Casteyanqui.com | Electric Vehicles | First Daytrip in my Ioniq 5

First Day Trip
in my Ioniq 5

Mark D Larsen

February 19, 2024

Squeezing some juice
(Click to enlarge)

It has been one month to the day that I bought “Rocinante.” Coincidentally, my sister and her husband had invited me to visit them in Mesquite, NV, so I would be celebrating the month by taking my first day trip —actually, more of a “night trip”!— to join them there for dinner. I decided that I would take advantage of the short trip to also check out the Electrify America fast chargers in Mesquite, since I anticipate that we will likely have to depend upon those units when taking future trips to Las Vegas and California. There’s actually not much to tell about this short journey, but below are a few highlights.

NOTE: You can click on the following photos to enlarge them, and the movies to play them.

I left home as the sun was already setting.

I then set the navigation to take me to the EA chargers in Mesquite.

I apologize for the poor lighting at the beginning of this introductory video, but it was already too dark outside. Nonetheless, the subsequent footage of the car's screens is clear and legible.

As I indicated in the above video, while climbing the summit the miles-per-kWh dropped very low to 2.2. I promised to take a photo after descending the other side, and as you can see here, the energy efficiency had risen to 5.4.

After entering the I-15 freeway, I opened the energy information screen out of curiosity. I was surprised that the battery pre-conditioning had not turned on, as I had set the car to do so when navigating to a charging site. Of course, the temperature was at 66°F, as you can see in the previous photo, so warming the battery wasn't really necessary.

When I arrived at the Electrify America site in the Walmart parking lot, the average miles-per-kWh for the trip was at 4.6, due to the elevation drop and then the freeway speed.

The estimated miles of range had dropped from 273 to 224 with a 67% charge still left in the battery.

I plugged into one of the “Hyper” 350kW chargers, tapped my phone on its scan panel, and it recognized me as a “free” Ioniq 5 customer.

After the charging started, I checked the car's binnacle, and saw that it would take about 9 more minutes to finish charging. It was only pulling 68 kW, but that's understandable, since I plugged in with only 13% less than the 80% limit I had set for the car.

I then checked the charger’s screen again, and saw that it had already put 9.2450 kWh into the Ioniq 5, at a rate of 68kW, and it would take 3 more minutes to finish.

When I unplugged, with the 80% charge, I now had 270 miles back in the battery, a few less that when I left home, but that's expected since I'd been driving at highway speeds to get there.

Electrify America then sent me a text message summarizing that the charging session had ended at 79%.

I opened my Hyundai Bluelink app, and saw that it had also updated the car's stats accordingly.

I enjoyed a wonderful dinner with my sister and her husband and then drove back home over the same summit. Because of the rise in elevation, I pulled into the driveway with an average miles-per-kWh efficiency of 3.1.

After one month of ownership, I had now driven 828.2 miles, at 3.2 miles-per-kWh. Since the EPA rates the Ioniq 5 Long Range AWD at 2.9, that looks pretty good to me.

One thing I’ve noticed about the Ioniq 5’s stats: the projected range estimates definitely depend upon one’s most recent driving style and conditions. Those estimates have varied greatly over the last month, with freeway speeds approximating the EPA’s rated range of 260 miles from a full charge, but with around town driving exceeding it by as much as… 80 miles! Go figure! I thus realize that I will need to pay close attention to the miles-per-kWh averages whenever we take long distance roadtrips. There will obviously be many more such journeys ahead of us in “Rocinante,” and I’ll try my best to chronicle those trips over the coming months and years.

I left home as the sun was already setting.	I then set the navigation to take me to the EA chargers in Mesquite.
I apologize for the poor lighting at the beginning of this introductory video, but it was already too dark outside. Nonetheless, the subsequent footage of the car's screens is clear and legible.
As I indicated in the above video, while climbing the summit the miles-per-kWh dropped very low to 2.2. I promised to take a photo after descending the other side, and as you can see here, the energy efficiency had risen to 5.4.	After entering the I-15 freeway, I opened the energy information screen out of curiosity. I was surprised that the battery pre-conditioning had not turned on, as I had set the car to do so when navigating to a charging site. Of course, the temperature was at 66°F, as you can see in the previous photo, so warming the battery wasn't really necessary.
When I arrived at the Electrify America site in the Walmart parking lot, the average miles-per-kWh for the trip was at 4.6, due to the elevation drop and then the freeway speed.	The estimated miles of range had dropped from 273 to 224 with a 67% charge still left in the battery.
I plugged into one of the “Hyper” 350kW chargers, tapped my phone on its scan panel, and it recognized me as a “free” Ioniq 5 customer.	After the charging started, I checked the car's binnacle, and saw that it would take about 9 more minutes to finish charging. It was only pulling 68 kW, but that's understandable, since I plugged in with only 13% less than the 80% limit I had set for the car.
I then checked the charger’s screen again, and saw that it had already put 9.2450 kWh into the Ioniq 5, at a rate of 68kW, and it would take 3 more minutes to finish.	When I unplugged, with the 80% charge, I now had 270 miles back in the battery, a few less that when I left home, but that's expected since I'd been driving at highway speeds to get there.
Electrify America then sent me a text message summarizing that the charging session had ended at 79%.	I opened my Hyundai Bluelink app, and saw that it had also updated the car's stats accordingly.
I enjoyed a wonderful dinner with my sister and her husband and then drove back home over the same summit. Because of the rise in elevation, I pulled into the driveway with an average miles-per-kWh efficiency of 3.1.	After one month of ownership, I had now driven 828.2 miles, at 3.2 miles-per-kWh. Since the EPA rates the Ioniq 5 Long Range AWD at 2.9, that looks pretty good to me.