Engineering Explained Dives Into The Ioniq 5 N’s “Gears” & Other Performance Features

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One of the things I love about Engineering Explained is that Jason does a great job of making technical and mathematical engineering concepts accessible to people like me, a person who can assemble and understand automotive parts, but who doesn’t design or engineer them. So, when I saw that he was going to cover Hyundai’s Ioniq 5 N (the performance version of the Ioniq 5), I knew it was something I’d be sharing with readers!

Let’s take a look at his coverage of the vehicle’s features and then talk more about EVs and transmissions.

Instead of saving the most controversial topic for last, Jason dives right into the vehicle’s emulated transmission. Hyundai’s goal here was to make the vehicle more engaging. Why? Because one of the big complaints from automotive enthusiasts about EVs is that they’re fast and have scads of torque, but don’t give the driver a way to really feel involved in the operation of the vehicle.

That might sound silly to Apple gadgetheads who became Tesla fanatics, but we have to keep in mind that not everyone is going to think by number the way investors and people who camp outside of Apple stores do. In a world where we need to get most people to drive an EV, we need to appeal to differing audiences, even if some of us will find those audiences hard to understand and agree with.

How does Hyundai deliver a small performance car experience in an EV? By making it walk, talk, and shift like an ICE vehicle with a sequential transmission. This goes beyond merely making noise like an ICE vehicle. The software controls the electric motor and gets it to really act like an ICE engine in every situation. It can sound and feel like it’s lugging when put into a virtual gear that’s too low. It can punish you for getting the timing on a shift wrong. And, if Jason says it is well thought-out and feels real, he’s somebody we can believe.

The sound generator has multiple modes it can be run in. It can make sounds like a Hyundai ICE engine, it can make amplified EV sounds (the electric whirrs and whines), and it can make sounds kind of like a jet engine or something (called “supersonic”).

Things That Aren’t Fake At All

The next feature he describes is far less gimmicky and artificial: battery preconditioning. EV drivers are used to preconditioning for faster EV charging, but having the battery pack at the right temperatures is important for performance, too. So, the Ioniq 5 N offers the ability to tell your EV to get ready for abuse at the track. This is a very important feature that actually makes for better track times. There’s even a “track mode” that activates even more cooling to prevent track overheats.

The N Race Mode has two options: Sprint and Endurance. In Sprint, you get maximum power, even if this comes at the cost of extra heat that would be bad for a long track session. This would be useful for short events like drag racing or small rural tracks you’re only taking a few laps around. The other mode, Endurance, focuses on sacrificing some short-term performance for more ability to take long, punishing sessions at the track. They claim that the Ioniq 5 N can handle full power at the ‘Ring for two full laps without thermal derating! (most EVs derate in the first lap)

N Pedal is one-pedal driving like many EVs have now, but with more of a performance mode available. If you want some serious regen and fast for performance reasons, you can set it for that. I experienced that with the EV9’s highest regen mode. But, there are other regen modes you can use that give less regen with a smoother delivery for daily driving. The system can deliver a maximum of 6g of regenerative braking (320 kW). That’s a LOT of braking power.

No Torque Distribution gives you options on power delivery. You can set the power to be more toward the rear, front, or balanced. This allows you to get the feel you want on lower throttle situations, but under full throttle, it will still max out both the front and rear motors. There’s also an N Drift Optimizer and N Torque Kick mode where the computer helps you drift the car when you want. It can act like a manual transmission (clutch kicking) to break traction when wanted.

There’s also an N Grin Boost mode that gives you a much higher throttle response that can give you sudden boosts of acceleration (an extra 40 HP). This obviously brings a smile to people’s faces. There’s also N Launch Control that gives you maximum launch acceleration from a standstill (0-60 in the 3-4 second range). It also has the ability to automatically enable performance features when it sees road signs indicating a twisty road ahead!

All in all, Jason thinks the features will take a lot of time for a driver to decide what works best for them. Different people can choose different features to make the vehicle be the kind of performance car that the owner wants. This will probably require some experimentation on the part of the driver, but can deliver a customized and fun experience.

Let’s Talk About Transmissions A Bit More

While Tesla fanatics will tell me until they’re blue in the face that EV transmissions are worthless and maybe even evil in some way, this video gives us further evidence that the raw numbers game isn’t where it’s always at for cars. For a transportation appliance, none of this stuff makes a lot of sense. But, for someone wanting a performance vehicle that’s fun and engaging on the track or on rural roads, what makes sense to them will differ from what makes sense to much of the early adopter factory EV crowd.

I don’t think the average EV should have a manual transmission, but manufacturers need to get serious about offering a real manual for people who want one. I’ve explained this in the past repeatedly, but we have to remember that EV conversions are often manual, and they work great. There are also some real performance and efficiency advantages possible. Finally, they’re still very easy to drive because you can’t stall out an electric motor.

Hopefully we start seeing some real transmissions for enthusiasts soon instead of just emulated ones.

Featured image by Hyundai.