Plaza News & Updates

We fully charge a 2020 Hyundai Ioniq Electric and take it out on the New Jersey Turnpike to see how far it will go at a constant 70-mph (113 km/hr) in the latest chapter of the InsideEVs EV highway range tests.

When the Ioniq Electric launched in 2017, it was the most efficient EV at the time. However, it wasn't long before the Tesla Model 3 Standard Range Plus edged out the Ioniq to become the efficiency king of the hill. Now the Ioniq's back with a larger battery and 46 more miles of EPA-rated range.

However, because of that larger battery (38.3 kWh compared to the previous version's 28 kWh), the 2020 Ioniq is slightly less efficient. But based on our highway range test, you'd barely notice.

The 2020 Ioniq has an EPA-rated range of 170 miles, although we saw estimated ranges of 180 to over 200 miles when the vehicle was fully charged. However, that was after we drove it mildly around town, not at highway speeds so we weren't sure exactly how well the vehicle would do at a constant 70 mph.

So far, the Tesla Model 3 has been the most efficient vehicle we've tested on our highway range tests, averaging 4.25 mi/kWh (14.59 kWh/100 km). The Ioniq crushed that and delivered an average 4.5 mi/kWh (13.78 kWh/100 km) over the test.

We finished up driving 167.2 miles and had 2% battery state of charge remaining. We're certain we could have gone another 3.8 miles on the remaining 2% (and probably drove at least a mile after the state of charge reached zero, so we're calling the final range at 171 miles; exactly one mile greater than the Ioniq Electric's EPA rated range.

We've never had an EV on our highway range tests prove capable of matching, or in this case, exceed its EPA range rating while driving at 70-mph, until now. Like Tesla, Hyundai has been known for its high-efficiency electric cars. Our recent 70-mph highway range test for the Kona Electric saw us netting 247 miles or range (the Kona Electric is EPA rated at 258 miles) with an average efficiency rating of 3.9 mi/kWh.