Getting less range and higher running costs from the more expensive version of an EV is harder to swallow when you don’t get anything in return.
The solution is that we need to wean ourselves off the cocaine of horsepower and find our fun elsewhere. Renault has the right idea: the Alpine A290 is a bit quicker than the 5, but because a lot of work went into differentiating its chassis, it’s actually more fun, more playful, more engaging.
Same with the Ioniq 5 N: Hyundai turned the comfy, loungy Ioniq 5 into a proper driver’s car. This is partly because its chassis feels completely different and partly because Hyundai dared to think outside the box.
When an electric motor makes no discernible noise of its own, well, you make it sound however you like. And when there’s no physical connection between the two driven axles, the torque split can be almost infinitely variable.
The Ioniq 5 N makes use of the possibilities of electric drive to feel completely like its own thing.
Another development is that EVs are making rear-wheel drive more common again. As it stands, most manufacturers seem too scared by the oversteery, tank-slapping mayhem this could potentially cause to capitalise on the potential for better steering feel and sweeter chassis balance.
The best modern traction control is so sophisticated and able to so precisely administer power from an electric motor that I think there’s a whole world of chassis balance yet to be explored if engineers can resist smothering it with an additional motor.
More artificial and less visceral than little explosions? Perhaps, but if regulation continues on its current path, we’ve got another five years to enjoy new combustion engines.
Let’s savour it – but also use that time to figure out that there’s life beyond power.
