Genesis electric G80 brings green luxury to corporate travel, with a solar roof

Australians love to travel, whether it’s for a holiday or for business. Many corporations have airport transfer or chauffeuring services to get their employees from the airport to their next destination.

When cars were made in Australia, it was the Holden Statesman or a Ford Falcon Fairmont Ghia that used to do the bulk of this work. Nearly all taxi and professional airport transfer services had them. 

That’s all now changed as we no longer make cars in Australia, so many of those have been replaced by BMW 5 or older diesel 7 series along with used diesel Mercedes Benz GL class SUVs. 

To reduce our impact on the environment, every trip we take in an older diesel vehicle matters, and now there is an option to not use them and to go electric.

Enter Genesis with its new G80 Electrified. I got to spend a week with one and feel that it’s a bit of a game changer for the corporate transfer industry – doing it all with zero emissions.

Styling, comfort and green travel all over

Genesis is one of the newest luxury car brands in Australia, and has quietly introduced a couple of new models, including 2 electric ones, one of which is the G80, a luxury sedan. 

The first thing I noticed was how stylish it looked. It’s a head-turner and – at more than 5 metres in length, this $150,000+ luxury EV stands out just in pure size. It’s longer than the Tesla Model S.

Given the size of this EV, it’s a super comfortable ride, not only for corporate clients and passengers but also for drivers. Think of the driver’s seat as the driver’s office because that’s precisely what it is.

The seats have heating, cooling, and massage functionality, and when it notices the driver needing a bit of a pep up, it starts massaging the back. This helps lower drive fatigue and makes the journeys safer for everyone.

The level of comfort and convenience offered on this EV is none like I’ve experienced with any other EVs that I’ve driven. It’s like the engineers at Genesis had their end customers in mind through and through. 

Features like the self-closing doors were quite unique. Basically when you close the door and if it’s not fully shut, the G80 Electrified will just suck them in to softly close them.

The rear seats are a very nice place to be in too which is where most of the ideal travelling clients would sit. Each seat has its own table/screen that the rear passengers can use to see the mapping location and other important information including live camera feeds from this EVs many cameras. They can also control the volume of the audio system from the rear armrest. 

Next level of cleaner transportation: the solar roof

One of the greenest features that I have come across in any EV is what the G80 quietly offers. It has a solar roof! It works and produces green electricity on the go.

That’s very unique and can be seen on the charging screen with a panel above the 3D-looking Genesis G80.

The solar roof is ideal in Australia because we are lucky enough to have plenty of sun. It also helps with promoting what Genesis is really thinking with this EV for its customers – cleaner, greener, luxurious transport.

Hidden charging port and rapid charging

Another unique feature the Genesis has on offer is its hidden charging port. It’s pretty well concealed in the front grill. You don’t know it’s there until you need to use it which the airport transfer customers, and chauffeuring drivers, will be using a fair bit in that line of work.

Once at a rapid charger, the port can be pushed open. 

The 87.2 kWh battery on board can be changed from 10% to 80% in 22% at an ultra-rapid charger.

I tried a quick charge at a Tritium rapid charger and was able to go from 12% to 41% in 10 minutes. 

It was the 350kW Tritium charger in Melbourne that looked a bit old and rundown which was the key limiting factor as the maximum output I received was 175 kW.

Having said that, 30 minutes should have been good enough to get to 80% even at this charger. A full battery can provide 520 km of WLTP range but in the real world with freeway trips that many of these EVs will be doing, 400+ km is a more realistic range. 

Consumption-wise, I got between 18 kWh/100km to 20 kWh/100km. Not too bad given the size of this luxury saloon.

The 30-minute to a charge of 80% is ideal for the drivers and can be done during their lunch break or between jobs. Many rapid chargers like the one in Melbourne I stopped at are close to toilets and amenities which would be welcomed by those in this electrified office on wheels.

Future of corporate and luxury road travel

Decarbonising transport in Australia is going to be a key part of reducing our overall emissions. This includes all trips we do including those when on business travel. 

The Genesis G80 Electrified is one of the very few EVs that is designed to offer all of the above while ensuring that the chauffeuring industry transitions towards greener vehicles.

We no longer make the Holden Statesman or the Ford Falcon Fairmont Ghias that were common for these trips. Rather than shifting to diesel-run luxury vehicles for this industry, we need to consider options that are greener for our environment and reduce diesel fumes from our air. 

It may not be so important today to corporations but in the next few years, it’d be essential to comply with corporate Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG) strategies and shareholder expectations to ensure all employees reduce their carbon footprint.

The Genesis G80 Electrified may be one of these options to help reduce these luxury road travel and transfer emissions.

Genesis Electrified G80 specifications

Key differences to 2022 G80 3.5T AWD (Luxury Package)

Riz Akhtar

Riz is the founder of carloop based in Melbourne, specialising in Australian EV data, insight reports and trends. He is a mechanical engineer who spent the first 7 years of his career building transport infrastructure before starting carloop. He has a passion for cars, particularly EVs and wants to help reduce transport emissions in Australia. He currently drives a red Tesla Model 3.