Now that electric vehicles are a thing in Malaysia, we sometimes get the question – what’s the best EV on sale here today? As with ICE-powered cars, there’s no easy way to answer this. Whether or not a car is the absolute best depends on your priorities, preferences, usage pattern and of course, budget.
Coming up with an answer to ‘what’s the best all-rounder?’ is slightly easier. This car has to be well-balanced in what if offers, and have a price that’s good to boot. In the current Malaysian EV space, the Hyundai Ioniq 5 is a good contender to be the best all-round electric car.
In this video review, Hafriz Shah puts in four digits of kilometres to answer that question, and find out the positive and negative aspects of the Hyundai Ioniq 5. Yes, because even an all-rounder that is the reigning World Car of the Year, World Electric Vehicle of the Year and World Car Design of the Year isn’t perfect. How so? Watch the video to find out.
Launched in March this year, the Ioniq 5 is the second EV introduced by Hyundai-Sime Darby Motors (HSDM) after the Kona Electric. It comes in three variants – Lite, Plus and Max. The Lite comes with a 58 kWh lithium ion polymer battery and rear-wheel drive, and the Plus is a higher-spec version of the 58 kWh RWD car. The Max you see here is the range-topper with a 72.6 kWh battery and dual-motor AWD.
The 58 kWh RWD cars have a 170 PS/350 Nm (125 kW) rear motor, good for 0-100 km/h in 8.5 seconds, while the Max gets a combined 305 PS/605 Nm (225 kW) and a 0-100 km/h time of 5.2 seconds. WLTP range on a full charge is 384 km for the 58 kWh car and 430 km for the two-tonne 72.6 kWh AWD. Top speed is 185 km/h for both. There’s an i-Pedal function for single-pedal brakeless driving.
As for charging, with a 350 kW DC fast charger, users can juice the Ioniq 5’s 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. Although we don’t have such powerful chargers yet, it’s good to know that the Ioniq is capable of faster charging when the hardware arrives.
Current DC fast chargers such as those on the Shell Recharge network are rated at 180 kW. At 50 kW, Hyundai says that the Ioniq 5 will replenish from 10% to 80% in 47 minutes, so expect much shorter waiting times at 180 kW DC chargers, even if it’s shared with another EV. Juicing up with a 11 kW home AC charger takes five hours for the 58 kWh and slightly more than six hours for the bigger battery. The Ioniq 5 has a CCS2 port.
Built on Hyundai’s dedicated Electric-Global Modular Platform (E-GMP) for EVs (not shared with ICE cars, like in the Kona Electric’s case), the Ioniq 5 supports both 400V and 800V charging infrastructure without the need for additional components or adapters (800V architecture benefits explained in the video). The Ioniq 5 can play powerbank too, with vehicle-to-load (V2L) sockets under the rear seats that can supply up to 3.6 kW to power things like electric bicycles, scooters, camping equipment or even another EV with a dead battery.
It might look like a regular Golf-sized hatch in pictures, but the scale is much larger. At 4,635 mm long and 1,890 mm wide, this crossover (Hyundai calls it so) is 430 mm longer and 90 mm wider than the Kona Electric, a B-SUV, and the three-metre wheelbase is 400 mm lengthier than the Kona’s. In fact, that 3m wheelbase is longer than that of a Toyota Camry (2,825 mm) and Mercedes-Benz E-Class (2,939 mm), and 20-inch wheels look natural on this body.
To see the amount of space inside the Ioniq 5 and all it’s nifty interior features – including the Staria-style Premium Relaxation Seats (driver and passenger) and solar roof (powers auxilaries) – check out the video.
The Lite and Plus have all-black cabins, but if you’re going for the Max, you can choose from full black or two-tone with dark or light grey seats, as seen here. The model’s signature Gravity Gold Matte colour is reserved for the Max, which can also be had in Shooting Star Grey Matte and a glossy Lucid Blue Pearl hue.
Current duty-free pricing for the Ioniq 5 is RM207,808 for the Lite, RM238,408 for the Plus and RM270,408 for the Max with the 72.6 kWh battery and dual-motor AWD. These are on-the-road excluding insurance prices, with sales tax. Those who booked the EV before July 1 locked in a price that was around 4% lower. It’s an additional RM10k for the extended warranty and service package, and HSDM also sells two kinds of AC home chargers, which you’ll want. Check out our full launch report and the video review above.
GALLERY: 2022 Hyundai Ioniq 5 Max 72.6 kWh AWD in Malaysia
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RM270K for a Myvi with batteries? Nope.
That’s why govt must encourage retrofit electric motor + battery conversion on old or existing cars.
Perodua or Proton can simply design and sell new chasis mounting/brackets, new brake system, electric power steering as modular common set so that car owners can convert their current car as new electric car using the factory-approved conversion kit.
Regarding the overall cost it’s down to the battery size to suit each own budget whether to use it as city car (short range, below 200km) or long range battery (above 200km).
LOL
easy to make comparisons based on spec sheets
you could try retrofitting batteries to an actual myvi. then you will see why this “myvi with batteries” cost RM270k
back in year 2000, our local homegrown Proton Waja was way more superior than the same segmen korean Hyundai elantra. But becuz of the local self proclaimed Keistimewaan & ketuananan pride, syok sendiri syndrome… korap and greedy breed. The humble Korean had now emerged with this superb amazing, best in class EV the Ioniq5
Myvi with battery? Are you stupid or something this car is the same size as a bmw X3 and converting petrol car to electric car hahaha sorry to tell you it way harder then screwing some chassis mounting and changing power steering.if it was so easy every car model will have an EV version and manufacturer wouldn’t need to throw money into rnd to develop chassis that is build from the ground to be an electric car.
Please bring in 72.6 kWh RWD too. Range for 58 kWH a bit too low and thanks to our Road Tax structure AWD will be RM2703 compared to RWD’s RM463.
We are disappointed with the overall exterior design.
look super ugly for me
The EV price is the most disappointing thing…tooo expensive..
than u are not the target market for ioniq 5
I saw this on the road several days ago. I was driving my Axia, and I overtook it.
good job so you are one of those asshole who think they are driving a race car and want to race everyone on the street.
The EV driver suffering mileage anxiety, battery saving driving road hogging driving style.
actually how many ioniq 5 has been sold in mysia i never see it their
Only rich ppl like me can afford cars like this. You commoners just fit to comment only. We are too rich that we buy better spec and more expensive cars in the market.
Looking at Hyundai fleet, how many Hyundai cars on the road nowadays? if Sime Darby don’t know how to sell/maintain cars, might as well let others do it.