Hyundai Ioniq To Launch In India Next Year

Electricity has become quite an essential part of our day to day lives. Hyundai plans to further increase this dependency through the Ioniq. The company’s first entry in the Hybrid space, the Hyundai Ioniq is a family of three cars - Electric, Hybrid and a Plug-in Hybrid. Out of these, the first two are already on sale whereas the Plug-In Hybrid is still awaiting a launch. 

Until now, we did not pay much attention to this family of electric-powered cars. But now that Hyundai has decided to bring these cars to India, we dive deep into the details of these cars and find out what they are. The first entrant in India will most likely be the Ioniq Hybrid at the 2018 Auto Expo, which will be later followed by the other two.

Without further ado, let's jump right into the heart of the matter and see what is powering the Hyundai Ioniq.

Hybrid

As the name suggest, the Ioniq Hybrid uses an internal combustion (IC) engine and an electric motor working in sync to power the car. The IC engine is a 1.6-litre petrol unit which provides 105PS of power and 145Nm of torque. The other half of the powertrain is a 32 kW Permanent Magnet Synchronous Motor (PMSM) which provides 43.5PS of power and 170Nm of torque. The electric motor's wave of torque is available instantly on start-up, and the rest is taken care of by the IC engine. The battery pack is a compact 1.56 kWh Lithium-Ion Polymer which uses regenerative braking to recharge. Combined together, the car’s overall power rating stands at 141PS of power and 195Nm of torque, mated to a six-speed dual-clutch transmission. To put this into prospective, Toyota Prius, the Ioniq's nemesis has a combined output of 121PS. 

Electric

The Ioniq Electric runs on pure electricity without burning any fossil fuels. The electric motor produces 120PS of power and a maximum torque of 295 Nm. Considering the fact that the biggest question mark on electric is still their range, the Ioniq does decently well. The electric juice is supplied by a 28kWh battery pack which runs the car for a max 280km. The top speed of is a modest 165kmph, though there is almost no chance that these two numbers can be achieved simultaneously. 

The next big question for all-electric cars is charging. The Ioniq comes with an in-built cable and a 3-pin connector which can be used for household charging which takes approximately 12 hours for a full charge. However, if you have a charging-specific wall box, your Ioniq will charge to full capacity in 4 hours 25 minutes. But the installation isn't cheap. The fastest way to charge the Ioniq is by using a 50 kW DC charger which charges the car to 80 per cent in approximately 30 minutes.

Plug-In Hybrid

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The Ioniq Plug-In Hybrid remains a hybrid but the batteries can be charged via a cable. It can also be driven on pure electricity for about 50km. It is powered by a 45kW electric motor and a 1.6-litre petrol engine. The Plug-In hasn’t been launched internationally yet and is unlikely to come to India in the near future. 

In terms of features, the Ioniq is a car for the future and is aptly equipped. It features a touchscreen display on the centre console which supports navigation, Apple CArPlay and Android Auto. For added convenience, the Ioniq also features wireless charging for smartphones. In-car entertainment is taken care of by an Infinity Sound audio system with eight speakers, a subwoofer and an external amplifier. The instrument cluster is fully digital and provides information about energy flow,battery charge status and Eco-Drive info for both ECO and Sport modes. 

In India, Hyundai will get the Ioniq as a CKD, meaning that it will be locally assembled and hence, very aggressively priced. Expect the Hybrid to be priced near the Rs 30 lakh ex-showroom mark and rival the Toyota Prius (Rs 38.8 lakh, ex-showroom Delhi) in the country. But at that cost, the Ioniq will also rival the other hybrids in the country like the Toyota Camry (Rs 31.9 lakh) and Honda Accord (Rs 37 lakh). 

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