Ioniq doing the business
The Ioniq range is recently refreshed and ready for action. Could one of these two be your next company car? Richard Bosselman finds out.
Never mind Tesla, it’s Hyundai that deserves the spotlight for doing a great job advancing the EV cause. The Ioniq is a global groundbreaker – unique in being available as a hybrid, a PHEV and a full electric. It also has the Kona Electric and is demonstrating the Nexo hydrogen car. A fine effort, rewarded with strong sales.
The catch is that you need to be at work to try them as relatively few have found truly private ownership. And until prices drop more, or Government extends some leniency, it’s hard to see how home shoppers will ever break their preference for import used over NZ-new.
Even though destined for the company carpark, the car benefits from a mid-life restyle that makes it appear less like fleet fodder than previously. It’s only a modest top and tail rejig, yet it significantly improves it.
The ‘‘plug-in’’ and ‘‘electric’’ badges on the rump are a small but smart quick-glance reference addition for those still getting used to differentiating ohms from ergs. More seasoned hands pick the variants by using the charger inputs as their tell-all.
Greater clarity exists within: The PHEV has a gearstick whereas the Electric maintains push buttons for drive, reverse and park. The change here is with new dashboard displays. The base unit here isn’t half as glam as the flash tablet-style 10.25-inch item delivered to the Elite, but does the job.
Ioniq’s seats are so-so and rear-seat occupants might ask for better knee room, though overall the cabin offers reasonable interior space and good oddment storage. The boot area in the Electric is slightly larger than the PHEV’s, but the two bags of cables take up a fair bit of room.
Fully electric or partial strength? Either way, it’s great to get opportunity to draw down on locally harvested electrons that are truly green, thanks to our electricity network using renewable generation.
The PHEV’s Kappa 1.6-litre GDI direct-injection petrol fourcylinder in back up to the 8.9kWh battery/44kW electric motor carries over unchanged, whereas the Electric updates significantly, with a bigger (38.3kWh) battery powering a more efficient motor increasing pep and range. A 7.2kW charging port for DC replenishment off a 50kW charger keeps it on trend.
If nothing matters more than spend and range, then it’s advantage PHEV. The car’s considerably cheaper and a full tank and a fully charged battery will take it more than 900km – basically, three times as far as the Electric manages.
Of course, drive the petrol assisted plug-in on electric alone and the tables are turned – the battery is much smaller here, and will exhaust after 52km. According to the book. In reality, that claimed optimal is more suspect than the 311km (on WLTP, on NEDC it’s a less believable 373km) cited for the Electric.
Also, it was surprising how quickly it abdicated to including the petrol side. You’re aware of when this happens, because the transition can be a bit jolty and noisy. What’s impressive is that it does remain miserly – an average of 4.4 litres per 100km from mixed urban and open road driving suggests there’s talent for thrift even when you’re not trying.
The Electric charges faster than it used to, but still asks for up to an hour to get back to 80 per cent. Knocking it up to full strength at home can take up to 17 hours if you’re daft enough to use a three-point plug rather than buy into a wall unit. The PHEV achieves the same in five, which is probably just as well, because locating a public Type 2 charger for it is hard.
Driving-wise? Suffice to say, sports-style running isn’t a forte. But they’re comfortable in town, regardless that the ride strays quite far into firm territory at urban speeds, cruisy beyond city limits, where 100kmh clocks easily enough, and even though the eco-centric rubber is noisy on coarse chip, it offers reasonable grip. For the sake of battery fit, the Electric divests the PHEV’s multi-link rear for a simple torsion beam, yet in backto-back comparison it is the more balanced car.
It’s a shame EVs and PHEVs don’t get a fairer ‘‘go’’ here. The tech is dead easy to come to grips with and has positives. But the reality is that the road is just so tough for them.
Still, the future cannot be denied and the pace of change is racing. Hyundai’s next electric will be out in 2022, based on the Prophecy concept, which takes direct aim at the Tesla Model 3.