Sneak peak: Design review and pricing hints for 2020 Hyundai Ioniq electric

The 2020 Hyundai Ioniq electric car with boosted range was on display at the Sydney EV Expo on Saturday and Sunday, and word is that it will be officially launched in Australia in coming weeks and will be priced to compete “very well with its competitors”.

Sporting a brand new grille and redesigned dash, the all-electric 2020 Hyundai Ioniq has a 38.3kWh battery, allowing up to 311km driving based on the European WLTP cycle. It will replace its 28kWh predecessor with 230km range.

The new 2020 Ioniq electric model has some other key differences which we were able to get a closer look at at the AEVA EV Expo this weekend.

We love the new dash, which now a 10 inch touchscreen in the centre that is easy to use, and allows a split screen view that you can customise to show, for example, both your range and battery status as well as navigation at the same time.

There’s also some cool blue “mood lighting” that Hyundai has worked worked in along the dash and other key spots in the console which add a futuristic feel.

The increase in range will please those who may have found the previous 230km range of the 2019 Ioniq somewhat limiting, and is made possible with the new battery, which as senior manager for future mobility Scott Nargar explained to The Driven at the EV Expo on Saturday, is now liquid-cooled.

“The battery is slightly smaller than our competitors but we actually get more range, and batteries in both [the Ioniq and Kona] are now liquid cooled,” Nargar explains.

“When charging in hotter conditions the air conditioner will cut in while the car is turned off and it will cool it down and chill it,” he says.

The downside of this is that it takes longer to charge than the previous 28kWh battery, taking 54 minutes to charge to 80% according to Hyundai’s spec sheet.

This is not just because of the increase in size – as we understand it, the Ioniq uses a smaller version of the Hyundai Kona Electric and as such has a slower fast charging speed than the 2019 model which took just 23 minutes.

Bu the improvement in battery durability and efficiency is worth it, says Nargar (and allows Hyundai offer an eight year warranty on the battery).

“It’s all about maintaining the health of your battery and controlling the highs and lows.”

On AC charging, the 2020 Ioniq will take 6.5 hours compared to the 2019 Ioniq’s 4.5 hours – if you are planning to charge mainly at night though this is not likely to be much of an issue.

Power output is slightly more than the 2019 Ioniq, at 100kW compared to the previous 88kW, and with an increased range indicates the improved efficiency in the battery (anecdotally we have heard of some drivers exceeding the Kona’s 480km stated range, so whether this is also possible for the 2020 Ioniq will be interesting to see).

Official pricing will not be announced until the vehicle is officially launched in November, although Nargar says it will be competitively placed.

“We’re still working on pricing but we’re very happy with where the pricing sits, [for] a car that has a smaller battery than our competitor’s but has more range, and cooling,” says Nargar.

Available in the UK since August, it is sold there starting from £29,450 ($A55,368 at today’s rates) including the UK plug-in car grant of up to £3,500 (AU$6,580 at today’s rates) which as Bryce Gaton points out, may give a clue to official pricing also.

With full production cars now coming into the country, expect to see first models start hitting dealers in coming weeks.

A previous version of this article incorrectly stated that the former power output was 100kW, and the new output is 88kW.