Hyundai Ioniq 6 range revealed, it can challenges Tesla seriously

A number of Hyundai Ioniq 6 specs have been confirmed by the South Korean brand ahead of orders opening for its latest fully electric vehicle later this year – and this EV's impressive range is one of the standouts.

The Ioniq 6 is the second electric car in Hyundai's new Ioniq line-up, and while we'd already seen what the car looks like, more information has now been revealed.

One of the big talking points is the additional 100km of range it has over the firm's first Ioniq family member, the Ioniq 5. Hyundai claims the Ioniq 6 will offer an estimated WLTP range of over 610km (around 379 miles).

Compare that figure to the 374 miles of the Tesla Model 3 Long Range and up to 404 miles on the Model S, and it looks like Tesla has some new competition. The Ioniq 6 will almost certainly come in cheaper than the Model S, too, and could well land around the Model 3 Long Range's $50,640 / £57,490 price bracket.

Not that Hyundai would be drawn on Ioniq 6 pricing just yet, but during an exclusive media preview, a spokesperson for the automaker did note that it will look to continue its premium affordability heritage.

And when you do come to recharge the Ioniq 6, you won't have to wait around long if you find yourself at a superfast charger, as the EV supports both 400-V and 800-V top-ups which, Hyundai claims, can replenish the battery from 10% to 80% in just 18 minutes.

An 'electrified streamliner'

Hyundai is calling the Ioniq 6 an 'electrified streamliner', which is certainly a fancier way of saying sedan or saloon. Whatever you want to call the design, there's one thing we can all agree on – it's tuned to be as aerodynamic as possible.

In fact, the Ioniq 6 has a drag coefficient of 0.21, and while that's not quite as slippery as the Mercedes EQS (which just pips it with a score of 0.20), it's the most aerodynamic car the firm has ever made.

Customers will be able to choose from two battery sizes; 53kWh and 77.4kWh, with the smaller of the two available only as RWD (rear wheel drive), while the larger battery can be configured as RWD or AWD (all wheel drive).

It's no slouch, either, with the Ioniq 6 able to zip from 0-100km/h (0-62mph) in 5.1 seconds (that's the AWD model with a power out of 239kW), ensuring it won't be left in the dust as the lights turn green.

The car's sweeping, low drag design goes a long way to delivering that increased range we mentioned earlier, while its wheelbase has been stretched versus the Ioniq 5 (both cars are built on Hyundai's E-GMP platform) to create a larger, dome-shaped interior space for passengers.