Seoul – 430 km (267 miles) from Busan, we have a fully charged battery and a half cup of coffee. It’s 9:30 am, Mercury reads 0 degrees Celsius and we’re driving the Hyundai IONIQ 9.
If all goes well, I will be able to back up a lot of juice even when night falls without charging.
Hyundai Motor Co. designed this Korean off-road driving challenge because it proved that its new three-row all-electric crossover was designed to make range anxiety an afterthought – often in electric car battery batteries even at long-frozen temperatures at highway speeds.
Joonmin Lee, head of global product promotion, told U.S. journalists before we left Seoul on the crossover. “That’s what this time tests the drive.”
There are many technical tweaks made from each electron in a 110 kWh battery, offering an EPA rating range of 300 miles in all settings and reaching 335 miles in the long-term version.
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Hyundai’s fixation of driving distance helps the Ioniq 9 stand out from Stablemate, a company that is shared by its platform. The EV9’s long-range 100-km-hour battery has a maximum EPA rating of only 304 miles, and the standard model’s battery is only 230 miles of a 76 kWh battery.
But the scope of the Ioniq 9 is supported by other technical skills.
The Aerodynamic 9 three-row crossover of the Hyundai IONIQ 9 features curved roof lines and clamped “stern” rear to help improve travel range.
Aerodynamics, innovative heating helps expand EV range
For beginners, designers spend more time on aerial tunnels than in studios to do aerodynamics. The result is the curved roofline of the Ioniq 9 and the chopped stern.
The appearance gives the IONIQ 9 a value-added resistance coefficient of 0.26 in the version with a side camera instead of a mirror. This number is the smoothest of any crossover in the Hyundai Motor group.
By comparison, the Boxy EV9 has a resistance coefficient of 0.28.
Hyundai has also redesigned the bodywork on the Ioniq 9. The lid is more than just a flat panel. Engineers found that a undulating concave and convex surface could better radiate air.
Inside the car, ultra-high heating and cooling systems reduce battery strain. This setup (also deployed in EV9) uses heat pump technology that recycles waste heat. Meanwhile, area management allows for separate heating of the front and rear sections.
Hyundai said the system enables the Ioniq 9 to cover distances of more than 400 kilometers (250 miles) even if the heater, even if the external temperature is as cold as the -7 C (19.4 F), its extreme situation is not an extreme range outside the EPA rating range, but it is not recognized in the winter winter of South Korea in the south.
Despite weighing nearly 3 tons, the Hyundai IONIQ 9 three-row crossover promises more than 300 miles in each trim.
The Ioniq 9 is a 2.9-ton behemoth
Although none of these factors are a magic bullet with a better range, they all add up.
And every point helps, as the Ioniq 9 weighs nearly 3 tons and is 2,600 kg (2.9 tons).
Under that crowd, the Ioniq 9 is a bit more clumsy than the girl driver’s delight in the home cruiser – although the all-wheel drive version of the front and rear 160 kilowatt Motors offers plenty of fists and plenty of brakes.
We left Seoul, the capital near the border with North Korea, and drove along the expressway to the second largest city on the country’s far southeast coast. Along the way, my driving partner and I only stopped for three a little long stops, one for coffee, one for lunch, and one for calling for nature.
The Hyundai Ioniq 9’s internal three-row crossover is clean and modern with a larger digital display.
Incredible parking traffic is in trouble during rush hours in the morning and afternoon. As we head south, the cold in February gave way to temperatures above the freezing.
We don’t have a battery care, but we don’t have a boost in heat or audio system either. We drive gasoline cars as usual. Our speed averages about 90-110 km/h (55-70 mph).
By the time we arrived in Busan at 6:20 pm, the sun was dipping below the city’s skyline and our automatic-headlights were on. After covering about 431.4 km (268 miles), our Ioniq 9 still has 19% battery battery with a reserve of about 97 km (60 miles).
There are various differences between the Ioniq 9 and the EV9, starting with the refined, elegant, solemn stance of Hyundai, with the sturdy, technological, futuristic atmosphere of Kia.
The IONIQ 9 is a little longer and taller than its Kia counterpart, providing more second row headroom and longer legs in the third row. It also provides rear storage space for the EV9.
But Hyundai’s hope of driving all day is a big draw for the Ioniq 9, especially on top of its large size, comfort and cargo capacity.
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