Background
This Ruling forms part of a wider piece of work on electric vehicle mileage ranges, identified for investigation following complaints received. See also related rulings published on 20 December.
Ad description
A paid-for Google ad and a website for Kia, seen on 13 March 2023:
a. The paid-for Google ad stated “The all-new Kia Niro – Niro EV up to 285 mile range”.
b. The website www.kia.com, featured a page titled “The all-new Kia Niro” which included information about Kia’s Niro range of electric, plug-in hybrid, and hybrid electric cars. A section comparing the features of the three models included text about the electric model that stated “…Range of 285 miles*”. The asterisk linked to small text further down the page that stated “Available with EV powertrain only”.
Issue
The complainant, who had not been able to achieve the maximum range stated in the ads, challenged whether the claims “up to 285 mile range” in ad (a), and “Range of 285 miles” in ad (b) were misleading.
Response
Kia UK Ltd t/a Kia said the ads stated the Niro EV was capable of covering 285 miles on a single charge (from 100% charge to 0%). The term “up to 285 miles” was used in ad (a) to allow for varying driving styles and external environment scenarios which could positively or negatively affect the total driving range.
Kia consulted with the external organisation IDIADA Automotive Technology which completed the driving range testing for the vehicle in line with the Worldwide Harmonised Light Vehicle Test Procedure (WLTP). The testing produced two range figures. The first was the ‘City’ range figure which specified the maximum mileage when the car was used for concentrated inner city driving. The second was the ‘Combined’ range figure which specified the maximum mileage when the car was used in everyday conditions. The combined range figure was calculated from multiple everyday driving scenarios. Those driving scenarios were recorded repeatedly in a lab environment in identical conditions.
Kia said the ‘City’ range figure was 375 miles and the ‘Combined’ range figure was 285 miles. They had only used the ‘Combined’ WLTP figure in the ads, because they assumed a variance in customer driving and wished to provide a fair representation of the vehicle’s range capability. They provided the ‘Whole Vehicle Type Approval’ (WVTA) document, produced by IDIADA Automotive Technology, which outlined the WLTP testing for the Niro EV. They said a WVTA was required for all vehicles to certify compliance with safety, environmental, and conformity of production requirements. Following a repeated test procedure on a set of vehicles, a WVTA was granted. Kia said, that like all other manufacturers, they were legally bound to present those figures and only those to the public. The 285 miles (combined) range was not their own, but one that had to be legally presented.
Kia said that the asterisk in “Range of 285 miles*” in ad (b) should have taken consumers to a section of the website related to WLTP testing.
Kia stated that if a Niro EV displayed that it was 100% charged, the vehicle would present a range figure on the dashboard which stated the range the vehicle’s computer believed the car could achieve on that charge. That information would be based on previous driving style, vehicle feature usage, and external environment factors. If the efficiency of the driving thereafter was different, the range figure would adapt to accommodate that. The range figure stated on the dashboard when the battery was at 100% therefore may not have been the final mileage that was achieved on the battery cycle.Kia told us that while the Niro EV had an independently confirmed WLTP ‘Combined’ range of 285 miles, some external reports had found that colder temperatures and inefficient driving styles could result in a lower range, and that applied to any battery-based electric vehicle. They also stated that in the summer months, when temperatures were warmer, several Kia EV drivers had achieved range figures above the stated WLTP figure of 285 miles (combined).
Assessment
Upheld
The CAP Code stated that marketing communications must state significant limitations and qualifications and qualifications must be presented clearly.
The ASA considered consumers would interpret the claim “up to 285 mile range” in ad (a) to mean the Niro EV was capable of achieving a 285 mile range as a maximum on a full battery charge in a significant amount of cases. We considered consumers would interpret the claim “Range of 285 miles” in ad (b) to mean that was the representative mileage range for the car on a full battery. We also considered that with both ads, consumers would understand that the advertised range, in this case 285 miles, could be achieved on an amount of charge which was advisable for the car.
The evidence provided by Kia showed the combined range figure produced by WLTP testing was 285 miles, and that figure was calculated from multiple everyday driving scenarios which were recorded repeatedly in a lab environment in identical conditions. The mileage was calculated from the battery starting on 100% charge and ending on 0%. WLTP procedure is the testing process for measuring fuel economy for new cars, electric mileage range, and emissions. Additionally, external reports cited by Kia found that cold weather and inefficient driving styles could result in a lower range.
Neither ad (a) nor ad (b) provided information to consumers to explain that the mileage range was based on test data. We acknowledged that Kia believed that the asterisk in “Range of 285 miles*” should have directed readers to a section of the website related to WLTP testing. However, the webpage featuring the claim did not include any qualifying text. Furthermore, we understood that various real-world factors, such as speed, style of driving, weather and route conditions, and the age and condition of the battery might affect the range. If any of those conditions were less than optimal, which we considered would occur often, the range achieved in the Niro EV may have been lower than 285 miles. We considered that was significant information, which was material to consumers’ understanding of the battery range achievable in the Niro EV, and therefore should have appeared in the ads. We acknowledged that the term “up to 285 miles” was used in ad (a) to allow for varying driving styles and external environment scenarios. However, consumers were likely to understand that the figure quoted was the achievable range for the vehicle in standard driving conditions; when this was not necessarily the case, the maximum range would, therefore, not always be met. We considered that the claim “up to 285 miles” required clear qualification to explain what it represented.
In addition, while the mileage claim was based on the car starting with 100% charge, we understood that it was generally not advisable to charge the car beyond 80%, and therefore any claim based on a 100% charge was not representative. We considered that this was material information which should have appeared in the ads themselves.
We understood that ad (b) had been amended to include the text “Battery range figures are official EU test figures for comparative purposes and may not reflect real driving results. Fuel consumption and CO2 emissions are tested using WLTP […]”. However, we considered consumers would have only been aware of that information if they scrolled to the bottom of the ad and read the full page of text. It was therefore insufficiently prominent to counteract the overall misleading impression given by more prominent claims.
Because the ads did not make clear that the quoted battery range figures were not necessarily representative of what a user would achieve, and the amended version of ad (b) did not make that information sufficiently prominent, we concluded that the claims “up to 285 mile range” in ad (a), and “Range of 285 miles” in ad (b) were likely to mislead.
The ads breached CAP Code (Edition 12) rules 3.1, 3.3 (Misleading advertising), 3.7 (Substantiation), 3.9 and 3.10 (Qualification), and 3.11 (Exaggeration).
Action
The ads must not appear again in the form complained of. We told Kia UK Ltd t/a Kia to ensure that their future ads contained clear and prominent information to explain the basis of any mileage range claim and to avoid any implication that they were representative of a users’ experience when driving the car.
