Battery Remaining Life at 87.7%
Proving High Durability and Technological Excellence
The Ioniq 5, which has recorded a driving distance of 660,000 km in just three years, is attracting significant attention online. On May 1, Hyundai Motor Company announced that this serves as a case proving the high durability and technological completeness of its electric vehicles.
This particular vehicle is an Ioniq 5 Long Range RWD model, which achieved a cumulative mileage of 660,000 km within three years of its first operation. The owner, Youngheum Lee, works as a sales representative who installs and collects equipment. Due to the nature of his job, he drives long distances daily between the Seoul metropolitan area and other regions. He chose the Ioniq 5 because it offers low maintenance costs and comfortable long-distance driving, which is essential as he sometimes drives up to 900 km a day.
Ioniq 5 with a cumulative driving distance of 660,000 km over 3 years and its owner Youngheum Lee. Hyundai Motor Company
After 2 years and 9 months of ownership, when Mr. Lee had driven 580,000 km?equivalent to making 720 round trips between Seoul and Busan?he was contacted by the Namyang R&D Center of Hyundai Motor Company and Kia, offering to replace major components such as the battery and electric motor free of charge. These were parts that had never required repair or replacement before, and the vehicle was still operating normally without any issues at that time.
Recently, a YouTube video covering this story spread through online communities, creating a buzz. In response, Hyundai Motor Group shared the details on its HMG Journal website, explaining that this was a case in which the company sought the customer's cooperation to secure data for the development of electric vehicle durability performance.
Hyundai Motor Company and Kia are conducting research to secure the competitiveness of electric vehicle durability by developing battery life prediction models. As part of this, they are collecting and verifying data from customer vehicles that have been driven for a certain period.
Dalyoung Yoon, principal researcher at the Battery Development Center of Hyundai Motor Company and Kia, explained that Mr. Lee's Ioniq 5, which holds the record for the highest mileage, was considered the optimal candidate for collecting real-world driving data. With the customer's consent, the company replaced the battery and other major drive components with new ones in exchange for collecting the originals.
The collected battery had a remaining State of Health (SOH) of 87.7%. Considering that a typical vehicle is usually scrapped after about 200,000 km, maintaining a battery condition above the normal range even after 580,000 km of extreme driving demonstrates the outstanding durability competitiveness of Hyundai Motor Company and Kia's electric vehicles.
Mr. Lee stated, "Even though I fast-charged to 100% every day, I had no problems driving over 600,000 km, and the one-time charging range decreased only slightly compared to the beginning, remaining consistently stable." He also explained that while he had to change the engine oil every 15 days when driving an internal combustion engine car, the Ioniq 5 required almost no consumable parts related to the powertrain, making vehicle maintenance extremely economical.
Principal researcher Yoon added, "The performance of the battery is affected not only by mileage but also by various other factors," and explained, "To ensure stable durability performance under any usage pattern, we conduct not only repeated charge-discharge tests but also long-term storage tests lasting several months, subjecting the batteries to rigorous evaluation."
© The Asia Business Daily(www.asiae.co.kr). All rights reserved.
