German premium brands BMW and Mercedes-Benz are pushing incentivised locally-assembled plug-in hybrid models in Thailand, but it’s Hyundai that’s pushing the boundaries, tech-wise. The Korean carmaker has launched the Hyundai Ioniq Electric at the 2018 Bangkok Motor Show. The full EV is imported CBU from South Korea and is priced at 1.749 million baht (RM216,200).
The Ioniq Electric is a surprise introduction for this observer, as not only does Hyundai not sell the hybrid and plug-in hybrid versions of the Ioniq in Thailand, the brand currently does not have a single passenger car in its showrooms to keep the H1/Grand Starex company. Forget step-by-step, let’s go straight to EVs.
The Ioniq Electric is the EV sister of the Ioniq hybrid that’s on sale in Malaysia. It’s powered by a permanent magnet synchronous motor with 120 PS and 295 Nm of torque. Zero-100 km/h is done in 9.9 seconds in Sport mode and top speed is 165 km/h. But it’s not about going fast – more relevant is the claimed range of 280 km on a single charge.
Speaking of charging, the Ioniq Electric’s 28 kWh lithium-ion polymer battery (made by LG, situated under the rear seats) can be recharged in 12 hours with a normal home socket (2.3 kW) or four hours and 25 minutes with a wallbox (6.6 kW). As for 100 kW DC fast charging, that takes 23 minutes to go up to 80%. Under the charging flap, which is in the same location as the hybrid’s fuel flap, is a CCS combo (AC seven-pin) socket.
The latest electric powertrain by Hyundai pairs a 64 kWh battery with 204 PS and 470 km in the recently revealed Kona Electric. A basic version of that crossover comes with a 39.2 kWh battery, which gives it 135 PS and up to 300 km range on a single charge. The Ioniq Electric could receive an upgrade in the future.
The EV Ioniq looks like its hybrid sibling but comes with a distinctive closed face without a grille, as it does not have cooling needs of an engine. There are copper highlights on the front/rear bumpers and sides, as opposed to blue on the hybrid. The wheels are 16-inch items with 205/55 tyres.
Inside, the upper dashboard is identical to the hybrid, but the EV gets a unique and independent centre console as it does not need to house a gear lever. That frees up space for a large storage area. The surface between the seats houses the EV drive buttons, seat heating/cooling buttons and electronic parking brake. The cabin is peppered with matching copper accents.
Standard kit includes LED headlamps, leather seats, eight-way driver’s electric seat, keyless entry with push start (of course!), Qi wireless phone charger, digital meter cluster and the comprehensive suite of safety and driver assist systems as found in our Ioniq hybrid.
The factory warranty for the Ioniq Electric is three years or 100,000 km, but the EV battery gets an eight-year unlimited mileage warranty. As it’s not locally assembled in Thailand, the 1.749 million baht retail price isn’t as low as it could possibly be.
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Ioniq full EV RM216k. Half EV RM116k Super ohsem deal!
Proton still in dreaming… but Hyundai dreams come true…
Batteries are prohibitively expensive. That’s why a car as mundane as the ioniq can cost so much.
I wonder if any carmakers ever thought of just leasing out the batteries instead of selling them as part of a car.
Then again, batteries degrade over time. Who’s going to absorb the depreciation cost? Unless they can be taken apart and recycled to make new batteries.
Here’s me debating myself…
If henpon makers cant even standardise interchangeable batteries amongst themselves, what more for car makers?
Rm109k vs Rm216k. Just for a larger electric engine and battery. Something must be wrong with tomyamland kan?
People just don’t bother to read, the price is due to it’s fully imported (CBU).
In another words, tomyamland has an even topkek pricier AP system than MY.
This is a better option for the famous jap T, H, N
Surprising. Thailand where Hyundai is somewhat unpopular can get Ioniq EV, meanwhile Malaysia where Hyundais are rather common sight still can’t manage to bring over the Ioniq EV
At double the local hybrid prices? It wun sell. OTOH our hybrid version is oso not sold there. So its same same here and there.
Very fitting that a full EV wears a ventilation mask.
i don’t mind try out electric car but there 3 problem in Malaysia. 1. electric car is still too expensive. 2. we don’t have enough charging station. 3. TNB tier charges is base on tariff category. so once the category jump to 2nd/3rd level price will be different.
At RM216k, it has already price itself out of most M’sian. U can get an alternative Ioniq Hybrid at RM100k less. If U invest the RM100k, chances are U can change another newer Ionic after 8 years Right !!
1 ioniq PHEV = 2 ioniq hybrid
U make the choice