South Korean car maker Hyundai has unveiled its latest all-electric offering – a large but sleek SUV called the Ioniq 5 – and announced that it will be launched on Australian shores in the third quarter of 2021.
This is good news, not just for Australia’s comparatively tiny pool of pure electric vehicle brands, but also for prime minister Scott Morrison, who has been worried that the shift to non-combustion engine cars will kill the Aussie weekend, because we won’t be able to tow boats and stuff.
Of course, this is not true. But it’s nice to keep up the reminders that electric vehicles can do most of the things ICE cars can and – more often than not – do them better.
See: Hyundai unveils Ioniq 5 all-electric SUV ahead of Q3 launch in Australia
Take the Ioniq 5. Among its long list of features – which you can read about in detail on The Driven here – Hyundai says the SUV can tow a trailer with a capacity up to 1,600 kg. This would easily cover a trailer and small boat, or tinny, as Morrison might call it.
Even better, the Ioniq also features vehicle-to-load capability, or V2L, which means the car can act as a power source, even when switched off.
This means Morrison could take his cubby house- and chook house-building skills on the road, without fear of his power tools running out of charge. And it would be great for camping, including a solar roof to add range to the battery. How good are electric vehicles!
Posted by Scott Morrison (ScoMo) on Saturday, October 3, 2020
Sophie is editor of One Step Off The Grid and deputy editor of its sister site, Renew Economy. Sophie has been writing about clean energy for more than a decade.
