The folks at Kia have taken the EV4 compact electric car to Germany to rip around one of the most challenging race tracks in the world.

But, before you get too excited, they weren’t there to try for Nürburgring Nordschleife lap records.

Instead, the company was putting the EV4 through a battery stress test.

The company said the compact car is designed with durability in mind, so the company is putting the model through its paces to ensure stable performance over long distances, challenging climates and under heavy loads.

The company took the EV4 on a 110,000-kilometre European durability test, which included 10,000 kilometres of hard driving at Nürburgring.

Nürburgring’s Nordschleife race track is nearly 20 kilometres long and is full of tight turns and steep elevation changes.

The team was able to push the car hard and in between laps the car underwent fast-charging.

Driving the car at the race track allowed the team to simulate a continuous maximum performance output of 90 to 95 per cent and to check for potential strain on the battery system.

Kia said the car maintained impressive performance throughout the stress test campaign.

After 110,000 kilometres of road testing, including 10,000 kilometres at the track, the battery’s state of health was 95 per cent, the automaker said.

“To provide our customers a reliable, everyday EV, we had to validate the EV4’s durability both in real-world and extreme environments,” said Stephan Hoferer, manager, durability development at Hyundai Motor Europe Technical Center, in a news release. “With the rigorous testing – from icy roads to racetracks, we’re confident the EV4 will deliver dependable performance well beyond everyday needs.”

The all-electric 2026 Kia EV4 is expected to be available in Canada in early 2026.

For updates, visit the Kia Canada website.

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