Ioniq PHEV questions

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WilliamJones

New Member
I am considering a PHEV and really like the Ioniq PHEV, at least on paper. I have owned two Elantras, so am comfortable with Hyundai. The sweet spot for my budget is the 2017. I have a few questions:
1) Can you manually switch between ICE and EV mode?
2) When driving at interstate speeds, does the ICE charge the battery?
3) Is it possible to get more than 29 miles in city driving on EV mode? My commute is 35 miles.
 
WilliamJones said:
I am considering a PHEV and really like the Ioniq PHEV, at least on paper. I have owned two Elantras, so am comfortable with Hyundai. The sweet spot for my budget is the 2017. I have a few questions:
1) Can you manually switch between ICE and EV mode?
2) When driving at interstate speeds, does the ICE charge the battery?
3) Is it possible to get more than 29 miles in city driving on EV mode? My commute is 35 miles.
Click to expand...

I haven't looked into all your questions, but I can say that, under the right conditions (weather, slower speeds, conservative driving style) it should be quite feasible to exceed the 29 miles of expected range.
 
The car does have an EV mode selector. So you can drive the car on the traction battery without use the gas engine.

The traction battery is air cooled. So it's not a car I would recommend buying for warm climates.
 
1. Yes
2. Every time you brake, you’re adding some juice to battery. But once you’ve exhausted the 29 (more or less) miles, it’s more like a regular hybrid. Think Prius.
3. My wife’s Ioniq PHEV gets maybe 26 or 27 highway EV miles (75 mph). I’ve gotten close to 40 driving town miles. So, it depends.


Sent from my iPhone using Inside EVs
 
We bought a new 2021 IONIQ PHEV SE (lowest trim option) in May. The purchase was a no-brainer: out-the-door cost $28,700 / 100% financed @ 1.9% for 60 mo. Then -- the $5,043 tax credits ($500 CT and $4543 FED) makes the net cost $23,647! No issues at all so far. One dealer service (oil change) @ 7,500.

Love the car. Almost 9,000 miles to-date. The trip computer has never been reset and shows 75 mpg - an estimate of course and this does not include electricity cost. The daily commute is 8 mi RT plus weekend trips make the drive mix approx. 70% city / 30% highway. We find that we get right about 28-30 miles in EV upon startup, so the estimate seems accurate. Despite this enthusiastic endorsement, this is an economy car, there are tradeoffs. We bought it because we wanted a brand-new car, desired a PHEV, and the IONIQ's price to value was literally miles ahead of all other options.

Pros: see everything above. The ride is solid with enough pickup to do the job. Cabin is comfortable & quiet (for the size). Fit & finish excellent.
Cons:
(1) This is a very small car. The PHEV loses a good bit of rear storage (vs the HEV) and it's noticeable. Rear legroom is adequate.
(2) The rear hatch design restricts rearview mirror visibility. We hated it at first, have grown accustomed to it, but still a negative.
(3) We live in CT, now that cold weather has arrived, in-town "MPG" suffers b/c ICE fires up immediately to warm the battery. In the summer we got 28-ish miles using NO gas, no longer the case.
(4) The little 4-banger is noisy, particularly when cold and in-town driving.
(5) Our model's driver's seat does not go up & down. While legroom is fine, I find the seating position is too low - even at 6'-1". The solution is a $20 gel seat pad from Costco, the seat is super-comfortable with plenty of headroom.
 
(2) The rear hatch design restricts rearview mirror visibility. We hated it at first, have grown accustomed to it, but still a negative.

I understand that on MY2020 and beyond, there is a surround view camera that can be shown when driving (not only when in reverse). I have not purchased a PHEV yet, but have been looking for at least a 2020 Ioniq PHEV because of this rear visibility problem. I read about this before I did a test drive and really noticed the problem, but the car I test-drove was a 2019, so did not have the surround view camera. Is the camera thing correct?
 
It is not a full surround view camera but a wide field of view out of the rear that can be turned on at any time on my 2020 BEV model.
I don't use it very much and find things in the view hard to judge the distance of.
Ive grown accustomed to the rear view as well and its even quite good at night at obscuring somewhat bright headlights behind you
 
I don't believe my base SE model has the rear camera feature. If it does, we don't use it. BYW, backup camera is good, and unlike some makes where the 'cheap' trim gets a smaller LED screen, the IONIQ's screen is the same for all trims.
 
WilliamJones said:
I am considering a PHEV and really like the Ioniq PHEV, at least on paper. I have owned two Elantras, so am comfortable with Hyundai. The sweet spot for my budget is the 2017. I have a few questions:
1) Can you manually switch between ICE and EV mode?
2) When driving at interstate speeds, does the ICE charge the battery?
3) Is it possible to get more than 29 miles in city driving on EV mode? My commute is 35 miles.
Click to expand...

When I got my Clarity a few years back I did a lot of research on the Ioniq PHEV and I would have bought it if they were more available (at the time, they were tough to find). There should be an EV switch to go EV only when you want. On a PHEV, you won't fully charge from driving (unless your car has a specific charge mode, my Clarity did, I don't remember if the Ioniq did, but they generally will cost you more in gas than if you just drove in HV mode). You can definitely nurse more miles out of a BEV or PHEV than the rating if you are careful (and depending upon the time of year). It is an average. In summer, I'm usually right on it or 5-10% =/- off the rating. In the winter, I can easily be 15-20% or even more lower.
 
Markolavich said:
We bought a new 2021 IONIQ PHEV SE (lowest trim option) in May. The purchase was a no-brainer: out-the-door cost $28,700 / 100% financed @ 1.9% for 60 mo. Then -- the $5,043 tax credits ($500 CT and $4543 FED) makes the net cost $23,647! No issues at all so far. One dealer service (oil change) @ 7,500.

Love the car. Almost 9,000 miles to-date. The trip computer has never been reset and shows 75 mpg - an estimate of course and this does not include electricity cost. The daily commute is 8 mi RT plus weekend trips make the drive mix approx. 70% city / 30% highway. We find that we get right about 28-30 miles in EV upon startup, so the estimate seems accurate. Despite this enthusiastic endorsement, this is an economy car, there are tradeoffs. We bought it because we wanted a brand-new car, desired a PHEV, and the IONIQ's price to value was literally miles ahead of all other options.

Pros: see everything above. The ride is solid with enough pickup to do the job. Cabin is comfortable & quiet (for the size). Fit & finish excellent.
Cons:
(1) This is a very small car. The PHEV loses a good bit of rear storage (vs the HEV) and it's noticeable. Rear legroom is adequate.
(2) The rear hatch design restricts rearview mirror visibility. We hated it at first, have grown accustomed to it, but still a negative.
(3) We live in CT, now that cold weather has arrived, in-town "MPG" suffers b/c ICE fires up immediately to warm the battery. In the summer we got 28-ish miles using NO gas, no longer the case.
(4) The little 4-banger is noisy, particularly when cold and in-town driving.
(5) Our model's driver's seat does not go up & down. While legroom is fine, I find the seating position is too low - even at 6'-1". The solution is a $20 gel seat pad from Costco, the seat is super-comfortable with plenty of headroom.
Click to expand...


Nice choice. When I got my Clarity a few years back, I'd have bought the Ioniq PHEV if they were more available at the time. I now have an Ioniq EV.

I agree that its small car, econobox lineage shows through at times. It is a bit smaller than I'd like, especially in the cargo area. The rear window is definitely something you get used to (my Clarity was similar and in no time I barely noticed the difference). Your 4 I obviously can't comment on, but my equivalent to a powertrain compromise in the EV is the low capacity battery (I knew it when I bought it, when it is warm it is "enough," but this time of year it can be a minor annoyance at times). Overall, I do like this car a lot and I'm happy I have it (though sometimes I wish I went with something a tad bigger, with a bigger battery/range, or both).

I do suspect that if I got the Ioniq PHEV, I'd still have it as it was a different set of compromises than my Clarity and I think it would have been more livable. The Clarity, Volt and some of the newer PHEV SUVs are basically low range electric vehicles that can run on the ICE when needed. That big and heavy battery means lower mileage than a normal hybrid. The Prius Prime and Hyundai Ioniq are more hybrids that you can run on battery for an extended period. The smaller battery, means a more efficient car, and much better MPG when running as an ICE. Also, unlike the Clarity and Volt, you have a normal sized gas tank for a nice range on roadtrips. The biggest drawback, #3 on your list, is somewhat alleviated IMO by the fact that this is almost as efficient when run as an ICE as the standard HEV, but with good battery range for getting out of cities or stop and go traffic with minimal to zero impact on your mileage.

In fact, one of the options I'm considering for replacing my Sonata for a trip car is either the Prius Prime or Ioniq PHEV.
 
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