The Ioniq 5, which traveled an astounding 580,000 km over 2 years and 9 months, has appeared. The owner is a salesperson who often drives up to 900 km a day. This case is proving to be attractive to automobile engineers as well as potential customers of electric vehicles.
The car featured recently in a YouTube video is the Ioniq 5 Long Range RWD model. It is reported that the accumulated mileage exceeded 660,000 km after just 3 years of operation. However, at the point of having traveled 580,000 km, Hyundai Motor and Kia's Namyang Research Institute contacted them, offering to acquire the battery for research purposes, resulting in the initial battery's mileage being recorded at 580,000 km.
Lee Young-heum, the owner of the Ioniq 5, is a salesperson who installs and collects equipment, and due to the nature of his job, he frequently drives long distances between the metropolitan area and rural areas. Since he drives up to 900 km a day, he sought a vehicle that would reduce maintenance costs and allow for comfortable long-distance travel and ultimately decided to purchase the Ioniq 5 after much consideration.
At the point where he had driven 580,000 km, equivalent to 720 round trips between Seoul and Busan, Lee Young-heum received a call from Hyundai Motor and Kia's Namyang Research Institute offering to replace key components, including the battery and electric motor, at no charge. Up until that time, he had never repaired or replaced any parts, and at that time, the Ioniq 5 was still operable without any issues.
A YouTube video containing this information became a hot topic as it spread through online communities. There was heated debate over the authenticity of a vehicle that recorded such an extensive driving distance in a short amount of time, which is rarely seen even in commercial taxis.
Hyundai Motor Group shared the detailed contents of this case in a post on the HMG Journal website on the 1st, stating that they had sought customer cooperation to secure data for the development of electric vehicle durability performance, confirming that this is indeed a real case.
Hyundai Motor Group views the case of the Hyundai Ioniq 5, which recorded a mileage of 660,000 km, very positively. This is because it highlights a real example proving the durability and technical completeness of electric vehicles.
Hyundai Motor and Kia have been continuously researching battery life prediction models to secure the competitiveness of electric vehicle durability and are conducting research to verify this by acquiring customers' vehicles that have been driven for a certain period. Yoon Dal-young, a chief researcher at Hyundai Motor and Kia's Battery Development Center, judged that Lee Young-heum's vehicle, which recorded the highest mileage based on the Ioniq 5 specification, was the optimal candidate for obtaining real operational data and, with Lee's consent, replaced the main drive components, including the battery, with new ones.
The remaining life of the collected battery (State of Health, SoH) was confirmed to be 87.7%. Given that customer complaints about the rapid decline in SoH of electric vehicles operated normally often arise in some countries, this is a very high figure. Considering that a vehicle typically drives around 200,000 km before being scrapped, maintaining a battery status above normal range even under extreme driving conditions of 580,000 km serves as a testament to exceptional durability competitiveness.
In particular, Lee Young-heum stated, "I charged it at 100% fast charging every day, but there were no problems while driving more than 600,000 km, and the driving range on a single charge has only slightly decreased compared to initially; it has been consistently stable."
Yoon Dal-young emphasized the importance of data acquisition. He stated, "Even with the same battery, the reason the actual performance of electric vehicles varies greatly is ultimately due to differences in the development capabilities of the automobile manufacturers," adding, "We plan to consistently build expertise by proposing new electric vehicle battery design guidelines using practical data like what was secured this time."
Chief researcher Yoon particularly highlighted the importance of securing data. He mentioned, "Even with the same batteries, the reason the performance of actual electric vehicles varies widely is due to the development capabilities of automobile manufacturers," and added, "We are undergoing harsh testing assessments, including repeated charge and discharge tests, as well as long-term storage tests for several months, to ensure stable durability performance in any usage pattern."
Lee Young-heum noted that considering the economy, driving performance, and convenience comprehensively, the Ioniq 5 was the optimal choice. He explained, "Since the highway driving ratio reached 90%, output and ride comfort were important factors, and when considering maintenance costs, I couldn't think of any vehicle other than the Ioniq 5."
Hyundai Motor Group has achieved the feat of winning the World Car of the Year award for four consecutive years, starting with the Ioniq 5 in 2022, followed by the Ioniq 6, EV9, and EV3.
[OSEN]