It’s a good time for new battery-electric vehicles. Ford’s F-150 Lightning electric pickup has been hogging the headlines lately—no surprise, given America’s enduring love affair with the half-ton truck. But I’m more excited about Hyundai’s next BEV, the Ioniq 5, which should start showing up on roads this fall. We got our first (remote) look at the Ioniq 5 back in February, but this week Hyundai opened up about specifications and features for US-bound Ioniq 5s.

At first, Hyundai will not sell the Ioniq 5 nationwide. The company will prioritize states with zero-emissions regulations—California, Connecticut, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, New York, New Jersey, Oregon, Rhode Island, and Vermont—but also Arizona, Florida, Georgia, North Carolina, Pennsylvania, and Texas. If you don’t live in one of those 16 states and you want an Ioniq 5, you’ll have to wait until sometime in 2022 to buy one.

We still don’t have pricing information—expect that information closer to release. More details are also coming for a subscription option that sounds a lot like Volvo’s Care by Volvo program, which includes insurance and maintenance in its monthly fee.

The Ioniq 5, like Kia’s EV6, uses a new BEV platform called E-GMP (Electric Global Modular Platform). It has been designed with an 800 V electrical architecture, which means it can recharge the battery pack from 10-80 percent in 18 minutes when connected to an 800 V, 350 kW DC fast charger. However, E-GMP also supports the more common 400 V, 150 kW chargers with no additional hardware. Hyundai will include two years (from the date of purchase) of unlimited 30-minute DC fast charging sessions at Electrify America stations. Meanwhile, charging at home should take 6 hours and 43 minutes via the car’s 10.9 kW onboard AC charger.

Although other markets will get the Ioniq 5 with a choice of two different battery packs, the US will be limited to the larger pack, which has a capacity of 77.4 kWh. There is a choice of powertrains, however. A rear-wheel-drive version, which uses a single 225 hp (168 kW), 258 lb-ft (350 Nm) electric motor, will be available; Hyundai is targeting a range of 300 miles (482 km) with this model.

Hyundai will offer a dual-motor, all-wheel drive variant for those looking for a bit more acceleration and a bit less range. This option adds a 100 hp (74 kW) motor to the front axle, with a combined output of 320 hp (239 kW) and 446 lb-ft (605 Nm). How far this version can go on a full charge depends on whether the vehicle is in the SE or SEL trim, in which case that range should be 269 miles (433 km), or the more expensive Limited trim, which should have a range of 244 miles (393 km). (Presumably, this is because of some added weight from extra equipment, or perhaps less aerodynamic wheels.)

All Ioniq 5s will be limited to a top speed of 115 mph (185 km/h), and they can tow up to 1,500 lbs (680 kg).

The Ioniq 5 is essentially a big battery on wheels, and Hyundai has enabled a vehicle-to-load (V2L) function that allows the car to provide up to 1.9 kW of 120 V power. You can plug devices into a standard US-spec plug socket located at the base of the rear seats or externally with an adapter that connects to the car’s charging port. For a good demonstration of how that works, I highly recommend a recent Jonny Smith video in which he tests a preproduction Ioniq 5 in the UK (I believe European- and UK-spec Ioniqs output 240 V, as that’s the voltage over there):

As we noted last time we covered the Ioniq 5, Hyundai has designed some flexibility into the interior. The center console can move fore and aft; together with the flat floor, this means a driver can easily get in and out via the passenger-side door. The front seats recline and include a pop-out foot rest, although we’re pretty sure the driver’s seat can only recline when the Ioniq 5 is parked. The rear seats also recline and can slide forward and back.

The dash is dominated by a pair of 12-inch screens. One is the main instrument panel, which is supplemented by an augmented reality heads-up display. The second is a touchscreen display for the infotainment system. Hyundai says it is developing a “hassle-free in-car payment system” for the Ioniq 5 that will let you “find and pay for EV charging,” “order and pay for food and coffee to go,” and “find, reserve, and pay for parking” via the car. And all Ioniq 5s will come with Hyundai’s Bluelink connected car services (useful if you drop your keys in a parking lot and someone steals the car) and will receive over-the-air updates for maps and multimedia software every April and October.

Listing image by Hyundai

https://arstechnica.com/?p=1767450