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Weekend Drives: Hyundai Ioniq Electric - What’s it like driving a fully electric car?

By Kenny Yeo - on 01 Jul 2018, 2:15pm

The fully electric Ioniq Electric can be distinguished by its fully closed front grille.

I have never driven a fully electric car before. But, I had my electric car cherry popped recently by spending a weekend with Hyundai’s new Ioniq Electric, which also happens to be one of the few fully electric cars that are on sale on our sunny island.

First things first, what’s an Ioniq Electric? Essentially, it is the fully electric version of the Ioniq Hybrid that I drove last year.

The two cars are largely similar. The only telltale sign from the outside is the smooth and permanently closed off front grille, since there is no need for air intakes because there is no engine to speak of.

The infotainment display is now much larger. Otherwise, the Ioniq Electric's cabin is largely identical to the Ioniq Hybrid's.

Inside, the cabin is immediately familiar though they are some changes. The infotainment display is larger. It is now 8-inches wide, which is a marked improvement because the one in the hybrid Ioniq was just 5-inches - smaller than an iPhone X’s display.

The center console has more space for keeping stuff since there is no need for a traditional gear lever and selector. Instead, you select driving modes using buttons. There’s also a handy Qi charging pad in the center console.

That’s where the similarities end because the Ioniq Electric is a markedly different car to drive. For a start, the Ioniq Electric is eerily quiet. I couldn’t tell if the electric motor was running or not since it emits no noise or vibration. It is much the same at low and even typical cruising speeds. The electric motor only makes a faint whining noise if you are pushing it hard. The downside to all this is that road, wind, and any odd clatter from trimmings in the cabin become really obvious.

 

Performance

The Ioniq Electric's motor puts out the equivalent of 118hp and 295nm of torque.

Despite being marketed as an eco-friendly car, the Ioniq Electric is surprisingly nippy. Hyundai claims the Ioniq Electric can complete the century sprint in under 10 seconds and I see no reason to doubt it. Since maximum torque is available at any instant, the Ioniq Electric possesses a sense of immediacy and responsiveness that you just don’t get from any other family car in its class. On the highway, you could easily make overtaking and lane-changing maneuvers that you otherwise won’t in a similarly powered gasoline family car. And in Sport mode, it even feels quite sporty to drive.

However, the most different thing about driving the Ioniq Electric is coming to terms with its regenerative braking. Like any electrically-powered car, The Ioniq Electric recovers energy whenever you take your foot off the accelerator and the intensity which it does so can be easily adjusted using the paddle shifters behind the wheel that are normally used for selecting gears.

At the lowest setting, the car is free to coast and this is recommended for highway driving. On the highest setting, the car brakes quite aggressively whenever you lift your foot off the gas to recover as much energy as possible. This is recommended for driving in heavy city traffic. It goes without saying that managing and getting used to the regenerative braking is paramount if you want to eke out maximum range from the batteries.

 

Range and practicality

My efficiency was 8km per kWh. The Ioniq Electric has a 28kWh battery, which meant I would have covered about 224km on a full charge.

Speaking of range, Hyundai claims the Ioniq can manage 280km on a full charge. With my heavy right foot, I managed just 224km. Nevertheless, this is still enough to cover the entire length of Singapore four times over. For owners who charge their Ioniq Electric every night, range anxiety should not be an issue.

Unfortunately, charging the batteries quite a tedious affair. Every Ioniq Electric will come with a wall box charger that can be installed in homes and it charges the Ioniq Electric from zero to 100% in 4.5 hours. Compared to the ten or so minutes that gas-powered cars typically take to refuel, it feels like an eternity. Still, this is a problem that all fully electric cars, and not just the Ioniq Electric, must face. You can hasten the process using a fast charger, but as far as I know, these are not approved for domestic use in Singapore and using them to fully charge the batteries can result in long-term battery damage.

The upside to the long charging times is significantly lower running costs. Based on the electricity tariff at the time of writing, a full charge will only set you back about $6.20, which, based on my usage, means every 100km costs just $2.76. In comparison, it costs a typical 1.6-liter gasoline car about $13.50 to cover the same 100km. In other words, the Ioniq Electric will be significantly cheaper to run than any gas-powered car. So if you happen to travel quite a fair bit, the higher upfront costs of the Ioniq Electric could be offset by its lower running costs in the long term.

Unfortunately, charging stations are still quite rare. This was the one I tried to use. It is located at the Heeren, Orchard.

If access to a charger is a problem, you might want to reconsider getting the Ioniq Electric or any other electric car for that matter. As of now, public charging spots are sparse and if a spot is occupied you can’t use it until the other driver moves his or her car out of the way. And even if the spot was free, you can’t count on the charger functioning properly. For example, I encountered issues when I was trying to use one during my test, which meant I couldn’t charge at all. Fortunately, I foresaw this probability and didn’t wait until I was desperately low on power to charge, otherwise I would have to be rescued by Hyundai’s mobile electric recovery service.

Not the message you want to see if you are running low on charge.

The mobile electric recovery service is an assistance program that Hyundai provides to owners of the Ioniq Electric. As part of this service, Hyundai will deploy a mobile charging station to your location should you run out of juice. The mobile charger will provide you with sufficient charge so that you can get home to your own charger or to a public charger. This is very thoughtful.

 

Closing Thoughts

The Ioniq Electric is nice but only if you can get it charged every night.

As a small country, Singapore is uniquely suited for electric cars. Most electric cars should have no problems getting from Tuas to Changi and back and with range to spare. The problem, however, as I mentioned earlier, is that our charging infrastructure is still not quite up to the task of supporting a large electric car population. Charging points are still sparse and, in my experience at least, don’t always work. In other words, to make the Ioniq Electric or any electric car a feasible purchase, you must be able to install the charger at your residence so that you can charge the car every day after use. If you can, the Ioniq Electric is a nice car to drive and the low running costs could make financial sense in the long run.

Even so, a gas-powered car is still going to be more convenient simply because it is much easier and quicker to refuel. Plus, you can easily drive a gas-powered car up north to Malaysia, something you cannot do with an electric car unless you are only planning a quick jaunt to Johor and back.

Electric cars may very well be the future, but for now and for most people at least, good old gas-powered cars are considerably more convenient to own and run. Such is the price of going electric (for now).

Kenny Yeo

Kenny Yeo / Associate Editor

Specifications are not everything. It's what you do with what you have that matters.

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