Kia EV5

First, where it is not. The EV5 is a compact electric SUV on the 400-volt E-GMP platform, positioned below the EV9. It is manufactured in China and South Korea, and because of the American tariffs on Chinese goods and the subsidy rules that demand local production, Kia declined to sell it in the United States. In North America it is offered only in Canada and Mexico. So an American auction and an EV5 do not add up.

Charging is the first and most expensive problem. Canadian cars use the CCS1 port, Chinese ones the GB/T standard, and Bulgarian stations are CCS2. Fast charging at a public station becomes practically impossible without bulky adapters, which frequently terminate the session in software.

Connectivity is the second. The car's modem works on American or Chinese frequencies. In Bulgaria that means a car with no built-in internet — the navigation is left without live traffic, over-the-air updates stop, and Kia's phone app will not work. This is not an extra that can be added later.

The third is a winter one. Cars from Mexico are ordered from the factory without a heat pump. Through a Bulgarian winter the heating works like an immersion element and the range halves. The fourth is registration: the car arrives with red rear indicators and no rear fog lamp, so expensive physical and software rework lies ahead before the inspection.

For comparison, the European range is Standard Range with 64 kWh and 218 hp, Long Range with 81 to 88 kWh, 218 hp and over 540 km, and AWD Long Range with two motors and 313 hp. The interior is why the car is wanted — a built-in drawer that holds anything from 5 to 55 degrees, a driver's seat with massage, a boot floor that becomes a table, and a 230-volt socket in the back. All of that is available in a dealer car with a warranty, without a single one of the problems above.