New images of the Hyundai Ioniq 5 that is slated to officially arrive in Australia in mid-2021 show the vehicle charging at the new 75kW RTM75 charger at Tritium’s headquarters in Brisbane.
Based on the South Korean carmaker’s “45” concept, the Ioniq 5 is the first of a dedicated all-electric series from the company under the Ioniq name, and will join the Hyundai Kona and Hyundai Ioniq electric cars already available in Australia for $59,990 and $48,490 before on-roads respectively.
The Ioniq 5 was first spotted testing in Australia in early January, charging at an NRMA 50kW RT50 fast charger (also made by Tritium) in Bathurst.
At the time, we were gifted with a close of the rear of the vehicle which clearly showed the LED matrix lighting, staying true to the original “45” concept design.
Now, the new images reveal a closer look at the front of the vehicle, hinting at the rectangular headlights that were one of the few features Hyundai detailed in teaser photos released in January.
The new images were shared by Tritium, the Brisbane-based electric car charging solution provider that has a global footprint with 4,500+ EV chargers in more than 33 countries.
It has recently added the RTM75 to its EV charging offerings, which can charge at a top rate of 75kW but, importantly, can be scaled to increase as local charging needs require.
The first publicly available Tritium RTM75 went online in late January when the City of Gold Coast announced it had opened an EV charging site at Broadbeach, the first of 10 sites it has planned.
The photos shared by Tritium however, are at its Brisbane headquarters, where it made a charger available for testing earlier in January.
The Ioniq 5 will be built using Hyundai’s e-GMP platform, which it has previously said it will use in its dedicated electric car range and which will be offered with a typical 400-volt electrical architecture, or in a high-performance 800-volt version for faster charger and more power.
More details of the Ioniq 5 were revealed in a leak in December that confirmed the 800-volt architecture would allow the vehicle to charge from 0-80% in as little as 15 minutes.
It is unknown whether the Ioniq 5 snapped at this charger is using the 400-volt or 800-volt architecture, but it was observed by commenters on Tritium’s Facebook post that if it were the latter, it should surely be snapped using Tritium’s 350kW ultra-fast PK350 chargers.
Bridie Schmidt is associate editor for The Driven, sister site of Renew Economy. She has been writing about electric vehicles since 2018, and has a keen interest in the role that zero-emissions transport has to play in sustainability. She has participated in podcasts such as Download This Show with Marc Fennell and Shirtloads of Science with Karl Kruszelnicki and is co-organiser of the Northern Rivers Electric Vehicle Forum. Bridie also owns a Tesla Model Y and has it available for hire on evee.com.au.