Hyundai IONIQ Electric 2019 Review

Electric Vehicles (or EVs) make up a teeny-tiny proportion of new car sales in Australia. But there's a growing appetite for electric vehicles. Anecdotal and observed data suggests that Aussies are ready to embrace EVs – but they're just waiting for the right car.

So, what is the right car? Most probably an electric vehicle that offers the right blend of cruising range, charging time and of course price of admission. Plug-in hybrids do that very well and in our recent comparison the Toyota Prius iTech Hybrid pipped the Hyundai IONIQ Plug-In Hybrid Premium.

But the Hyundai IONIQ Electric is different – it's purely electric and could be the vehicle that kindles Australia's love affair with EVs… but for the majority of buyers I reckon it may fall just shy of the mark.

Don't get me wrong, my experience driving this car was nothing short of delightful.

Even with its relatively meagre 28kW/h lithium-ion polymer battery pack (Tesla cars offers up to 100kWh) offering a claimed real-world range of 230km, I didn’t suffer from extreme cases of range anxiety, which is a real condition that turns so many customers off EVs.

My daily 35km round trip to work was a more peaceful experience each morning and evening for two reasons. The first is noise, or lack thereof.

This is a quieter car than both the Audi e-tron and Jaguar I-PACE, two high-profile EVs that are very impressive machines in their own rights. But it wasn't until I jumped into a petrol-powered Peugeot 208 afterwards that I realised just how pleasant commuting in an EV can be.

Conversation flows easily and even acquaintances on the other end of Bluetooth phone calls expressed views on how clear the reception was.

I actually felt a bit forlorn when the reality of a combustion engine assailed my senses. The monotony of the engine noise and the vibrations… so vulgar!

The second reason is the lack of gears. There isn't even a shifter – just a bunch of buttons.

Because the Hyundai IONIQ Electirc – and most EVs – uses a single-speed reduction gear, you just sink the boot from the standstill and keep it buried until your desired speed, whether that's 40km/h or 60km/h or 110km/h. There's no changing gears and together with a creamy-smooth (and potent) power delivery the experience is eminently agreeable.

Propulsion from the permanent magnet synchronous electric motor (88kW/295Nm) is ample, with strong acceleration from standstill thanks to instant but smooth torque hit. It's a fun car to punt around and is such a relaxed car to drive in town and in the suburbs.

It's gratifying to bury the right foot and feel the rush of acceleration, silently torching other cars in the traffic light tango (it's rather fleet) but I found more satisfaction by driving it efficiently.

Driving in this manner I managed around 210km range, not 230km as claimed. But I feel as though with more practice I could achieve better results.

Throttle response is excellent and while rearward visibility is obscured slightly by the spit rear window, a clear reversing camera helps when parking. It has a tight turning circle (10.6m) which also makes parking simpler.

Another boon is ride comfort, which is exceptionally good. The Hyundai EV absorbs everything from smashed-up, roadwork-affected surfaces to expansion gaps on the freeway with the seamlessness of flowing water.

On the cobblestones of the back alleys around Cremorne it came up trumps, with perhaps the most impressive repeated bump absorbing competencies since my 1979 Ford XC-series Falcon saw active duty in the rutted backstreets of Somerville in early 2000s.

Handling? For everyday duties the IONIQ Electric's steering is dull but adequate. If you want an apex hunter you'd be better off buying a Hyundai i30 N or Volkswagen Golf GTI. Even through tame corners and slow roundabout routing it has significant body roll. The ultra-skinny eco tyres are not what you'd call super sticky either.

The IONIQ Electric's interior is best described as neat and inoffensive. It's not overly 'futuristic' but is a step up from the standard Hyundai i30 and Tucson fare.

You get a digital instrument cluster with several different modes and diagnostic displays for predicted range and battery levels. The central infotainment screen in nicely integrated into dash, the heating and cooling controls have a high quality feel and are sensibly arranged.

Below the gear shift buttons – which include three levels of propulsion, Sport, Normal and Eco – are a few more car controls and an upright wireless phone charger. The latter is probably the best wireless charger I've used, because it's easy to position the phone to engage charging and doesn't take up as much cabin real estate.

There's also ample room for a purse or man bag, along with two USB ports up front.

With a 350-litre boot the IONIQ Electric doesn’t offer enough room for the kind of luggage and supplies requires to circumnavigate your home state (and also because of range issues), but it was big enough for a fold up pram and more than enough for a grocery shop. Back seat room is okay for two adults and a baby seat slotted in easily.

For the most part the plastics in the cabin are decent with rubbery soft touch materials but there are areas of very hard, unforgiving and cheap-feel (but probably harder wearing) plastics.

The seats are comfortable and this IONIQ Electric Premium model adds some seriously supple leather upholstery, not to mention heated seats and cooled seats. Which, interestingly, don't seem to reduce the range of the car when activated, unlike the air-conditioning.

For example when the air-conditioning is off, the car had a claimed 221km range when fully charged, but that drops to 193km when with the lowest setting, 188km with double fan speed, dropping to 181km. Lowering the temperature and working the system harder also drops the range – yet the cooled seats don't…

Drawcard features on the Hyundai IONIQ Electric Premium include the likes of 17-inch alloy wheels, front and rear parking sensors, leather seats, a powered sunroof, rain-sensing wipers and wireless phone charging.

Easy, just plug it in. The real question is how do you charge it quickly?

Plugged into a regular (10 amp) household socket the car takes a long time to charge from almost flat to 100 per cent, around 15 hours, which is not ideal.

Fast-charging stations and dedicated wall chargers can reduce this time significantly. For example using a 7kW/22kW Schneider EVLink Smart Wallbox charge box located in carsales underground carpark, it took less than two hours to charge the car from about 10 per cent battery to a full charge.

Using another method it took a lot longer.

Mid-week, with seven per cent battery left, it took 9 hours and 40 minutes to charge the car overnight at the home of carsales.com.au's multimedia editor, John Wilson. He has solar power, green electricity and, most importantly, power monitoring diagnostic tools.

Using the Hyundai charge kit, the cost broke down to about $7.61 for an almost 93 per cent charge. That's a fair bit cheaper than petrol… but takes longer to, err, fill. A lot longer. Swings and roundabouts.

Those figures came about based on peak power (6pm-midnight) of 12.3kW costing $4.55 and off-peak power (midnight-7am) of 13.95kW costing a total of $3.06. With green power, the cost is 0.37c per kW, with off-peak power at 0.22c per kilowatt.

Based on those calculations it would cost around $10 for a full charge and a 210km range with at peak electricity times, and just over $6 for off-peak power.

When I attempted to charge the IONIQ Electric at the local shopping mall's fast charger in North Melbourne I was forlorn to realise I had needed a subscription and charge card. I'll be better prepared next time.

Owning an EV would require a better knowledge of where your closest public fast chargers are and what is required to access them, but like paying for petrol with a fuel card or tap-and-pay, this sort of transaction will become the norm in time.

The IONIQ Electric makes for a compelling EV proposition. On paper, I'm not so sure the 200km-ish range and starting price of $45K will be enough to get a majority of buyers to take the plunge.

For that price you can buy a lot more real-estate in your car, such as a top-end medium-sized SUV from an Asian brand that are so popular these day, or even a Swedish or German SUV.

That said, after spending time with the car it begins to make more sense. I planned journeys a little smarter, drove it differently and generally enjoyed living with a car that never needs to go to the petrol station or require an oil change.

The long charging cord means you don't have to park right in front of a power outlet, which is handy!

Like all Hyundai passenger vehicles the service intervals are pretty good, pegged at 12 months/15,000km and it costs $160 per service. That's very competitively priced.

The car is covered by a five-year/ unlimited km warranty and the battery has an eight-year/160,000km warranty.

After a week behind the wheel of the Hyundai IONIQ Electric, I came away feeling fresh and revitalised. As absurd as it sounds, driving the IONIQ Electric to work every day was in some ways more like riding a bike. I felt calmer and happier after each drive and looked forward to getting behind the wheel.

This was definitely the quietest EV I've tested thus far and the drive experience is smoother than a peach mocktail. The way it motivates via its electric motor is likewise refreshing and very responsive to boot.

Okay, so the range isn’t amazing at around 210km and can't match its Kona EV sibling's 400km-plus range but as a commuter it slotted into my lifestyle well. With a 20km commute each way, I rarely felt stressed about whether I'd make it home.

At this price and given its useful size, measuring almost 4.5m long, only the Nissan LEAF will come close. The latter car has a better claimed range of 270km but it will also be more expensive when it arrives in Oz from August 2019; $50K versus $45K for the IONIQ Electric.

Although the price of the Hyundai will still be a little high for buyers who are considering the swap to a zero emission EV, the IONIQ Electric is nevertheless one of the best EVs deals going around today.

How much does the 2019 Hyundai IONIQ Electric Premium cost?
Price: $48,990 (plus on-road costs)
Motor: Permanent magnet synchronous electric
Output: 88kW/295Nm
Transmission: Single speed reduction gear
Electricity: 115Wh/100km
Safety rating: N/A