In the electric vehicles industry, Hyundai worked hard to make sure that the Hyundai Ioniq 2020 is keeping up with the times. it’s pretty much a given that if you’re not constantly moving forward you’re gonna get left behind. and Hyundai didn’t want to get left behind. They made it!
What’s new in 2020 Hyundai Ioniq Electric
This new 2020 model has a couple of headline improvements. it’s got an upgraded battery pack. the old car had a 28 kWh battery. but the new Hyundai Ioniq has a 38.3 kWh battery pack. that’s a 10.3-kilowatt improvement. it’s also got a brand new motor. it’s both more powerful and more efficient and combined with. the 2020 Ioniq is a fully electric car.
Range & Battery Size
As I mentioned above, this 2020 model is equipped with a 38.3 kWh battery pack. Compared to the old model, you get a 30% improvement in the electric driving range. so in total, this car will go 273 km on a full charge. that’s 170 miles.
Improved Exterior Styling
They’ve also jazzed up the interior, added a bit more tech, and crucially made it a little bit sexier on the outside. I am always pleasantly surprised that it’s a lot better looking in person than it looks in pictures. Hyundai Ioniq 2020 got some new LED headlights that look very swanky. you’ve also got some new daylight running lights down the side and a completely new grille.
In the old Ioniq models, the grille was completely smooth. almost to the point of looking like a baby’s bum. it was a bit weird. but they’ve changed the grill for this new 2020 Ioniq model. the grill has hundreds of little chevrons. littered around it to give it that little bit of texture. and you also get little flaps in the grille. now to the untrained eye including mine, when I first saw this car I thought that’s where you plug the car in.
But no, they are aero ports. what these do is they stay closed when the car is driving along to improve aero efficiency. but when the electric goblins underneath get a little bit hot under the collar. they open up to allow extra cooling inside.
Impressive Drag Coefficient
The Ioniq 2020 has a drag coefficient of 0.25. and to put that into context. the Nissan Leaf has a dry coefficient of 0.28. so whatever Hyundai is doing it’s clearly working. so that new motor I mentioned, it’s not gonna break any world records this thing. it’s a little bit more powerful than the old one. I think it was 120 HP (horsepower). The new Ioniq motor makes 134 HP. with 295 Nm of torque. what does that mean for real-world performance? well, this car can accelerate 0-62 mph in 10.8 seconds.
Not so impressive. to be honest, this is not a sports car. do not attempt to race a Tesla in an Ionic. because you will lose it. I don’t have a massive problem with that though because this car doesn’t pretend to be something that it’s not.
Good Handling
There are so many electric cars out there with prodigious amounts of acceleration and torque. they can out-accelerate a lot of sports cars. but the problem arrives when these cars encounter what I like to call a corner. because as soon as you get to a corner, carrying as much speed, as some of these electric cars can carry what tends to happen is they fall over.
I’ve seen so many people fall into this trap countless times either on purpose while driving like an idiot. or accidentally. because they’re not familiar with the road and they’re carrying too much speed. and then they get to a bend and it’s not a pretty sight sometimes. believe me.
But the Hyundai Ioniq is pretty impressive through the bends, easy to handle. it’s not a very heavy car. it’s got quite a low center of gravity. and what that means is when you get to a corner. it can equip itself surprisingly well.
Quality, Modern Aerodynamic Wheels
Around the side. you get aerodynamically optimized wheels in 2020 Ioniq. which help the car cut through the air. this works in conjunction with the little vents on the front of the car. which feeds air into the front wheel arch to reduce the turbulent forces generated by the wheel as it spins. the idea is that it shapes the air along the side of the car and again helps the car cut through the air.
4 New Colors
It’s also got special paint. I’m joking! the paint’s completely normal. but there are 9 colors of the ionic. including 4 new colors. typhoon silver is not that different from the electric shadow and fluidic metal color options you get. which are also basically great. refinement is an interesting one in this car.
Still Silent
On the whole, Hyundai Ionic 2020 generally a noiseless car when you’re cruising at low speed. it’s perfectly acceptable to sit in. I quite like it. but when you get up to motorway speeds. things change ever so slightly. those low rolling resistance tires I mentioned earlier do make quite a lot of noise when you’re going at high speed.
Speaking of noise this car is also equipped with Hyundai’s VESS (Virtual Engine Sound System). that’s the vehicle engine sound synthesizer. so you press a little button down to the right of the steering wheel. and it will make a very cool futuristic noise to warn pedestrians and cyclists that you’re pulling up behind them and that they should get out the way.
Updated Tech & Instrumentation
The biggest change is this thing that’s staring you in the face. this is a 10.25-inch touchscreen display. which I think looks really cool. cast your mind back to the old Ioniq. and the display was integrated into the dashboard. but this new one looks a lot more modern. and a lot more futuristic. it’s a touchscreen obviously. but you’ve also got the shortcut buttons along the bottom to make things easier for you. you’ve got shortcuts for your maps, your radio, your media, and also skipping forward and backward between tracks.
Below that, you can see all your HVAC controls. (Heating, Ventilation, And Climate) there is another screen up behind the steering wheel. that is your “instrument binnacle” as they call it in the trade. that shows you things like your speed your driving range etc. and it comes with mode lighting so when you shift between your driving modes, it changes color to help remind you what mode you happen to be in.
Speaking of your driving controls, everything is massively easy to use. the drive mode selector switch is as simple as you can get it. it’s got a park, reverse drive, and neutral.
Driving Modes & Regeneration
There are 3 driving modes in the Ioniq 2020. Normal, Eco, and Sports. Eco mode is the mode you’re going to end up most of the time. to be honest, what it means is that it causes the accelerator pedal to be incredibly lazy. you can flop your foot down on it and it won’t go charging off into the distance. not that it could go charging off because this is not the world’s most powerful car. but it allows you to smoothly apply the throttle without using up unnecessary energy. then there’s Normal mode. which gives you slightly more instant throttle response. and Sport mode which gives you yet more responsiveness.
But again, sport it’s not a mile you’re going to spend a lot of time in. because this car it’s not sporty is it let’s be honest. speaking of sportiness. these paddles on the steering wheel are not for rifling through the gearbox. they’re actually for adjusting the amount of brake regen. so you can pull the one on the left-hand side and that will more aggressively slow the car down. and it will bring the car to a complete stop. so you can drive the car with a combination of the brake pedal. and your fingers on your left hand with regenerative braking.
The paddle on the right-hand side meanwhile, reduces the amount of brake regen to cause the car to become more slippery and conserve its momentum. the brakes are pretty impressive as well not because they’re ludicrously strong. but mostly because they give you a very natural feel. some electric cars can feel so unnatural because of the combination of physical braking. and regen. but the Hyundai Ioniq 2020 feels consistent the whole way through. and fill you with so much confidence to stop the car or slow it down smoothly. which I can’t speak highly enough about.
Interior Features
One thing that I don’t like is the fact that it doesn’t have dual-zone climate control in the Ioniq 2020. if your passenger wants it to be 23 degrees and you want it to be 19 degrees. you’ve got to figure out a happy middle ground. interestingly there’s also a very strange driver-only mode which I think is designed to conserve electricity. or it might just be there to spike your passenger. 🙂
You also get a wireless charging pad in the center console. just about big enough for an iPhone 10. but nowhere near big enough for some of these larger phablet style device. I think Hyundai might have missed the trick there. but you do at least get a couple of USB ports. one is located just below the touch screen and a second one in the storage compartment in the center console. speaking of which that’s a really good size, you also get a couple of cup holders. decent-sized door bins and a large glove box. which might sound a bit silly. but you don’t get that in a lot of cars.
Rear & Boot Space
Personally, I’m 5 ft and I fit just fine. So the Ioniq is fine for almost all the people that they have a height between 4-6 feet. The legroom is satisfying. but if you happen to be taller than I am, let’s say above 6 ft, then your head will touch the ceiling. due to the fact that the car has a sloping roof design.
Around the back. pretty much the same as the old car. but you do get these new LED rear lights which again help the car look a lot more modern than it used to. and if I open the boot lid up. it’s got a lift back design and that reveals a really really good boot space. Hyundai Ioniq 2020 has a 443 l boot space that is bigger than the boot space of Tesla model S, bigger than a Nissan Leaf. and actually on par with a lot of petrol cars. That’s a huge plus.
The only problem though is that you get a little lip on the load bay. the problem is when you try and load a large item inside. it goes in no problem. but try getting it out again what you’ve got to do is shove your fingers underneath it. imagine doing that with a washing machine and the amount of weight that carries. and getting it over the lip is a little bit of a struggle. but again a good size boot you’ve also got your charging cables. easily accessible in here you’ve got a standard charger as well as an occasional three-pin charger. and even though it’s not power tailgate. it’s really easy to close.
Charging the IONIQ
The new Ioniq battery as I’ve said will allow it to go 170 miles on a single charge. and based on what I’ve seen. that’s a very realistic number. I think you’ll get that all day long. these cars all come with a built-in onboard 7.2 kW charger. which means if you plug into a 50 kW or 100 kW charger, you can go from 0-80% in around 54 minutes. that’s pretty decent. plus you can connect at home and charge overnight very very simple and you can even schedule your charging via an app.
If you’re planning on going even further. you can plug your destination into the satellite navigation, and the car will tell you whether or not you’ll make it. and if you won’t make it. you can even choose which charging point to stop off at on your way. whether that’s a fast charger or a rapid charger to give you a better insight into what your journey might actually look like.
Compare with Hyundai KONA
But there’s an elephant in the room here. this is a decent car but there’s another car in the Hyundai family that I think is also worth looking at. the Kona it’s the same price and also has a much better range of 258 miles. I know it’s smaller. I know it’s less practical. but if you can sacrifice that little bit of space then that car might actually make a lot more sense. this is decent but I just wonder whether the Hyundai Kona might be the car you want to consider.
Hyundai Ioniq 2020 Electric – Summing Up
As a summary, here are the new and updated features of the Hyundai Ioniq 2020
- 38.3 kWh battery pack
- Improved motor with 134 HP, 295 Nm of torque
- 170 miles of electric range
- LED headlights
- Daylight running lamps
- Completely new grille
- Improved drag coefficient
- Aerodynamically optimized wheels
- 4 new colors
- Hyundai’s VESS
- 10.25-inch touchscreen display
- 443 l boot space
- Fully electric
Who am I to judge look 60,000 people can’t be wrong. and all those people who have bought their Ioniq are surely going to be very pleased with their purchase. anyone considering buying this new Ioniq 2020 electric, I think they’re going to be in for a good time.
It does a lot of things right. it’s spacious it’s practical. it’s easy to get on with. okay, sure it doesn’t exactly set your pulse racing. but if you’re looking for a car that is going to be a decent family wagon that’s going to take you from A to B without any fuss whatsoever. then I think this is a car that’s definitely worth considering.
