Hyundai Motor has demonstrated its ability to build high-performance electric vehicles with the IONIQ 5 N, and now the company may shift its focus to a more affordable model. Albert Biermann, Hyundai’s technical advisor, believes that developing a small, high-performance electric car is an important goal for the N brand.
According to IT House, Biermann once served as the head of Hyundai Motor’s R&D department and the head of BMW’s M department. He has made many contributions to the car enthusiast community. He acknowledged the high expectations for the N brand, but stressed that producing affordable, high-performance cars was crucial.
“We have to develop a small N-brand electric car or we will lose our customers,” Biermann told AutoExpress. “We need to come up with something smaller and more affordable.”
However, car enthusiasts excited about this model may have to wait a while. Biermann believes that even a small electric car needs to offer enough range to meet the demands of track driving and have an 800-volt electrical system to handle those needs.
“If it’s an N-brand car, you’re going to want to drive it on the track, even if it’s only for 15 or 20 minutes. If you use a 400-volt electrical system, the current is doubled, the cooling requirements are quadrupled, and the efficiency is very high. Low,” he explained. “If you want to make a car like the i30 (Elantra), 400 volts is not suitable.”
The IONIQ 5 and IONIQ 6 are the smallest models using the Global Modular Platform. Hyundai is currently unable to launch smaller electric vehicles equipped with an 800V electrical system, which needs to wait for the Integrated Modular Architecture (IMA) to be launched in 2025.
