Thought I should now give this model its own space.

Hyundai IONIC 5

One of our Facebook members has just gone all electric with this car.

https://www.autotrader.co.uk/cars/hyunda...cB&gclsrc=aw.ds

Jim Leach says:- Finally we make the leap, now 100% electric! First test tow was a 40 mile round trip. It tows totally effortlessly, super stable, and best of all entirely silent.. Love it.
Full ev. It's a awd model so not the most economical but it's looking like we can get about 280 miles if driven very steady. 160 mile if towing the troll. It has a new 800v platform which can charge at upto 220 kw / hour so it can charge from 10% to 80% in around 18 mins.

Jim Leach.jpg - Bild entfernt (keine Rechte)

That's good to hear and a lot more info than I got out of Hyundai. I phoned and e-mailed to enquire if a vehicle is to be made available to the press for towing and heard nothing. I the Ionic is the closest thing yet to a possible tow car that works. Double the range and it would meet most towers needs.

Colin

Hyundai IONIC 5

Jim Leach, yesterday.
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So today was the day, our first trip. 130 miles to Coniston, the car pulled the Eriba effortlessly. All the automated driving assistance worked just as well as it does without the caravan, and also just as silent. Such a relaxing drive.
So this was a relatively safe test as I was confident we would make it without needing to charge, 80% motorway at 60mph the rest on small often hilly country roads. The car performed better than expected and we arrived with 25% battery left which means we should get an absolute max range of around 170 mile. Comfortable route plan range of 150 -160 miles.
We are now trickle charging from the caravan, should be full again in 30 hrs but there is a 7kw public charger just over the road. If we need a quick over empty to full while we are here.
Just wish the weather was as good as the car

Jim Leech.jpg - Bild entfernt (keine Rechte)

Jim Leach. I do like this guy for his honesty when assessing his purchase.

Today, he reported this on Facebook:-

As mentioned above we have only done 1 trip so far. However the return leg didn't go to plan as we had to vacate the campsite at Coniston early evening due to flooding. We should have left in the morning with full charge.

In all honestly it was a nightmare journey. Driving in storm conditions through lots of flood water. When we made it out of Cumbria I had to start thinking about where to top up, all unplanned.

We pulled off the motorway near Bolton to use a fast charger at a Asda. The carpark was dead as it was about 11pm so I just pulled up side on to the charger. Easy... apart from the charger didn't work BP pulse are notoriously unreliable. So headed a few miles down the road to an insta volt, un hitched, easy quick charge and back on the Road. We got home at 1am exhausted. In the trauma of the evening un hitching was a minor inconvenience.

Invariably I will always plan to have to un hitch. However I am relatively young and fit, and we nearly always do trips that would be within the range of a full charge. So for us this is a minor factor. For other though I think careful consideration would be needed before making the leap.

At some point the charging Co's need to start allowing for people to charge whilst towing. EV pickups are starting to come to market now it's going to become a problem if they don't.

I've finally had a reply from Hyundai after one phone call and four e-mails. They have no plans to make a vehicle available to the press or the C&MC so this review is as good as we will get. As you say Randa the owner is honest in his assessment.
I've been following a thread on the C&MC about an owner with a Polestar. He did not buy this as a tow car as his is a company car. He has a Hybrid Volvo? and thought he'd give the Polestar a go. He is very impressed as no longer tows with the Volvo. The only issue is the planning involved to ensure a trouble free run and the dreaded range anxiety.
When you can tow 200/300 miles and have no fear of how to charge at your destination I thik we will see a lot of happy caravanners with electric cars.

Colin

https://electrictowcars.co.uk/volvo_xc40_recharge/

https://electrictowcars.co.uk/polestar_2/

We have two cars, towing with a 1.5 petrol Audi A3 and a 1.0 petrol VW UP runabout.
The 2014 VW will hopefully keep us going for many years, but when it comes to a replacement it will undoubtedly be a small electric runabout. This would cope with the short journeys the car would do and as there would be less to go wrong I think it reasonable to expect this would be a vehicle we do not replace.
The tow vehicle will be the problem. I can see buying one of the last petrol cars that will be produced, unless the giant steps forward in battery range and charging infrastructure appear.
I'm guessing there are a lot of you in a similar situation to us.

Colin