Hyundai is among the leaders in the electric vehicle (EV) game globally, and local distributor Hyundai-Sime Darby Motors (HSDM) is also leading the charge in Malaysia. It has already launched the Kona Electric and is now preparing for the roll-out of the super cool Ioniq 5.
We know this from an ‘Open for booking now!’ poster released by new Hyundai dealer Sing Kwung Premium (see below). If the order books are already open, it’s certain that HSDM will be officially launching the EV in Malaysia soon. According to our SA source, it could be as soon as March – which starts tomorrow – and we’ll be treated to two battery options, as per the Kona Electric.
The Ioniq 5, announced in February 2021 as the first model under Hyundai’s Ioniq sub-brand for EVs, is a large hatchback with two battery options – 58 kWh and 72.6 kWh. Malaysia will get both, and the variants will be branded like the Kona Electric, so expect the variants to be called Lite, Plus and Max, if there are indeed three variants like the electric crossover.
Globally, the 72.6 kWh battery can be had with either 215 hp/350 Nm (160 kW) single-motor rear-wheel-drive, or a 302 hp/605 Nm (225 kW) dual-motor AWD system, but we understand that the ultimate Ioniq 5 will be available here, with an 0-100 km/h time of 5.2 seconds and top speed of 185 km/h. This “Max” variant’s range is 430 km on the WLTP cycle.
Uniquely, the Ioniq 5 is able to directly support both 400 V and 800 V through boosting the car’s electric motor and inverter, rather than using a separate built-in charger. With a 350 kW DC fast charger, users can juice the battery from 10 to 80% in just 18 minutes, and even just five minutes of plugging in will be able to net an extra 100 km of WLTP-rated range.
Here, we’ll have to wait for that level of charger to be available – current DC fast chargers such as those on the Shell Recharge network are 180 kW. At 50 kW, Hyundai says that the 72.6 kWh Ioniq 5 will replenish to 80% in around 62 minutes. Home 230V? 0-100% in 31 hours.
One novel feature is the vehicle-to-load (V2L) sockets under the rear seats, which can supply up to 3.6 kW to power things like electric bicycles, scooters and camping equipment. More novel is this EV’s design, a faithful adaptation of the Hyundai 45 Concept from Frankfurt 2019, which was in turn inspired by the 1974 Hyundai Pony Coupe Concept penned by an Italian chap called Giorgetto Giugiaro, hence the retro-modern look.
The Ioniq 5 is no Pony in size though – while it looks like a Golf-sized hatch, the scale is much larger. At 4,635 mm long and 1,890 mm wide, it’s 430 mm longer and 90 mm wider than the Kona Electric, and the three-metre wheelbase is 400 mm lengthier than the Kona’s. The wheelbase is longer than that of a Toyota Camry (2,825 mm) and Mercedes-Benz E-Class (2,939 mm) by the way. This is a big car.
As for pricing, expect the Ioniq 5, which is the company’s flagship EV, to cost a fair bit more than the Kona Electric, which has a tax-free price range of RM150k (39.2 kWh) to RM200k (64 kWh). If HSDM manages to give the range-topping 72.6 kWh AWD Ioniq 5 a mid-RM200k price (it’s A$75,900 in Australia, which is RM229k) it will probably fly off the showroom floor as fast as it did Down Under.
Soon, the Sultan of Johor won’t be the only Ioniq 5 owner in town. What do you think of this EV?
GALLERY: Hyundai Ioniq 5, US market
Keyword: 2022 Hyundai Ioniq 5 EV ‘open for booking’ poster surfaces – 58, 72.6 kWh AWD options, March launch?