Hyundai Ioniq 6 review - Range, charging and running costs

Every Ioniq 6 is fitted with a sizeable 77.4kWh battery and boasts impressive rapid-charging capabilities. However the electric saloon’s maximum driving range varies depending on whether you go for rear- or all-wheel drive.

The RWD version has an official range of 338 miles, while Hyundai says the AWD version can cover up to 322 miles before the battery is out of juice. Those figures are a long way off the 391-mile range of the updated Tesla Model 3 Long Range, or the 406 miles you can cover in Long Range Single Motor Polestar 2.

During our twin test between an Ioniq 6 AWD and BMW i4 eDrive40, both cars were closely matched when it came to efficiency. The Ioniq 6 managed to achieve a 3.2 miles per kWh – which equates to a real-world range of 248 miles – with the BMW returning 3.3mi/kWh, giving it a range of 268 miles under the same conditions.

It’s not the most efficient, then, but the Ioniq 6 makes up for that with its highly impressive 800V charging tech that allows it to charge at up to 220kW. In other words, if you plug the Ioniq 6 into a 350kW ultra-rapid charger, a 10 to 80 per cent top-up can take as little as 18 minutes. That’s about 10 minutes quicker than it would take a BMW i4 to do the same job. There aren’t that many charging points capable of those speeds at the moment, but more and more are being installed all the time in the UK.

Fully recharging the Ioniq 6’s 77.4kWh battery will take just over seven hours on an 11kW home wallbox, or around 11 hours if you use a more typical 7kW home charger. Either way, you can be sure you’ll wake up to a full battery each morning if you charge up overnight.

The Ioniq 6 is particularly appealing to company car drivers at the moment because it sits in the lowest possible bracket for Benefit-in-Kind (BiK) tax. This is the same for all electric cars currently, so while it’s great if you’re coming from a petrol or diesel car, it’s not a unique selling point for the Hyundai if you’re only considering electric models as a company car.

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Insurance

Insurance premiums for electric cars are generally higher than for the equivalent petrol or diesel-powered model, partly because of the rapid acceleration they offer, as well as the high price of repairs. Battery packs in particular are incredibly expensive to replace.

It’s the same story with the Ioniq 6. The cheapest model to insure will be the entry-level RWD model, which sits in group 36 (out of 50), while the AWD versions, which are quite a bit faster, sit in group 41. 

The BMW i4 attracts very similar insurance ratings (groups 35-43), while the recently updated Polestar 2 will cost a little more to insure, given that it lands in groups 40-45. However the Tesla Model 3 is worse still, in groups 48-50.

You can get personalised car insurance quotes fast with our comparison tool powered by Quotezone...

Depreciation

According to our latest data, the Ioniq 6 will hold onto between 50 and 55 per cent of its original list price after three years and 36,000 miles of ownership. In case you’re wondering, the limited-run First Edition models are projected to retain the least value, while the entry-level Premium-spec cars lead the pack.

In comparison, the BMW i4 and Polestar 2 are expected to retain 49-56 and 45-54 per cent of their value, respectively.

To get an accurate valuation on a specific model check out our valuation tool...