A Hyundai Ioniq 5 Owner Gave a Brutally Honest Road Trip Review

Following a recent road trip, a Reddit user detailed some serious flaws in his Hyundai Ioniq 5’s performance that could indicate EV infrastructure has a long way to go.
Written by Allison Stone
Reviewed by Kathleen Flear
Buying a car
is a big investment, and the last thing any car owner wants to feel is buyer’s remorse. Sadly, sometimes the car you have just isn’t cut out for everything you would want to do. This appears to be the case with a Reddit user who detailed the ups and downs of a less-than-ideal road trip in his
Hyundai Ioniq 5

Initially hesitant about buying an EV

In the post, the
Reddit user
explains that he and his wife decided to buy a Hyundai Ioniq 5 to replace her 2016 Nissan Sentra. The couple was looking for an SUV that would be able to go the distance from San Antonio, Texas to
Baton Rouge, Louisiana
Initially, they were considering a plug-in electric hybrid vehicle or PHEV, but in the process of doing research, became intrigued by the Hyundai Ionqi 5, a fully-electric BEV that recently earned  Kelley Blue Book’s ‘World Car of the Year as well as ‘World Electric Vehicle of the Year’ for 2022.
In spite of the car’s glowing accolades and equally positive customer reviews, the Ioniq SE RWD that this user purchased reportedly fell short in a few ways. 
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Where the Hyundai Ioniq 5 fell short

The Ioniq 5 has an EPA-estimated range rating of up to 303 miles on a single charge. It also boasts the passenger and cargo space of a midsize SUV with a fraction of the footprint. It should be noted however that EVs don’t perform as well on highways, which can significantly cut into range. 
For this Reddit user, the total distance from the start to the finishing point of this road trip is about 480 miles. While the reported range of the Ioniq 5 is over 300 miles, he found that at 80 mph on a 77.4-kWh battery, that range drops to about 186 miles on a full charge
Taking into consideration that good battery hygiene recommends you only charge your battery to 80%, that brought the distance between charges down to about 130 miles. 
On the plotted route, there was an available charger about every 60 miles. With a maximum range of 120 miles, that’s a stop about every hour and a half. 
In addition to frequent stopping, this Reddit user found that some chargers didn’t have DC fast charging available, and other stations weren’t working at all. When executing the trip in real-time, it took about eight hours compared to the usual six

Other issues with the EV road trip

In addition to the added time, extra stops, and overall inconvenience of finding charging stations, this Reddit user found some other issues. Compared to the typical amount he spent when fueling up his Ford Fusion Hybrid, he concluded that he was spending just as much if not more at DC fast-charging stations as he would on gas.  
It’s well known that even fast-charging stations take much longer than filling up at a gas station, but he found other issues at well. According to his post, most are uncovered, meaning that users are subject to the elements. Some can also be awkwardly situated and hard to use. 
If you plan on taking a road trip in your EV, you may also need to download a different app for every charging station you use. He found that it was also not uncommon for a station to be down or have slow charging speeds with no warning. 
MORE: The Hyundai Ioniq 5 Will Outperform Its Rivals in Fast-Charging

Would he still buy another electric car?

In spite of the long list of issues detailed in the post, this Reddit user declared that he still loved the Ioniq 5 and would purchase it again. 
While the issues with charging stations can be frustrating when trying to plan a road trip, he concluded that it was overall an infrastructure issue rather than an issue with the car itself. 
As things are right now, there are certain places that just don’t have the infrastructure to support electric cars, particularly if you plan to travel long distances. With time, however, that will change, and things can only improve from here. 

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