keep the battery pack recharged.

It’s important to note that the vehicle can also run on just the gasoline engine. “Running out of power” is an unwarranted fear and is much harder to do in a PHEV than in a regular gas-powered vehicle.

Most importantly, PHEV hybrids are by far the most fuel-efficient. For example, the HEV Optima Hybrid yields an impressive 6.0 / 5.1 city/highway mileage rating (L / 100km), but the Optima PHEV Plug-In Hybrid yields an incredible 5.9 / 2.3. That translates into a staggering 103 MPGe!

The Kia Optima is a beautiful, refined and incredibly well-engineered vehicle that has been impressing drivers and winning awards for years. The PHEV Hybrid model offers all of the same exciting styling, driving dynamics, interior comfort, safety assistance and connectivity technology, with Kia’s world-famous ease of mind reliability and much, much more.

Call today and arrange a test drive. The exciting Optima HEV Hybrid could very well become the favourite car you’ve ever owned.