Hyundai IONIQ 6 review and buyer’s guide
Here's why your prospective new Hyundai IONIQ 6 electric vehicle won't be all it's cracked-up to be. Let’s see why this EV fails the basic 'energy efficiency' test...
This was pretty close to bullshit press release of the week, recently, when it was published on a Wednesday to ‘reveal’ the Hyundai Ioniq 6 would relieve range anxiety with 614 kilometers per charge.
Where do I sign?
Unfortunately, the prick teasers have only begun with this car, and yet if your hand is itching to grab a pen and sign to commit to an Ioniq 6 at some stage in the next year - by some grand alignment of the planets - I wouldn’t blame you.
However, let us break down what they claim this vehicle will be able to do, and see what the facts really are. Just like we did reverse engineering the LDV eT60 electric ute >>, we’re gonna do that here. But first, the data in question…
This Ioniq 6 press release has got three bullet points designed specifically for the short of attention span, which would be, as I understand, for many of the journalists who will ultimately read it and swallow it whole.
Bullet Point #1:
With a WLTP rated range of 614 kilometers, Ionic 6 to be among the most energy efficient mainstream EVs available today.
That is factually untrue. It's mediocre at best, in terms of energy efficiency. We're going to get to that below. Furthermore, I would suggest that 614 kilometres is a big number.
But it's only the base two-wheel drive version that will deliver that. In order to get the longest range, you need the big battery to deliver 614kms, whereas if you get the all-wheel drive one, rolling on those big pimping 20-inch rims - say goodbye to 100 kilometres of range. That's just the reality and it’s a big claim to make up front.
Bullet Point #2:
Hyundai Motor Group’s E-GMP architecture and Ionic 6's ultra low aerodynamic drag coefficient of 0.21 contribute to its outstanding range, performance…
“E-GMP architecture” is a fancy way of saying this is the platform that all of their current EVs are built on, except Kona and Ioniq (the car, not Ionic the brand). It’s so confusing, I know.
As for the drag coefficient, I'd say they have done a fantastic job on aerodynamic drag for this car. They really have; a small round of applause.
However, aerodynamics is kind of insignificant in the city, because aerodynamic drag goes up with something between the square and the cube of your speed. So, when you're stuck in traffic, aerodynamics is irrelevant - you might as well be driving a house brick. It's not going to make any difference.
Furthermore, I’d suggest that this is going to be a big expansive EV, therefore rich people who live (relatively) close to the city are going to buy it and its main mode of use is going to be sitting in traffic, like the rest of us. Being in-traffic, aerodynamics simply doesn't matter.
Bullet Point #3:
Ionic 6 to go on sale in Australia early next year
Yeah, okay, congratulations. But it depends how you define “on sale”, doesn't it? It might technically go on sale, kind of like Ioniq 5, but you can’t walk into a dealership and buy an Ioniq 5, ever. You can't buy one online from Hyundai directly either.
Ioniq 5 is harder to get your hands on than a pair of Nike Air Jordans. In fact, only 418 Ioniq 5s have been sold in the past eight months of 2022. That's 50 a month. This is not exactly what commercial success looks like, in my view.
Obviously, this is not because there's no demand. It's because they can't get their act together and supply the fricken car, which is becoming comedically disgraceful. Hyundai is not alone here, but this industry-wide failure to supply the cars that people want is utterly disgraceful.
They, as in all manufacturers, love playing the victim card. They're a victim of the supply chain - yeah, the supply chains that they put in place - which they have been unable to fix in three long years.
Hyundai must be saying, ‘Thank God for Sonata’, which is sold 379. So the headline is: Ioniq 5 outsells Sonata, Hyundai's forgotten car in a dead segment.
Genesis as a brand continues to be outsold by Ionic 5.
Staria, and even the more aesthetically pleasing Staria-Load, outsell Ioniq 5.
Kia EV6 outsells Ioniq 5 currently, this year to the end of August, 426 - versus 418 for Ionic 5. That’s going to be a photo finish in the Unicorn EV sweepstakes.
Even the shitbox Hyundai Ioniq, the car, not the brand, the one that's available as a hybrid and a plug-in hybrid as well as an EV - even that outsells Ioniq 5 654 to 480. Clearly range is not the determinant here.
Polestar 2 outsells Ionic 5, 694 to 418 and it's a fake Swedish, Chinese knockoff, (more-or-less) that nobody's ever heard of, costing about the same.
Come on, Hyundai.
Watch the full report to see just how the numbers break down for Ioniq 6 when it comes to range, the real world and the grandiose claims being made to you…
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