How an Ioniq 5 stacks up against petrol cars on a long distance road trip

The road trip is a sacred rite for many Australians and whether right or wrong, it’s proved to be a key barrier for many that would otherwise consider an electric car.

But with the average driving range of EVs skyrocketing, charging times shortening and the charging network expanding, the team Chasing Cars decided to test if opting for an EV was actually a disadvantage when travelling around 900kms from Sydney to Melbourne.

The test pitched the Hyundai Tucson midsize SUV with a 1.6-litre turbo petrol engine against its electric equivalent in the Hyundai Ioniq 5.

At the end of the day-long trip, the Tucson ultimately came in first place with a total travel time of nine hours and eight minutes – but Ioniq 5 was only 38 minutes and 40 seconds behind.

The team at Chasing Cars played to the strengths of electric vehicles by using the network of 350kW ultra-rapid charged and stopped four times across the journey to quickly feed in power before setting off a new minutes later.

The Ioniq 5 would then be run down until it had around 20 percent capacity so the optimal charging speeds could be reached.

Editor Tom Baker said the result could have been even closer if they hadn’t been stalled by a Tesla Model 3 owner who camped at the sole-operating rapid charger in Gundagai and forced them to temporarily use a 50kW charger.

If you would like to see the full video you can watch it below.