Hyundai takes the EV plunge
The Hyundai Ioniq is the world’s first car to offer three electrified powertrains in one bodyshell these are: petrol-electric hybrid, pure electric which are available to order now and a plug-in-hybrid due in 2017. We went down to Hyundai UK HQ in High Wycombe to try first the Hybrid and then the EV.
The Ioniq is a newly designed and Hyundai have not tried to put all this new technology in to a current car, so the car has literally been designed around these various complex powertrains.
The hybrid is powered by a 1.6-litre petrol engine that produces 103ps along with an electric motor that produces 43ps, when working together produce a peak figure of 141ps. It is always difficult to describe in words exactly how the hybrid system works but here goes; you start the car as normal, in this case by pressing a start button which is situated next to the steering wheel. Then put it into drive or reverse and away it goes, normally under electric power, the engine does not start, then after a while the engine fires up and takes over from electric motor and the clever thing is you cannot feel when this is happening. There is a light on the speedo cluster that goes from EV to Eco, which means when the EV light extinguishes you are driving with petrol power. When you take your foot off the accelerator, very quickly, the ECO light turns off and on comes the green EV light which means the overrun energy is going back in to the Lithium Ion battery and is stored there ready for use when needed. Your style of driving would change if you owned or drove one of these for a while as you would be trying to get maximum mpg out of it. On the short test route which took around 35 minutes to complete, which included small towns and villages and a couple of junctions on the M40 I managed to get 58.7mpg and I thought I had done well but very annoyingly somebody else took the same car out just after me, did the same route and got over 64mpg, how cross was I…GGGGrrrrrrrr – so annoying.
The Ioniq is fitted with a very smooth 7-speed DCT automatic gearbox and as good and much improved as CVT gearboxes are getting in other hybrid vehicles, this DCT is so much more pleasant to drive.
The hybrid will be available in three trim levels: SE which costs £19,995.00 and has 15-inch alloy wheels, cruise control, rear parking sensors and rear view camera, Autonomous Emergency Braking and many more bits and pieces. Then the Premium, which I think is the one to have, this is prices from £21,795.00 and has heated front seats, heated steering wheel, BI-Xenon headlights with LED rear combination lamps, 7-inch LCD display with satellite navigation. The range topper is the Premium SE which includes things such as heated and ventilated leather seats, plus heated rear seats, blind spot monitoring, alloy pedals.
The amount of miles you can travel on pure electric is around 3 miles but this very much depends on the style of driving, and driving conditions.
The Hybrid, has one of those ridiculous foot parking brake, which is situated to the left of the normal foot brake. You press it to put the parking brake on and press it again to release it, stupid place to put it, I know other manufactures put it there but just because others do it, doesn’t make it right….
After the hybrid it was the turn of the pure electric, which we have to say from the start does cost more than the hybrid. There will be two models in the EV range: Premium which costs £28,995.00 and the Premium SE which is priced at £30,795.00 but the EV does have a slightly better specification than the hybrid, so doing a direct comparison is not easy but nevertheless it is around £7,000 more, although customers could potentially get a £4,500 Government grant towards the purchase of the car.
Getting going in the EV is like the hybrid, you push the start button then press either drive or reverse. The EV has a very nice electric parking brake in the centre console, so easy to use and so much better than that foot brake thing – so the question is, if the Ioniq EV has electronic parking brake, then why hasn’t the hybrid – penny pinching, or just trying to be too clever, whatever though that foot parking brake needs to be replaced. Back to the EV, after that rant. So you set off nice and quietly and quickly and after glancing at the ‘Miles Left in the battery’ we had 96 miles. We drove it on the same route as the hybrid and including the stint on the M4 where it easily cruised at 70mph, take your foot off the accelerator and you get power going back into the battery which gives you extra range.
The official range on a full charge is 174 miles but this is always dependant on obvious things such driving style, weather conditions and several other lesser factors, such as driving at night with the lights on.
The EV was so easy to drive, very intuitive with everything in the right place. Using the adjustable regenerative braking took just a few minutes to get used to. This is operated via the paddles on the steering wheel column, if you press the one on the left hand side then this acts as a brake and generates more electric and slows you down much quicker. Use the paddle on the right, and slowing down is much slower, but generates less electric heading towards to batteries. I’m not sure if the brake lights are lit up when using this brake regeneration, if not then the driver behind will not know you are slowing down at potentially quite a rapid rate.
After driving both powertrains that are currently available, the hybrid wins in most departments for me. It is just so much more useable and a fair bit cheaper and if driven carefully using the systems to their optimum it will be easily capable of achieving the same or better economy than an equivalent diesel powered car.
The Ioniq, whether hybrid or EV offers a good level of standard specification, is well put together at Hyundai’s plant in South Korea, and has loads of room for five adults, with a good sized boot too.
Ioniq Plug-In prices and specification will be announced prior to its on-sale date next year.
Summary stats:
- On the road price £19,995.00 to £30,795.00
- Hybrid: 1.6 GDi 141 PS Electric: 88kW
- CO2 79 g/km
- Combined MPG 83.1 MPG
- Gearboxes 6 Speed DCT Automatic, Multispeed CVT Automatic
New options and features:
- 15” Alloy Wheels – Standard on all and 16” on Electric
- Leather trim – Standard on SE Premium
- 8” touch screen sat nav with TMC – Standard on Premium and Premium SE
- LED headlights – Standard on Electric
- Apple car play/Android Auto – Standard on all bar SE