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Hi, and welcome back to another episode.
I'm Mike Quincy.
I'm Alex Knizek.
And I'm Jake Fisher.
So the topic du jour, the topic of the year,
is almost always what's going on with electric cars.
And today, we're going to talk about what
I think is one of the coolest and newest models on the EV
scene, and that is the Hyundai Ioniq 5.
So one of the things that was kind of shocking to me
in looking up the information on this car
is that the Ioniq 5's wheelbase at 118 inches
is actually 4 inches longer than the Hyundai Palisade's,
which is weird because the Palisade looks so much bigger.
And also, to kind of put it in comparison's sake,
the Ioniq 5 is a bit wider than the Ford Mustang Mach-E.
Like competing EVs, the Ioniq 5 is
built on a skateboard platform around a large battery,
the 77.4 kilowatts.
And it has an electronic motor mounted on the rear axle.
The more powerful all--wheel drive versions add a front axle
mounted motor.
The company says the 5's cruising range
will be around 220 to 303 miles depending on the model.
The rear drive version makes 225 horsepower
all wheel drive models get 320 combined horsepower
from the dual motors.
Inside, the Ioniq 5 looks super futuristic-- two large 12 inch
flat screens for the instrument panel
and the infotainment system.
And keeping with the green theme,
keeping this green theme percolating, many elements
within the car, such as the seats, the headliner, the door
trim, the flooring, are made from recycled plastic bottles
and plant-based and natural wood yarn,
which means like if Jake gets hungry,
he could actually eat it.
The roof is equipped with solar panels that
can offset battery discharge when not being used
and provide additional driving range.
Pricing starts at $39,700 for the standard range
and it climbs up to $54,500 for the long range all-wheel
drive Ionic 5 limited that we rented from Hyundai.
These are our first impressions of this car.
We don't have our test model yet.
But I am going to charge up Jake and get his first impressions.
All right, I'm going to start with what
I don't like about this vehicle, and it's the name.
And what is wrong with car manufacturers' abilities
to name vehicles?
I mean, we talked about the Mustang Mach-E.
That's not a Mustang.
But here, we've got a car company
that has a car called the Ioniq, which
is kind of like a blah, kind of boring vehicle.
And now there's the Ioniq 5, which has really nothing
to do with that other vehicle, and it's
a unbelievably interesting vehicle and very exciting
vehicle.
I mean, it's kind of like what Hyundai did this
before with Genesis.
It's like, hey, there's a Genesis Coupe, which
is like a sports car.
And now we've got a Genesis brand.
I mean-- so, OK.
So I'll get over the fact that it's named after--
it's ironic?
I don't know, whatever you want to call it.
Let's ignore what it's called.
It is a fascinating vehicle.
And what it is like, when they talk about--
you look at, like, cell phones, right?
You have a certain type of cell phone
and a certain form factor that really
becomes ubiquitous to, like, this
is the way things are going.
We've got a new form factor, I think,
when it comes to electric vehicles.
And it's kind of like the Tesla Model Y or the Ford Mach-E
and now with this Ionic 5.
It's like, is it an SUV?
Is it a hatchback?
It's got a real long wheelbase, really optimizing room inside.
And what's exciting about that is
unlike other EVs from, say, Hyundai and some other ones,
this is-- you mentioned the skateboard platform.
What that means is they have really
rethought this vehicle much like Tesla has done in the past
and the Mach-E does too-- new platform and really
optimizing interior space and cargo space
around this new type of platform.
So the floor of the vehicle is a battery,
and there's a long wheelbase, which
actually makes it handle very--
I would say very grown up, you know?
I mean, like you said, I mean, the Hyundai Palisade
is this huge SUV, and this has got a longer wheelbase.
So it drives very nice.
It's a very quiet vehicle.
It's very roomy inside.
It's not huge outside, so parking is no big deal.
But it just feels airy inside, and it is very modern.
And I mean, again, we haven't spent a whole lot of time
with it, but I mean, it doesn't seem like they've let's change
things for change sake and make it
all kind of-- it seemed kind of like a very easy to use,
straightforward vehicle that is very pleasant to drive,
handles really nice, has all those benefits
of that purpose-built electric vehicle
with that low center of gravity where it handles nicely.
And it looks striking.
I mean, all the body lines and the Qs
and-- it's just really a quite striking vehicle.
Alex.
Yeah, I mean, you know, I had the little hesitation
because I'm getting whiplash nodding my head at Jake
because he's absolutely nailed it.
That impression is incredible, but you know I also
got a chance to drive this car.
So what did you think?
Yeah, we did and we drove it pretty much primarily
around the track.
So it wouldn't say these are much
more than first impressions, but like Jake said,
I mean, it seems extremely impressive right off the bat.
And I think to your point, Jake, they
don't appear to have found anything in with this design.
I'll say it that way.
Like, everything feels purposeful,
and it's a new architecture, like you said.
And they really seem to be taking advantage of it
in really cool ways.
And then I know we don't typically discuss styling
too often, but I think it's worth
mentioning just how concept vehicle-like this car is.
They really, at least more so than I've
seen recently, if you go back and look at the concept
that debuted a couple of years ago before this car,
they kept a lot of it.
And I think that just goes to show that they're committed
in a lot of ways to doing things that maybe aren't necessary,
but they did them to improve usability or even just keep
this really striking design.
So it's very exciting.
And then I'm very interested to see
what happens in the future with this platform
that you mentioned, this skateboard platform that
is not exclusive in terms of its concept that Hyundai has here.
So a lot of electric vehicles are
using these skateboard motors at the axles.
So I think product differentiation is becoming
such an interesting thing to think about not
only within brands-- so, you know,
how Kia is going to utilize it and do something different
with their EV6 or Genesis does something different-- but just
how different brands are going to take the skateboard concept
and put stuff on it that makes them more
compelling or interesting depending
on which brand that you're deciding to go with.
So I think that's super cool.
And then.
I think you're totally right, by the way,
in terms of the styling.
I mean, the pictures, the video, do not do this vehicle justice.
I mean, you look at it, and it looks
like something on the show floor of a concept car
that's coming out in 5 years.
It doesn't look like--
Yeah, the concept car that will actually never
actually get to--
Exactly.
--buy
Exactly.
That's a concept car, nothing like that.
Yeah.
It looks like it should be the size of a Volkswagen Golf
or something in pictures.
And then you see it in person.
I remember walking into our garage for the first time
and seeing it sitting there, and it's
on these, like, 20 inch wheels.
And it's big.
It's like somebody just scaled up a GTI by 30% or something
like that.
So it's, like you said, Jake, very interesting
and a new segment or proportions that they're
exploring with these electric powertrains.
And once again, I got the distinct pleasure
of driving for the video team.
I got to push this around our track.
Love the punchy acceleration, the sports car-like handling.
I mean, electric cars are never these lightweight things,
but I think there's something about the weight and the lower
center of gravity of this vehicle where the Ioniq 5 just
hunkered down in the corners.
I mean, it wasn't like driving a 911,
but it was much more responsive than I
thought it was going to be.
I love the interior.
It's beautiful inside.
And when we started talking about this
and writing about-- writing some notes about it, a lot of people
are saying, the usability is rather "conventional,"
which is not a knock on it.
It was super easy to figure out.
You take a lot of cars that we've tested from Tesla--
the Porsche Taycan, the Volkswagen ID.4.
And there seems to be some reason why the controls have
to be super complicated.
And that's really cool that Hyundai didn't go that route.
And so from a dynamics standpoint, I really loved it.
From an interior control standpoint, I really loved it.
I've been on this podcast for a while now,
and I've kind of more of the EV skeptic
when it comes to are people buying
them, do they make any sense, are they too expensive.
And I've never liked the EV kind of as a fashion
statement or a status symbol.
But I got to tell you.
This is like one of the first electric vehicles
that I've driven, I could actually see living--
like, owning one.
That's how much I like this car.
Yeah, it's very-- it seems like it's very easy to live with.
I mean, it's got the stupid door handles.
I don't know.
There's a rule about electric cars.
You've got to have flush door handles.
I know.
There's no choice about it.
But otherwise, it seems pretty straightforward.
And that's not to say there's not
a lot of advanced electronics on it.
I mean, it's got all the latest stuff
in terms of it steers along the road
and does all those kind of like gimmicks.
It has the augmented reality when it comes
to some of the safety systems.
We're seeing more of that where you
could see which way to turn.
It'll show you on the screen.
I mean, there's all these different options.
So it definitely has those latest features,
but it doesn't seem to take away from just,
like, if I want to drive the car, I'm not,
like, constantly bombarded with different ways of doing
simple things.
Right.
No, they don't do tech for tech's sake.
They don't dazzle you just to say look what we can do.
They actually make the interior that's
pretty easy to figure out.
This is a very exciting car, and we're
going to have more of our first impressions,
of driving impressions, of the Ioniq 5 on consumerreports.org.
We're also going to be in the queue,
as they say in over in England, to buy one of our own.
I'm not sure.
We're probably not going to get the top of the line
Limited model, probably buy something a little bit more
mainstream.
But it's going to be really interesting to see
how this one pans out.
So keep checking back on consumerreports.org,
and we'll have more on that, which
brings us to our question for today's podcast.
And we love your questions.
Keep coming.
TalkingCars@icloud.com-- video clips, text messages,
any way that you can think of to communicate to us.
Send us your questions because we love talking about it.
We're going to keep with the battery theme.
This question comes from Steve, who writes,
batteries are difficult to get rid of.
Do you know what the plan is for disposing all the batteries
that will be piling up?
And Jake looked into this answer,
and what do you have for Steve?
Well, batteries are-- it's an interesting premise.
I mean, are batteries difficult to get rid of?
The 12 volt battery in my car might be a little difficult
to get rid of.
But the truth is actually, electric car batteries
aren't very difficult to get rid of because even if they've
outlasted the usefulness for an electric car,
they're still worth quite a lot to someone.
So the way electric cars' batteries
10 years down the road, 15 years down the road,
for the most part, they just lose capacity.
You could actually service and replace cells
if a cell goes bad.
But they'll lose capacity.
So your electric car battery really
won't be that great because your leaf only goes,
you know, 50 miles or something like that,
and let's say you want to replace it.
Well, the truth is that there's actually a market
already for Nissan Leaf used batteries that
have outlived their usefulness.
So there's a market for that.
Nissan has been using Leaf batteries
for their manufacturing process.
They run little robots around with these used Leaf batteries.
There's a place in California where they're actually
using leaf batteries and using it for energy storage.
They're actually putting them together,
and they could use it.
When you think about solar power,
I mean, you need it at night.
So how do you store it?
Well, these older batteries.
So what we're starting to see is kind
of a secondary life for these electric vehicle batteries.
So they actually may be in demand.
So it's not like your engine dies out,
and it goes to the scrap yard.
It's more like your battery doesn't have as much capacity,
but it's worth a lot to someone.
Obviously down the road, I mean, they'll
continue to be less and less.
But even at the point where you need to recycle it,
they're looking in different ways of recycling.
There is different ways to recycling it.
The truth is there are certain elements and chemicals
and things in those batteries that are still
worth money to someone.
So it's a great question.
I mean, the truth is right now, they're
worth something, even old.
I mean, there are people that buy EVs
because they are concerned about the environment.
And this is just kind of another piece of the puzzle.
And as you described the value of these batteries
being worth something even though the application
of the car isn't really working out anymore,
it just reminds me of like even with older cars,
usually the sum of the parts is worth more than the car
as a whole.
Well, I think we're still in a relative infancy
as far as EV tech and battery tech goes.
So we've in this past year seen so many automakers make
claims of where their EV tech is going to go in the next 10, 20
years and the cars are going to offer
but also the battery technology that they're
going to use in this ever long quest
to reduce the amount of rare earth metals used
in the batteries and changing chemistries
and, way down, the road solid state batteries.
So I think it's going to change as time goes on like Jake said,
and when you get to that recycling stage, what
people are after is going to change
based on the chemistry that's used at the time.
Yeah, so I think it's a great question
and something absolutely to keep our eye on and see
how it develops.
Well, I'm just saying, going forward, I mean,
that recyclability needs to be built into the process.
I mean, much like when you go and buy something
and it's like made from recyclable materials,
I just bought a pair of running shoes
which they say they biodegrade easier
than other running shoes.
So I mean, I think as they develop these batteries,
they have to make it so it's easier
to dismantle them and recycle them too.
Running shoes-- what happened in this barefoot running stuff?
Come on.
Running shoes?
Really?
I know, I know.
I've given up my barefoot times.
Anyhow, we're running low on our own battery power here.
We got to wrap this up.
So thanks very much for that battery question.
Love talking about the Ioniq 5.
That'll about do it for this episode.
It's all the time we got.
As always, check the show notes if you
want to get more information on the vehicles and topics
that we discussed.
Keep the questions coming--
TalkingCars@icloud.com.
Thanks so much for tuning in.
We'll see you next week.
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