An interesting test of a retired electric car was conducted. The car on which the test was conducted, is the 2019 Hyundai IONIQ EV with a 28-kWh battery (it also offers 38kWh now)
Two years ago, this 28 kWh Hyundai’s electric model passed Bjorn Nyland’s 1,000 km challenge in just 12 hours and 15 minutes. While the same model’s new version with a 38kWh battery took 14 hours and 20 minutes to complete the same challenge. It happened due to its very limited charging power as a higher range helps only in the beginning.
Specifications of Hyundai IONIQ EV (28 kWh)
Hyundai’s Ioniq EV is a hatchback, with a modular architecture. The car is equipped with futuristic features like a regenerative braking system and even includes different driving modes like:
- Normal Mode
- Sport Mode
The car has maximum power RPM ranging around 2850-6000 rpm (revolutions per minute) and the torque provided by the car is 295 Nm which is really good. The ground clearance of the car is 140 mm (i.e., around 5.5 inches) The maximum speed attained by the car is 165 km/h (or 102.5 mph) The car reaches the speed of 100km/hr in 9.9 sec in sports mode and in 10.2 seconds in normal mode. The type of rechargeable battery used is Li-ion Polymer with an air-convection cooling system. Moreover, the electric motor used is ‘permanent magnet synchronous’ and the power produced by this motor is 88 kW.
Recently, a new test has been taken on the two-year-old car, in optimum conditions, temperature, and traffic. The new results are quite astonishing as now the car was able to complete the same test with similar conditions in just 11 hours and 55 minutes. A full 20 minutes better service has been provided by the car, this may be partially due to the higher number of fast-charging stations and higher power output.
The outcome of the latest test considering the battery size is outstanding. It is clearly visible that the car’s performance matches with Audi e-Tron 50, and even exceeds many cars having bigger battery packs; like Hyundai IONIQ EV (38 kWh), Volvo XC40 Recharge, Nissan LEAF (62 kWh), Jaguar I-PACE, and many more.
The most important thing and the key factor which allows a car to complete the challenge in less than 12 hours is its:
- very high efficiency of the car (very similar to Tesla Model 3)
- high charging power in relation to its battery capacity
The charging power normally exceeds 60kW in a 28kWh air-cooled battery, but once the temperature touches 50-degree Celsius, the output power starts limiting. That is what actually prevented Bjorn Nyland from an even better result. Another factor is that the car enters the turtle mode when it is around 5% State of Charge (SOC).
Although, Hyundai IONIQ EV (28kWh) has a small battery and limited range, then also Bjorn Nyland was able to complete the test with 9 times charging the vehicle in his entire journey (if he would have charged a bit longer at the eighth stop then he won’t have to charge the battery again at the ninth stop) But nevertheless, IONIQ Electric, is a bench-mark for all-electric cars with a smaller battery pack.
Test conditions:
| Temperature | 14-28°C (21.5°C on average) |
| Start | 100% State of Charge (SOC) |
| Number of stops for charging | 9 |
| Total time taken | 11 hours and 55 minutes |
| Average speed (total) | 83.9 km/h (52 mph) |
| Average efficiency | 171 Wh/km (275 Wh/mile) |
Charging stops:
|
Ist stop |
after 134 km (83 miles) |
|
IInd stop |
after 261 km (162 miles) |
|
IIIrd stop |
Data not available |
|
IVth stop |
after 445 km (277 miles) |
|
Vth stop |
after 569 km (354 miles) |
|
VIth stop |
after 678 km (421 miles) |
|
VIIth stop |
after 792 km (492 miles) |
|
VIIIth stop |
after 892 km (554 miles) |
|
IXth stop |
after 976 km (607 miles) |
