Longitudinal Dynamics of the Kia Niro EV: An Experimental Study of Acceleration and Regenerative Braking Under Selected Control Settings

The rapid development of electric vehicles has increased the need for a better understanding of the relationships between vehicle dynamics, energy consumption and control strategies. This study presents an experimental investigation of the acceleration and coasting characteristics of a 2024 Kia Niro EV. Road tests were combined with laboratory measurements of the vehicle mass properties, including the centre of gravity. Vehicle motion parameters were recorded using a GNSS/INS measurement system, while electric powertrain data were acquired from the vehicle CAN bus using proprietary software developed by the authors. The influence of driving mode, accelerator pedal position and regenerative braking intensity was analysed. The results showed that the selected driving mode significantly affects the acceleration characteristics only at intermediate accelerator pedal positions, whereas identical maximum performance is obtained with the accelerator pedal fully depressed. The energy required to accelerate the vehicle to 90 km/h remained nearly constant under most operating conditions, indicating high electric powertrain efficiency. During coasting, regenerative braking recovered up to 50% of the energy previously required for acceleration. The obtained results provide valuable experimental data for the validation of vehicle dynamics and energy consumption models and support the development of more efficient electric vehicle control strategies.