The Ioniq 6, like a majority of electric vehicles, has many outstanding qualities but like most of the others also suffers from exaggerated battery capacity claims and a poor high-speed cruising range.
This Ioniq, which is Hyundai of Korea’s EV brand, looks impressive, goes like the wind, has a terrific interior, and oozes quality. The trouble is, it won’t last long travelling along Europe’s high-speed motorway system where the speed limit is 130 km/h or just over 80 mph.
Meanwhile, the battery won’t charge close to the claimed capacity.
At legal, fast-lane cruising speeds the Ioniq 6 will shed claimed range at a close to 40% rate, although that’s not a big negative compared with EVs in general. Many motorists won’t find this a problem. If your average use consists of mainly local driving, electric cars can handle this easily, not least because so-called regenerative braking will help retain range. Even long journeys across rural routes will not be a problem. But your annual family drive to Southern Spain might be a shock. For an electric car, the extra power required to get into the fast lane from 60 mph to 75 mph, virtually doubles energy consumption.
In a recent report, Boston Consulting lauded the Ioniq 6 as a standout EV because consumers want, among other things, a driving range of 350 miles. “The only EV that meets those demands today is the Hyundai Ioniq 6,” Automotive News quoted Boston Consulting as saying. The trouble is, the Ioniq 6’s battery won’t allow a charge close to that.
That points to the big problem for EVs – overall range claims that don’t stand up once out of the showroom. The official range for an Ioniq 6 is 384 miles, according to Europe’s WLTP, or Worldwide Harmonised Light Vehicle Test Procedure. All EVs sold in Europe are rated for WLTP, despite the fact this computer-model driven data never gets close to real-world outcomes. Cynics might say the WLTP acronym probably stands for Slightly Downhill, Following Wind, in some European language. Manufacturers say that WLTP’s lack of practicality doesn’t matter because at least it allows buyers to compare claims across all EVs to a common set of values.
Ioniq claims a more modest 322-mile everyday range, but again under real-world conditions this wasn’t possible. After driving the car for a week and charging it five times, the average maximum charge the battery accepted was only 270 miles. That’s a 16% shortfall compared with the claim, and almost 30% below the WLTP figure.
Boston Consulting was asked to comment on its verdict.
“The BCG research you referenced was based on a survey of 3,000 consumers to understand the demographic profiles, attitudes, and barriers to EV adoption of those looking to purchase a new vehicle. We also estimated the potential scale of demand based on customer price-performance expectations and comparing that to next generation EVs from OEMs and supporting actions from other stakeholders.
BCG’s expert team does not test the vehicles themselves but relies on EPA-tested figures and corroborates them with other sources. We recognise that real-world range tests often vary relative to the EPA-tested range, with some vehicle models underachieving relative to these tests, but BCG takes no policy stance on whether the EPA should revise its testing protocols.
BCG used the EPA figure for the Ioniq 6 SE RWD Long Range for our research. We understand that others have conducted real-world testing that indicates that the real-world range for the Ioniq 6 may be below the EPA figure, though others have also conducted real-world tests that indicate they achieved > 350 miles.”
U.S. EPA data is roughtly similar to the EU’s WLTP.
The Ioniq 6’s range capability is close to the mainstream for EVs, although the Tesla 3 and Y are much better than most other competitors. But a cheap little diesel with 400 miles of range could easily travel more than twice as far as a Tesla at European motorway cruising speeds.
Once you have decided that range isn’t a problem, the competition includes formidable machines like the two Teslas, Geely’s Polestar2, BYD of China’s Seal and Korean compatriot Kia’s EV6.
French auto consultancy Inovev expects Hyundai to sell 50,000 Ioniq 6s a year mainly in Europe, the U.S. and Korea when sales reach full potential between 2026 and 2027.
“So far the Ioniq 6 has been sold at around 40,000 units in 2023 and 8,500 units in the first quarter of 2024,” said Jamel Taganza, vice-president of Inovev.
Taganza said the size of the Ioniq 6 places it in the same category as the Tesla Model 3 and BMW i4 and the more expensive VW ID.7 and the Chinese Nio ET5. The competition is very harsh, and the models which can boast the best technology will win.
Looking for winners in this sector it’s hard to see any other than Chinese ones. They are proving to be at least the match of European and Korean technology and quality, but always with the reported 30% advantage in efficiency, likely to provide the killer pricing blow in the market place.
Some experts believe if the EU raises import tariffs on Chinese EVs by an expected 25 to 30% from the current 10%, that would have little impact on their sales.
According to Rhodium Group researchers, even much higher tariffs wouldn’t constrain them much.
“Duties in the 40-50% range — arguably even higher for vertically integrated manufacturers like BYD — would probably be necessary to make the European market unattractive for Chinese EV exporters,” Rhodium Group said in a report.
Hyundai Ioniq 6 Ultimate AWD
Electric motors front and rear – 320 hp
Battery – 77.4 kWh Lithium-ion polymer
Torque – 605 Nm
Battery capacity – claimed 322 miles, WLTP 384 miles
Battery capacity – my test 270 miles (average 5) – 16% shortfall
Highway cruising range – 167.4 miles
Highway cruising penalty – 38%
Charging – 350 kW 18 minutes, 11 kW 7 hours.
Drive – all-wheels
Acceleration – 0-60 mph 4.9 seconds
Top speed – 115 mph
Price – £55,735 ($69,900)
