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- Hyundai just announced their new Ionic 5
midsize CUV, virtually of course,
with some seriously impressive specs
and I gotta say, I think it looks awesome.
So let's free the data around this,
and I'll give you my thoughts
about this slick looking new option from Hyundai.
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So starting out with the styling,
this thing is sleek and modern,
and I get a bit of Cybertruck vibes looking at it.
The interior is also pretty clean and modern
with these dual screens up front, which are pretty cool.
And it still feels kinda minimal
even though there are a few buttons here and there,
the door handles pop out, which is a pretty nice touch
giving it a really kind of refined
aerodynamic look from the exterior.
And when you look at the front seats,
you might notice that they're a bit slimmer
giving about 30% more interior room.
Also when you reclined the front seat,
they have a little leg rest that pops up,
giving you what they call a weightless feeling.
I can just hear Doug DeMuro now.
Lots of the interior is also made from recycled plastics
and plant-based yarns and natural wool
trying to make it as eco-friendly as possible.
So overall, I think this thing is styled well,
the exterior is just really cool
it's actually quite a bit longer
than it may seem longer than the ID.4
just about as long as a Tesla Model 3
and the interior again, it feels modern, fresh,
new with some unique touches that I think are kinda nice.
As far as the tech of this vehicle goes,
this thing has some really awesome features.
Notably it has a 240 volt plug
called Vehicle-to-Load
What that means is you may be familiar with vehicle-to-grid
or Vehicle-to-Home,
Vehicle-to-Load basically means vehicle to anything else.
So if you wanna charge an electric bike
that you're taking on a trip or even another vehicle,
or let's say you're camping
and you need to charge something up, there you go
you can charge even high power things, even tools.
So this is a really cool feature
that I hope a lot of other vehicle manufacturers
start adopting because with this giant battery pack,
these little devices and things,
they don't take hardly any energy at all,
compared to what the car has.
So this is a great feature.
It also works even when the car is turned off.
So if you wanna have something running overnight
like I don't know space heater or something like that,
totally good and it will just keep running
as long as it's plugged in.
Inside you have some cool tech,
you have an augmented reality heads up display,
which kind of turns the entire windshield into a screen.
And that's cool, but I will need to see this in person,
cause when I've tried this before,
it always felt like more of a distraction,
I found myself trying to look at what was being displayed
versus just actually kinda
naturally absorbing the information.
So again, when it comes out in person,
I'll have another look at it, but for now it's a cool idea
and if they do it right, I think it has real potential.
Now they state that this car will have
the most advanced driver assist program
that Hyundai has ever released.
And I'm sure that's true,
but it's not clear exactly how that compares
to other popular versions like Autopilot
or Super Cruise from GM or Ford's Co-Pilot 360,
which I was actually really impressed by.
Now on the interior as well
you have some wireless charging capabilities
and some USB ports for the rear passengers
and it has a glass roof with integrated solar cells.
This is awesome, and it's something that's been done before,
but there's probably not a question I could asked more
than why don't electric vehicles
have solar panels on the roof.
Generally speaking, the answer is the solar cells
don't really generate enough energy to do much.
In this case,
Hyundai seems to think that it will do something for you.
Notably they said that this integrated solar
can add up to 1200 miles or 2000 kilometers per year,
which comes out to around three to four miles a day
or five, six kilometers per day of additional range,
given that you're in a sunny environment.
They mentioned Spain or the South of France,
both places I would really enjoy owning this car in,
but also other places in the world
like where I'm at here in Southern California.
So regardless of the added range that you're gonna get
from those solar cells that are integrated into the roof,
this car is gonna come and kinda two options,
a 58 kilowatt hour battery and a 72.6 kilowatt hour battery.
It also has rear wheel drive and all wheel drive versions.
Now that's gonna get you around 480 kilometers
or 298 miles of range, according to the WLTP standard,
which we all know is kind of divorced from reality.
So we're gonna have to do some real world testing here
and see exactly how this car performs.
I will add though that my friends over at Fully Charged
that have already tested the Ionic
were able to get about five miles
for every one kilowatt hour of energy, which is tremendous.
So if Hyundai is able to take what they did there
and apply it here,
I don't have any doubts that they're gonna be able
to deliver on some of these bigger range numbers
that they're claiming.
Now with range we also need to talk about charging
because we've honestly seen
some disappointing charging capabilities out there,
but that's not the case here.
The Ionic will have volts support for a 400 volt,
and 800 volt architectures.
800 volts will be the default
and it can support the 400 volt charging equipment
without any additional adapters or anything else,
which is actually really good
because in other high performance EVs out there
not naming names, if you have an 800 volt architecture,
but you go to a 400 volt charger, like a lot of them are,
you're gonna need to step up that voltage
in order for it to work and in doing so,
you're gonna just dramatically lower the speed,
the amount of energy you can throw into the car.
And so here without needing that additional equipment
then think they've done something really cool,
meaning it's gonna be kinda more universally compatible
with chargers that you come across
and be able to charge even quicker.
And in their press release,
they stated that the Ionic 5 can charge
from 10% to 80% in just 18 minutes.
And in addition,
you can get about a 100 kilometers of range
or 60 miles of range in only five minutes.
Again, this is according to WLTP,
but supporting 350 kilowatt charging
with the 800 volts architecture,
I could totally see it.
Now, there are lots of variables,
whether or not you get exactly that speed
and how long that speed lasts, et cetera.
Plus if you need access to a 350 kilowatt charger,
you got to go find one.
Here in the States you'll look for Electrify America,
which is pretty prevalent
and now it's aiding a lot of bigger cities
it's popping up more and more.
And then in Europe
you're gonna be looking for the IONITY network.
So, two big and up and coming networks
that are establishing themselves they're not as prevalent
as some other charging networks out there,
but there are certainly available.
So that's fantastic that you have a vehicle like this
that is really capable, I mean the range is really good
and the charging is kinda second to none.
This is really like flagship charging capabilities here.
Now, when it comes to the performance of the vehicle,
it's a crossover utility vehicle.
It's not something that you're looking at a performance.
So these specs aren't super impressive,
but they're fine I'll say.
We have a top speed of around 115 miles per hour
or a 185 kilometers per hour for both configurations,
which again not a big deal,
unless you're maybe in Germany on the Autobahn.
And on the zero to 60 time,
or the zero to a 100 kilometer time.
We're looking at about 5.2 seconds
for the all-wheel-drive Long Range edition.
And that's similar to what you might expect from a BMW 330i,
but since this is more of a utility vehicle,
storage space is likely a better measure of how good it is.
And here we have 57 cubic feet of storage
with the backseats down
and they fold down in a 60, 40 split.
Plus you can also slide them forward a little bit
without folding them down,
if you just want a few extra inches in the back.
So it's a good amount of space.
It's not the best in the world,
but it is certainly functional for most people.
Now the pricing info is still a bit dodgy,
but what I'm seeing online
is that the two wheel drive version with the smaller battery
is gonna come in right around $30,000 USD
and the all wheel drive version with the larger pack
will come in around $40,000 USD
before any taxes or incentives.
And that's honestly a great price
because depending on where you live,
there may be additional state incentives
that could bring this down from around $40,000
to just over $30,000 in terms of a net cost.
Now, if you were to look at that price
and compare it to a gas vehicle out there
and then subtract the savings from maintenance and fuel,
I think you'll find that this is a really competitive
kind of compelling option for a lot of people here in the US
so I'm impressed here
by what Hyundai is bringing to the table.
I think this thing looks fresh and clean,
it's got a good price, it's got good specs.
I mean, everything about it says winner to me,
of course, I wanna take it for a drive
and spend more time with it
and then share that with you here.
So hopefully I'll be able to do that this year.
It looks like fall of 2021 is when orders are gonna be open
for US folks and then deliveries possibly in 2022.
So more to come on that, subscribe if you haven't already.
And if you're looking for another car
that I did actually get to drive recently
and share that online,
check out this video over here
of my day with a Ford Mach-E, it really impressed me,
it's one of my favorite vehicles out there right now.
And so check it out if you haven't seen it
I'm sure you're gonna enjoy that.
So that's it for this one guys,
let me know what you think down in the comments
and as always, don't forget
when you free the data, your mind will follow.
I'll see you back here in the next one.