Kia’s PV5 just drove into the world record books, with us driving

It's not just Kia who has set a Guinness World Record, Van Reviewer has got one too!

Well, more specifically, this article’s author George Barrow who can now lay claim to being "Officially Amazing" (GWR's words, not mine), but there's more to the story than the headline news that the Kia PV5 set a world record.

This is the full, behind the scenes, blow-by-blow account of setting a Guinness World Record behind the wheel of the Kia PV5 Cargo and an attempt to extract the most possible range out of a battery electric van.

"Do you want to try and set a Guinness World Record?"
[What kind of a question is that?]
"Yes. Hell yes!"
[I wonder what I have to do]
"How are you at driving economically? I mean really, really economically..."
[Oh shi...]

Hearing the brief, after a while the enormity of it all sinks in.

The record in question is driving an electric van from 100% charge to 0%, almost non-stop. That's a lot of driving, even if the vehicle has terrible range, but if the vehicle is half decent and the driver is ok that's a considerable amount.

If the vehicle is incredibly efficient and the driver is good... well, that's a whole new equation, and a challenge I was about to take part in.

For someone who grew up memorising the contents of a Guinness World Records annual that I was given as a Christmas present, getting asked to do something like this is probably the world's shortest thought process. It's an immediate yes, but the question you then need to ask yourself is 'can you actually be a record breaker?' Or in this instance a record maker.

Many records have been set for various electric car challenges. It's to be expected when there's any new technology, and as electric vans are becoming more and more popular there's a tonne of records also being set for them too. This record is looking to combine both the technology of a brand new van with the endurance of the drivers. Harmony between man and machine.

But, vans exist to do a job. To carry things. To go places. To be useful, and practical.

A record for simply going really far in an electric van might be a feather in a your cap, but a record for going somewhere at your max weight comes close to actually meaning something. Or at least that's the idea.

So, it was decided (long before I was ever asked to take part) that this would be a challenge with purpose. "The greatest distance travelled by a light-duty battery-powered electric van with maximum payload on a single charge" - if you want to use the official terminology.

Highest possible range. A full battery. At max weight.

It is a case of aiming for the stars, but being weighed down before you get there. What could possibly go wrong?

The day begins in Frankfurt where scrutineers from TÜV Hessen and buck Vermessung perform and watch over the ritualistic weighing of both the van, the contents and me, the driver. It's all done under the watchful eye of an adjudicator from Guinness World Records, Joanne Brent.

When the weighing is done, I will be hitting the road in the Kia PV5, a van that I've only had a fleeting test drive of a week before, on a route that I've never driven. Preparation for this record attempt has consisted of driving a car, not a van, with no added weight, a few times the week before back in the UK. I've route planned the loop, but that's the extent of it.

If that sounds like my own fault, I can assure you it isn't. A planned attempt at a full reconnaissance lap the day before was totally and utterly foxed by an unexpected flight cancellation, a lengthy delay and a detour via Geneva - roughly 500km south of Frankfurt. Prioritising food and sleep over driving (hardly suprising behaviour to a journalist), a street view 'drive' of the route will have to do.

Inspections complete and formalities formalised, which include securing the loadspace with its required payload, sealing the charging port and setting a constant 24-hour video recording of the cabin, it's time to hit the road.

It's almost exactly midday, just outside of the city of Frankfurt but the roads are still quite busy. The weather is mild, dry and there's little in the way of wind. Where it not for having the faintest idea of where to go, it's close to the ideal scenario.

I pull out from the starting point onto a fast main road with only the slightest of touches on the accelerator. The road is as straight as a ruler and tree-lined on both sides, giving a tunnel like impression, but there's not a car in sight. Perhaps this route will be as empty as my wallet after its detour through a Swiss airport.

Importantly, it’s also slightly down hill so the PV5’s average energy consumption figure immediately begins to fall.

No stranger to driving on the right, or in a left hand drive van, the only real unknown element of this lengthy adventure was the route. So as the road continued to fall, there was a rising level of concern that what goes down must eventually have to go up.

Having done some homework using satellite imagery, I was also mindful that the route would be going through quite a lot of small villages and a couple of towns.

Traffic was light at the moment, but stop-start traffic in the evening rush hour could become a problem, not least because with a full payload of 690kg onboard the amount of acceleration needed to get the van moving just from those few moments at the very start of the attempt showed that the energy consumption would be extremely high and that stopping was best avoided.

The van and I trundled on, through the first town where a set of traffic lights, on an incline, caused us to stop for the first time. That was swiftly followed by another stop, waiting for a stream of traffic where we didn’t have the right of way.

Both were to become regular features of the record attempt, and neither were at locations where you could realistically time your arrival to avoid it.

One town led to another, and eventually it was out into the countryside where traffic was almost non-existent, but the terrain was far more challenging. Several really steep and long dragging hills punctuated the southern section of the route. Could this be the payback for the earlier downhill start?

Still hopeful of the principal that what must go up, must come down there’s warning signs for a steep gradient. 11%. Perfect, a chance to recoup some losses. The van crests the hill and immediately begins to build speed.

Then the warning chevon’s appear, followed by double chevrons and then the sight of an armco the hairs on the back of my arm begin to rise. Free-wheeling as much as possible is my tactic, and going down hill, building speed is great for that, but we’re going downhill with tight, winding roads. I've also got to obey all the speed limits and traffic laws or else the entire attempt is null and void. No pressure.

Fortunately the PV5 has three levels of regenerative braking, the third and most severe of which is strong and scrubs off a healthy amount of speed, but it’s not enough for these tight corners.

We commit the cardinal sin of efficiency driving and have to really stand on the brakes. Lesson learnt. The hills really aren’t your friends, even on the down hill sections.

Another hill follows and another short, sharp descent. This time directly into a speed restricted village, so it back on to the brakes once more. I silently scream to myself. Piss poor planning prevents PV5 progress.

One lap done, and it’s time to feedback my findings, the main one being that other road users don’t really understand what’s going on.

I’ve already experience half a dozen instances of German road rage, as the locals wonder why we are travelling at half the sign-posted speed limit. The team hastily makes plans for a polite warning message, and hurries off to a nearby printers.

It’s taken close to two hours to complete the first lap, and the second begins in much the same way as the first, only now it’s time to experiment with some of the PV5’s features.

It perhaps goes without saying that there’s no air conditioning or infotainment running, but there’s still plenty of tech from behind the wheel to play with.

Bearing in mind that this attempt is scheduled to take at least 12 to 14 hours, I’m conscious that the cruise control could well be a helpful friend behind the wheel. Particularly late at night.

I set the speed and turn my brain to analytical mode; listening, watching and feeling what it’s up to, on the flat, uphill and downhill sections.

While I can’t claim to have the world’s greatest throttle control, my current toe control appears to be that of a prima ballerina compared to the wellington-wearing PV5.

While it’s great at keeping distance and lane control, when it comes to speed control it’s a binary affair. There’s power, then it’s coasting. There’s lots of power, then it’s coasting again.

Where steady speed as been my focus, the PV5 is hell bent on getting to its target speed as fast as possible, perhaps accutely aware of just how long this record might take. It also automatically engages the Auto level of regenerative braking - a clever Kia system that uses information from camera systems to check for hazards or changing road conditions, but one which means you can’t then manually change the amount of coasting or braking the van will do. 

The cruise control plan is quickly abandoned. Experiments are a learning process. I’ve now learnt that this will be a human-operated, solo mission.

Two laps down, nearly 120km travelled and just 15% of the battery depleted, I pull over to get my freshly printed stickers applied.

They can't come soon enough. My nerves are frayed. I’ve already apologised to every vehicle that’s overtaken me. With a polite message asking people to overtake, I’m really hoping that the German road rage tally doesn’t increase any further because now, entering the early parts of evening rush hour, it already stands at 20.

Speaking of solo missions, and unbeknownst to me at this point, discussions are already underway about how long this attempt will take.

In the original planning, I was to complete one attempt at the record and Christopher Nigemeier from the PV5 development team was to compete against me the following day. A proper head-to-head, winner takes the record.

While I was mildly concerned that a professional driver, probably far more familiar with the PV5 than I was, would unmask me as a hopeless fraud at economy driving and thus claim the record for himself, Chris and I had enjoyed some friendly banter before setting off. Although far from resigned to the fact that I was merely a warm-up act before the professional arrived, if anyone was going to claim the record then at least it was a nice guy like Chris.

That said, I can’t let a German win, so as I mentally prepared myself for a far longer and more gruelling shift behind the wheel, the team were engaging Plan B...

That plan meant sending Chris to bed early, because instead of competing against me, he’d now be my teammate.

Laps three, four and five pass without incident. The angry horn blasts and enthusiastic one-handed waving have all but stopped. It’s also well into the night, when I stop for dinner.

The team has thinned out, as they take turns getting some rest, and I’m now fully aware of the plan to swap me out of the van. When that is will depend on how long I can last, and how long Chris manages to sleep for.

Conscious that night driving is tiring at the best of times, let alone when you’re concentrating this hard to maximise efficiency, I don’t want to lumber my new partner with eight hours of darkness.

I head back out into the dark and onto now completely quiet roads for two last laps.

In many ways the night driving is easier. Fewer cars to worry about and the chance to really eke out the energy efficiency of the van by coasting as much as possible. I’ve also mastered the sequence of many of the traffic lights, which seem to change less frequently now that there aren’t vehicles waiting at the other junctions.

Even that twisty descent has become easier, cresting the hill as slow as possible and then rattling down it, taking the corners almost on two wheels. It’s about as much fun as you can legally have while economy driving to the letter of the law.

The speeds certainly aren’t great, but the PV5 handles really well and feel agile, despite its full load. By the time my stint is up I’ll have completed nearly 12 hours behind the wheel, but the PV5 hasn’t even yet become remotely uncomfortable. I dare say I could do another 12 hours, were it not for all the associated health and safety, not to mention legal obstacles preventing that.

The PV5 has so far been averaging a steady 10.4kWh/100km, rising to 10.5kWh during the particularly hilly final section. I’ve been fastidiously monitoring the consumption, by occasionally going into the main screen of the van and its battery statistics.

The bulk of the energy has been used for driving - what a suprise - but as the night has come an alarming amount of power is being consumed by the lights. It’s not vast, but it’s noticeable. The temperature has also dropped, and while still steadfast in my refusal to use even the basic fans, the interior is beginning to mist as the cool night air reacts with my many-layered and quite warm self.

To counter this, I’ve adopted a tactic of opening the windows on those steep downhill sections, blasting the chilly air into the cab to clear the fog. I figure that although it’s adding considerable drag, I’m actually wasting energy at points like this by having to brake anyway. Opening the windows will not only slow me down, a bit, but actually prevent me from having to use the fans. The plan works brilliantly. Although after four hours of this, when I do finally stop I realise I’m ever so slightly shivering, as a result.

It’s not just the temperature that is dropping, though. Light rain has started. It’s not a problem at first, the occasional swipe of the wiper blades restores order, but then more rain comes. The windscreen slowly covered by dots like the body of Guinness World Records holder Lucky Diamond Rich, the world's most tattooed person.

It’s not a lot, but it’s enough to have to turn the wipers on fully, as the slow speeds aren’t enough to drag the water away from the screen. I check the detailed battery screen. The electricity usage is as high as it has ever been. My heart sinks, hoping that the rain stops in time for Chris’ first lap.

Chris arrives at our record attempt base camp with a pop and a bang coming from the exhaust of the sporty little hatchback he's driving.

Not only has Chris put in some time on the PV5, but he’s also a seasoned pro behind the wheel of most things sporty coming from Hyundai Motor Group - not to mention a racing driver in events like the Nurburgring 24 Hour Race. A bit of slow night driving should be no problem for him, then.

I try my best to brief my new comrade, alerting him to a tricky turn that’s easy to miss on the route, as well as warning him about the hills.

I mention my tactic for the fog issues inside the cab, but having discovered by accident (just five minutes before finishing my shift) a ‘smart vent’ feature which seems to push the outside air gently through the cab, without using the fan, I suggest he opts for that over freezing himself.

I also warn him that it’s also the final few days of harvest in the area. As I’ve been lapping the countryside I’ve gradually noticed vast areas of crops becoming smaller and smaller. Being overtaken by a much faster combine harvester earlier in the day was humbling, but also a pretty clear indication that the farmers would be busy.

And busy throughout the night they most certainly were!

Rounding one particular bend was like chancing upon the scene from some B-movie about space invaders, with an alien abduction in full progress. Temporarily blinded by 20m of bright lights juddered towards me, I was just about able to see the vast arms of the farm machinery making a turn at the edge of the field.

Dusty tracks had been laid out across several farm entrances as the day progressed, but with the added rain a mucky sludge has been dragged across the road as the vehicles came in and out of the fields.

That, along with sightings of rabbits, foxes, voles and birds, was a reminder that although flying solo out here, you’re never truly alone.

Slightly delirious from 400km of driving, I wave Chris off into the night with 38% of the battery remaining. After a lengthly shower, I try to get some sleep, but a weird base level of adrenaline seems to be preventing that.

I check the team WhatsApp group to catch-up on the day’s goings on, eventually falling asleep before waking again to reports of how well Chris has been doing. With no more rain, we’re back to the 10.5kWh average, and furthermore he’s clearly been resisting his racing tendencies, opting for an "as slow as possible" approach during the dark.

Whereas I was mindful (and occasionally reminded) of Germany’s requirement to travel no less than half the speed limit when in traffic, Chris has no such restrictions. However, we’re adopting altogether different approaches to the task at hand.

His preference is to maintain a pretty consistent slow speed, whereas I was applying Newton’s Laws of Motion and driving to the roads in front of me and the terrain it presents.

Chris, it later transpired, was using a lot more regenerative braking in places where I was preferring to keep my momentum going. The interesting part, though, is that both tactics had yielded almost identical results.

Now well past the morning rush hour, it was time again for a swap.

When the idea of driving the PV5 from 100% to 0% was presented to me, I’d not really thought about the ending.

I’ve driven battery electric vehicles to zero percent before, but there was something about seeing this one through that suddenly meant I was eager to get back behind the wheel.

Chris graciously, and after a night behind the wheel quite willingly, stepped aside, giving me the chance to see this attempt through to its thrilling (but slow) conclusion.

Guinness World Records had, of course, been monitoring the progress of the attempt but after the initial inspections were completed, like sealing the loadspace and charging port, their only other concern was to ensure no tampering was possible.

For that reason the whole attempt was filmed throughout from inside to ensure that no electronic trickery was possible and that we of course weren’t getting a cheeky tow.

The crucial moment would come when the battery reached absolute zero.

Guinness World Records adjudicator Joanne Brent wanted to ensure that no secret battery or magical switch was thrown to extend the PV5’s range. That would mean she’d have to be present at the moment the battery not only went to zero, but also when it died completely.

Looks like I’ll be taking a passenger then.

This will probably not feature on her own personal highlights reel

The battery is at 3% when Joanne takes her position in the passenger seat. That should give her a bit of time to settle in, while I bore her to death explaining my newly adopted principles of economy driving.

Her career has seen her adjudicate hundreds of records, sometimes involving thousands of people doing truly amazing things. This will probably not feature on her own personal highlights reel.

Throughout the journey the live indicator for the battery consumption has proven to be the most useful tool at my and Chris’ disposal. We’ve been watching it avidly, but as the battery runs down it is replaced by a warning message to charge the battery.

My only guide has vanished, and while not exactly distracted by a passenger, I’m conscious that at the most critical part of this attempt I’m operating at a bit of a disadvantage.

These days, our over reliance on screens is well documented, and in this instance the disappearance of my digital marker turns out to be surprisingly freeing.

When the battery indicator finally reaches 0% it’s now just a question of seeing how far we can ride this thing out.

Since switching to Plan B, I’ve been carefully monitoring not only how economical the PV5 has been but how economical it thinks it will be.

While the projected range number has fluctuated quite widely as we go over the various sections of the loop, the indicated minimum and maximum range have been a more reliable compass.

The maximum range specifically has seemed to quickly acclimatise itself to our record attempt, foreseeing the enormity of this task almost from the beginning. It’s also remained remarkably consistent, fixed on a number that would see us reach around 600km.

Resuming my position behind the wheel, that figure has now become the team's unofficial goal. A nice round number for the Europeans and twice the requirement laid out by Guinness, but 600km is an ugly number in English, the equivalent of 373 miles. For that reason my new personal target is 400 miles (643.7km).

I’m confident we’ll reach 600km, but 400 miles will be a stretch. The battery indicator will certainly be on 0% by then. The question is how far will the PV5 allow us to go on zero.

Will it simply keep the same buffer you’d normally get, or will it have adjusted itself knowing that if we all of a sudden stop this ludicrously slow mode of driving we’ll still be able to travel a few emergency kilometres at regular speeds to get to a charger?

It comes as no suprise to me when the PV5 hits 600km. I call the team to pass on the good news, but it won’t be long before we hit zero percent. Can it make it 43km more to make it 400 miles?

After a rest and now far too familiar with the route, its bends and its bumps, I’ve fully hit my stride.

Looking back at the data when my last stint in the van with the lights and wipers on was averaging 11.5kWh/100km, I’m now comfortably below the 10.5kWh benchmark we’ve set. With one lap already under my belt, the system is logging what looks like 50km chunks, and the last record since taking over from Chris reads a heady 9.5kWh/100km. If we can continue that form then surely 400 miles will be within reach.

In between my inane questions about life as part of Guinness World Records, Joanne has been studiously filming the screens herself, as additional documentation to validate the attempt.

Then is happens, the moment she’s been waiting for, the battery indicator hits 0%. There’s no sudden power outage, and more importantly for her sake (and ours) there’s no sudden boost in power or range. I don’t go reaching for a secret button and a generator doesn't kick-in. Instead we just carry on and edge ever closer to the new target.

As the magic numbers come up on the dash 6-4-3, Joanne and I both stare as the last few hundred metres tick by. Then we’ve done it, 400 miles. But still the PV5 continues.

I’ve suddenly become extremely invested in this, more so than I had perhaps let on. That becomes very apparent when we’re forced into an unexpected stop and I turn the cabin air blue with expletives. It's not the end though, far from it. Pulling away once again, the PV5 shrugs offf the inconvenience.

This really is now the icing on the cake, but as everyone knows, the icing is the best bit. The question is greedy can we be?

It turns out, the PV5 wasn’t just in the business of icing our cake, it was lining up the cherries too. Several of them, and at one point, I genuinely thought this would go on for hours longer.

When I handed over to Chris in the early hours, I’d ambitiously said I think this will go to 670km, maybe 675km. Yet here we were, nudging our way towards that. Could 700km actually be possible?

Ahead there’s a set of traffic lights on red. The last thing I want to do now is stop, but familiar with the pattern I can see we’ve got the time to coast towards it and maybe be lucky enough to time it just right.

We need to turn right at the junction, and there’s a car in front already waiting to turn. As the lights flick to green we’re still sailing towards the lights. The car ahead moves off and we’ve hit the lights perfectly. The approach speed is a touch fast, but we don’t really need to brake, instead warning Joanne to hold tight (she’s used to this by now), I throw the PV5 into the turn.

As I begin to gently accelerate there’s a slight feeling that nothing is happening. There is a slight incline, and momentarily we seem to pause at 20kph. The PV5 has hit the wall. The speed drops to 19kph, then 18kph, then the motor simply stops.

We coast to a halt. After thanking hundreds of motorists throughout the day and night, my final act of roadside chivalry is to brake just before the end of a hatched section of road, allowing the crew of team vehicles to tuck in behind us, the recovery truck to pull ahead, and for other motorists to pass safely.

An abrupt ending, but an immensely satisfying one. An unofficial 674.4km that will still need to be verified by GPS and more importantly ratified by the independent witnesses and Guinness World Records.

The PV5, Chris, the Kia team and I have done all we can. It’s a nervous wait, but more than a week later there’s some good news.\

The record is official, the PV5 will enter the Guinness World Records with the title for the greatest distance travelled by a light-duty battery-powered electric van with maximum payload on a single charge.

Better still, GPS data puts the number at 430.84 miles or 693.38km, tantalising close to a massive 700km, and almost enough to make me want to try all over again.