Its regenerative braking system predictably slows the vehicle down when you let off the throttle, creating energy that's fed back to its battery pack. It comes with a generous array of standard safety tech, including blind-spot monitoring and lane-keeping.
Plus, Kia has spiced the Niro up with a few more exciting touches. A touchscreen strip below the main display houses both the climate and media controls, and you toggle between them by tapping a little icon that looks like the Uno reverse card. The leftmost knob, for example, can adjust the volume or temperature. A head-up display on my tester projected important driving info onto the windshield.