Hyundai AE (All Electric) to be available before Chevy BOLT

Hyundai AE will have a 46kWh battery out of which 40kWh is usable giving you an EPA estimated range of about 150+ miles.

http://pushevs.com/2015/10/12/hyundai-will-launch-its-electric-car-before-chevrolet-bolt/

Yes, I saw one of these being test driven a couple of days ago.


The LG Chem battery is both cheaper and better than the one in the current Soul EV.
LG Chem 240 Wh/kg - SK Inno 200 Wh/kg = 20% improvement.
LG Chem <$150/kWh - SK Inno >$200/kWh = >25% improvement.

The LG Chem battery will be used in a lot of the about to be released EV's
I assume SK Inno and Samsung SDI will both have to announce similar improvements next year.

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There is a good review of all 3 versions of the I oniq at the Geneva Motor Show here
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q2wQmEhl3uM
The I oniq Electric will go on sale here next week. Hopefully I can test drive it and will report back then.
The interior looks good in the video, I am impressed. The I oniq Electric will be cheaper than the Soul EV, so unless Kia has something unexpected up its sleeve I think the I oniq Electric is going straight to number 1 spot here.

Didn't get to drive the I oniq today. Too busy. Will post again.
I liked the blue one best.
It does have Chademo! Silly position for it though.

Very interesting news - thanks for the updates.

If you get the chance to ask, I think what I'd most like to know is whether or not the 28 kWh pack denotes usable capacity or total capacity. They advertise the Soul with 27 but that's usable (30.5 total).

JejuSoul said:

I think the I oniq Electric is going straight to number 1 spot here.

Click to expand...

Yep. Currently the I oniq EV has a 65% market share for prospective customers of this year's 4000 cars. The Soul EV has obviously lost out dramatically since it was last year's leader with 38% market share.

A few more photos -

I test drove the I oniq today. It is a nice car but I prefer the Soul.
The interior feels a bit too plastic and the design of the steering wheel / dashboard isn't as good.
It drives well and has a fun sport mode but it is nowhere near as 'peppy' as the i 3.

The navigation system and software is almost identical.
The only difference I could see is that UVO is replaced by Blue Link. See https://www.hyundaiusa.com/bluelink/
No Android Auto or Apple CarPlay on the Korean I oniq EV.

There is another review here - http://www.autonews.com/article/20160318/OEM04/160319863/hyundai-plans-multiple-versions-of-ioniq-hybrid
I find his comments about regeneration a little odd. So odd in fact that I may have to test the car again just to make sense of what he is saying.
The i oniq does not have B mode. Instead it has a paddle shifter in the top left arch of the steering wheel.



I saw and tested 3 settings not 4. Marked '>' '>>' and '>>>"
I am not clear what the differences are and the sales guy sitting next to me wasn't much help.

Edit: I now understand why the reviewer above said what he did. I got the same quote word for word about regen from the lead sales person. It seems the review is from a press release (mediated through the sales team to the journalist) not an actual testing experience.

I tested the I oniq again today. There are 4 settings of Regeneration - zero to three.
Fortunately the I oniq navigation screens are identical to the Soul so a direct comparison is possible.
I drove the car with the energy / electricity screen open.
I tested the I oniq in each mode by driving up to 40km/h and then raising the accelerator pedal.
I only tested one foot braking. I did not use the brake pedal in this experiment.
The numbers shown are
level 0: 0kW
level 1: -12kW
level 2: -25kW
level 3: -33kW

Driving the same course in the same way on my Soul in B mode gave -25kW. So it appears level 2 on the I oniq is equivalent to our B mode. In our D mode I got -14kW, hence level 1 on the I oniq is equivalent to our D mode Driving on level zero was very strange to me because I am so used to regen on raising the accelerator pedal.

The I oniq does not slow charge to 80%. Like the L eaf it only has 100% in the settings. Presumably this is to boost the range in the EPA ratings. This explains much of the difference in reported range between the I oniq and the Soul.

I have no information about the total capacity of the battery. Neither Hyundai nor LG Chem would comment. I was told twice that there is no cooling system for the battery. I don't believe it, despite it being an engineer who told me.

I would like "level 3" regen for my slow-and-go commute every day; it sounds like it would approximate i3 off-throttle regen.

As far as battery cooling, this pic seems to clearly show a cabin air intake and exhaust ports, just like the Soul EV.

https://b6c18f286245704fe3e9-05e2055f4cd9122af02914269431c9f6.ssl.cf1.rackcdn.com/8191830_2017-hyundai-ioniq-hybrid-electric-more_t7dd38aa9.jpg

Maybe they misunderstood the question as active liquid cooling?

In any event, thank you so much for the updates, I'm really enjoying reading them.

110 range is done with. Before the year is out we should have at least two 200-mile cars out or announced for 2017 (Bolt, Leaf 2.0). What a waste.

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If those cars were here now I would happily test them. They are not. Instead this is the car parked next to me today.



He's parked one space to the right of the c harger so that the cable doesn't wrap around his door preventing him from getting in or out.
Obviously you could reverse in to charge and avoid this problem, but if the space is ICEd he is less able to park in one of the adjacent spots and have the cable reach. This is why I prefer the position of the c harger slots on the Soul and L eaf.

How dumb do those car makers get...even Tesla. No EVs should have rear charge port, period. It's illogical, it's cumbersome, out or the way, awful. Gotta drag that cord all the way to the end of the vehicle. Makes no sense to me. None whatsoever.

I have decided NOT to put money down on Tesla 3. The charger position is one of three reasons why not. The others are the stupid Mercedes toggle cruise control on the wrong side of the steering wheel and the next is entire lack of buttons. I'm not fond of the screen, sorry.

And then there is that proprietary Tesla plug.

Elon, you see, does NOT want you to be hanging out at his stations getting free juice on his dime on regular basis. This is from Tesla salesman. I kid you not. That's why there are no stations in congested areas where the Tesla owners live, (with the exception of NY for some reason). The chargers are in the non-congested areas for the long-distance traveling Tesla owners. Others may please charge at HOME, is the message. So now I would need to get the Tesla gizmo to convert my J1772 to Tesla proprietary.

No, thank you.

To me a 200-mile EV is a 200-mile EV. That's it. Honda may be coming out in 2018 with its BEV, 4-wheel steering, 4 motor. Now that's a car to wait for. So, it appears there will be some exciting choices out there by the time Model 3 shows up.

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A summary of my feelings about the I oniq EV and why I wouldn't buy a new one.
On the plus side:
1/ for the same price as the Soul you do get a slightly extended real range. (about 10%).
The EPA figures look better than this because they dropped the 80% charging limit. But the battery is about 5% bigger and the car is more aerodynamic. For many this extra 10% range may be what makes the sale.
2/ it can drive faster and has a sport mode.
3/ it has 4 levels of regen. I like this option. hope we get it as a software option.

On the negative side.
1/ the slope of the rear roof makes this car unsuitable for a tall adult to sit in the back. This is the decisive factor for me.
2/ the charging slot is in the wrong place.
3/ I don't like the steering wheel layout as much as the Soul EV.

The thing I liked best was the 4 levels of regen. Testing this helped me understand the differences in EVs better. After testing the I oniq and Soul I then tested the L eaf and i 3. The L eaf behaves pretty much as the Soul. It has D and B which match I oniq regen levels 2 and 3. It seems Kia copied a lot of good ideas directly from the L eaf. I am now much more impressed with the L eaf seeing how they got this right first time. The BMW i 3 seems to have a single level of regen. I tested in 3 modes Comfort, Eco and Eco Pro. All have the same very strong regen. Much stronger than I oniq's level 3. If anyone knows how to adjust regen on an i 3 I will test again. But what I see is that the i 3 has way faster acceleration and deceleration than other cars. As I said earlier it is more 'peppy' than the I oniq. Some people love their i3 because of this, some want to return their car because it is too powerful.
Edit: The numbers I saw doing the regen test on the L eaf and i 3. Nothing scientific about this, just for rough comparisons of cars.
The instrumentation is different and they may be measuring differently.
L eaf D -13kWh, B -22kWh.
BMW i 3 Comfort -66kWh, Eco -66kWh, Eco Pro -66kWh

110-mile range = obsolescence, no matter the comfort, regen levels, and the rest of the accouterments Ioniq offers. By November this car will be devoured by the likes of Bolt, Leaf 2 and on.

iletric said:

By November this car will be devoured by the likes of B olt, L eaf 2 and on.

Click to expand...

Tes la seems to have changed the rules of the game. Nissan, Chevy and to some extent Hyundai just lost a substantial chunk of a quarter of a million BEV buyers. If we are lucky Tes la just expanded the pie and all makes can grow sales. Seems unlikely to me. Congrats to Elon Musk. His marketing strategy seems to have paid off big time.

update: 12th April
Q1 EV sales for Korea just came out and were half of last year. The Jeju expo only managed to get 1500 applications for the 4000 subsidised cars on offer. Last year it was 5000 applications for 1500 cars. The auto press here is using the Tes la example to suggest that buyers are waiting for better models to arrive in a few years time. see http://koreajoongangdaily.joins.com/news/article/article.aspx?aid=3017392

JejuSoul said:

Congrats to Elon Musk. His marketing strategy seems to have paid off big time.

Click to expand...

The best thing about this strategy is, it put all car makers around the world on notice. It shows them without a doubt it's worth getting into electromobility.

Honda may be working on a 4WS 4-motor EV due in 2018. Now THAT puts ME on notice.

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Am editing this post with links to recent articles about the I oniq EV.

1/ - There is an article by Hans Greimel in Automotive News from April 4, 2016 - Hyundai-Kia's grand electrification plan Those 2 EVs are presumably the I oniq EV and the N iro EV.

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2/ - An article on a Korean news site etnews from April 27, 2016 - Hyundai Motor Company to Expand Its Lineup of Electric Vehicles Soon The two added are a 200 miles (about 320 km) SUV in first half of 2018. Afterwards, an electric vehicle version of its luxury car called ‘Genesis’.

By Jun 02, 2016 the 26 had become 28 - http://english.etnews.com/20160602200001

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3/ - Korean newspaper Yonhap news from 24 May, 2016 - Hyundai pushes to extend Ioniq Electric's range to 400 km by 2020 The official range for the I oniq in Korea was announced as 191km. This is slightly higher than the 180km which was advertised in March. see
Rumour has it they have used aluminum body parts to reduce vehicle weight.

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4/ - Hyundai Reveals European Release Dates Of I oniq Models - http://www.hyundai-blog.com/ioniq-release-date/ -------------------------------------------------------------------

5/ - 2018 Hyundai I oniq EV To Have A 200 Mile Driving Range - http://www.hyundai-blog.com/2018-hyundai-ioniq-ev/ The roadmap for the I oniq EV seems to be 2016 191km (118miles), 2018 320km (200 miles), 2020 400km (250 miles)

Production of he I oniq EV has begun. 7 colours to choose from



Interestingly the battery heater is an option. The Soul EV here has it but I have never seen it used, and probably never will.

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Deliveries of the I oniq EV began a few days ago (June 28th). I'm beginning to see quite a few around.
The highest VIN I've seen so far is 366.
Here's one slow charging next to a Ray EV.



update: 2 days later - one of my neighbours has VIN 499

update2: 1 month later (Aug 9th) - highest VIN I have seen is 816. Official sales figures 131 in June and 574 in July.
I oniq EVs in red yellow or blue are very rare here. Of the dozens of cars I've seen none are these.

update3: (Sep 5th) After clearing the order books it seems sales of the I oniq EV has stalled.
There was an EV Festival here this weekend. Another big push by Hyundai to sell more of these cars. See Jeju EV Rally
I heard they sold 20 at the event.