Hyundai’s new Ioniq 6 has had its playdate with the EPA, and now the automaker is revealing that its electric “streamliner” sedan can travel an estimated 361 miles on a full charge. While the calculation is specific to the SE Long Range RWD trim, the AWD version is no slouch, either, with a maximum range of 316 miles.
Compared to the similarly sized RWD version of Tesla’s Model 3, the Ioniq 6 SE Long Range RWD could go a whole 89 miles further based on the EPA estimates. Although, Hyundai’s AWD version of the Ioniq 6 isn’t topping the 358-mile Tesla Model 3 Long Range AWD.
In a press release, Hyundai also points out that the Ioniq 6 ties for the EPA’s best MPGe rating. The Ioniq 6 SE Long Range RWD has a 140 MPGe (combined city and highway) rating, same as the top-rated Lucid’s Air Pure AWD luxury sedan — a car that starts at $108,700. North American pricing for the Ioniq 6 has yet to be revealed, but it starts at £46,745 in the UK — or about $57,577.
“Instead of just adding a larger battery to increase the range, we chose to optimize Ioniq 6’s aerodynamic performance and its Electric-Global Modular Platform for efficiency to produce these long driving ranges,” states Olabisi Boyle, Hyundai North America’s VP of product planning and mobile strategy, in a press release. The Ioniq 6’s Long Range battery pack is a sizable 77.4kWh but is still smaller than ones in EVs like Ford’s Mustang Mach-E CA R1 Extended Range RWD (98.8kWh) and Audi’s E-tron S Sportback (95kWh), which have ranges of 314 and 212 miles, respectively.
Hyundai’s EGM-P is the 800-volt electric vehicle platform that underpins the Ioniq 6. It’s also more efficient compared to 400-volt systems used by some EV manufacturers like Ford and Tesla. The RWD Ioniq 6 only sheds about 231Wh per mile, besting the Tesla Model 3 RWD at 260Wh per mile.
The Ioniq 6’s arc-like design also helps it achieve a low 0.22 drag coefficient for the US version. South Korean models of the Ioniq 6 can achieve an even better 0.21 drag coefficient thanks to a camera-based side-view option in lieu of mirrors, which still have yet to be approved in the US. It’s still bested by Mercedes’ EQS (0.20), Tesla’s Model S Plaid (0.208), and the latest tweaked Lucid Air (0.197) — though it puts Hyundai’s latest EV in a class no one was expecting.
The Ioniq 6 SE Long Range models gain more efficiency thanks to smaller and lighter 18-inch wheels. If you opt for the higher SEL or Limited trims on the RWD models, the range significantly drops to 305 miles.
Of course, all of this talk of range and efficiency doesn’t mean much if the Ioniq 6 isn’t both affordable and available. Hyundai’s Ioniq 5 and Kia’s EV6, both built on the same platform as the Ioniq 6, start at $41,450 and $48,700, respectively — but are apparently hard to snag from dealerships without hurdles and markups.
