Hyundai IONIQ 5 to get bigger battery in Australia

The 2022 Hyundai IONIQ 5 is set to receive a longer driving range and a power increase as Hyundai Australia prepares to introduce a bigger 77.4kWh battery pack for the local portfolio.

That’s the latest indication from official federal government homologation documents, which list the two variants fitted with the bigger battery pack as the 2WD and 4WD ‘EXT LRG 77.4kWh’.

carsales understands the bigger battery will be a replacement for the existing 72.6kWh (653V) liquid-cooled lithium-ion pack, rather than an “extra-long range” addition.

International reports suggest the extra capacity will add more than 25km to the driving range of both the single-motor and dual-motor powertrains – currently at 481km and 430km respectively.

That would lift the single-motor range to beyond 500km, and take the dual-motor past 450km, while the documents seen by carsales also nominate a power increase of 8kW for the former and 14kW for the latter.

That’d see the dual-motor version lower its 0-100km/h time to 5.1 seconds (-0.1sec).

Currently, the single electric motor/rear-wheel drive IONIQ 5 develops 160kW and 350Nm of torque, while the dual electric motor/all-wheel drive model produces a total 225kW and 605Nm.

The upgrade puts the IONIQ 5 on level terms with the related Kia EV6, which is already fitted with a 77.4kWh (697V) battery that weighs 477.1kg and has a 111.2kWh capacity.

The single-motor EV6 produces 168kW/350Nm, while the dual-motor version musters 239kW/605Nm.

The battery upgrade will also be at the core of the upcoming Hyundai IONIQ 5 N, which should broadly mirror the 430kW/740Nm outputs of the inbound Kia EV6 GT.

Hyundai Australia declined to comment on the battery homologation data.

The company is also yet to confirm the local introduction of a smaller 58kWh battery pack also unearthed by carsales earlier this year.