Hyundai Ioniq 5 N thrashed in Nürburgring testing

The first fully electric car from Hyundai’s performance division, the Ioniq 5 N, is nearly upon us after recently entering the final phase of its development at the infamous Nürburgring.

Hyundai recently released a series of images and an accompanying video of the electric hot hatch being caned around the 20km+ circuit, giving us an idea as to what the car is capable of when it’s revealed in full next month.

The Korean carmaker has also spent a lot of time engineering the Electrified-Global Modular Platform (E-GMP) upon which the Ioniq 5 N is based to meet N’s three pillars of performance, including “Corner Rascal, Racetrack Capability, and Everyday Sportscar.”

However, it admits that it was a challenge to extract maximum performance from the EV for one reason in particular – heat.

To keep its cool, the Ioniq 5 N features a large cooling area for the battery and its electric motors, including an N-specific radiator, enhanced oil cooler, and a battery chiller.

Hyundai’s resources were poured into developing software to run the car as efficiently as possible, including a battery preconditioning feature that pre-sets the temperature of the battery cells to their most power-efficient temperature. This is split into “Drag” and “Track” modes which respectively ensure that the battery is cooled adequately for immediate use of maximum power or to tackle an increased number of laps.

N Race is another system the Ioniq 5 N will use to keep its battery cool on the track, with the driver being able to choose from “Sprint” or “Endurance” modes. Sprint provides full power on demand for the driver, while Endurance maximises range by limiting power spikes.

We don’t yet know how much power the model will produce, nor the size of the battery. However, reports suggest it could produce more than the Kia EV9 GT’s 430kW output. The battery on the other hand is said to feature around an 80kWh capacity.

A unique regenerative braking system has been developed for the hot hatch, providing up to 0.6 G of decelerative force without touching the brake pedal. When you do however jump on the brakes, a set of 400mm discs will be clamped tight.

Visually, nothing looks as if it has changed since we last saw the Ioniq 5 N drifting on a frozen lake, but we were however treated with more samples of the EV’s simulated exhaust note and fake gear changes.

Three sound themes can be played through the EV’s 10-speaker audio system, including Ignition, Evolution, and Supersonic. Ignition plays simulates the 2.0 turbo engine of ICE N cars while Evolution plays a similar note to the N 2025 Vision Gran Turismo Concept and RN22e. Supersonic on the other hand plays the sound of a jet engine.

Drivers will be able to feel a jolt when they pull on the steering wheel-mounted shift paddles, as the car’s N e-Shift feature simulates the feeling of an 8-speed dual-clutch transmission.

Now is a good time to mark your calendar as the Ioniq 5 N will be revealed in full at the Goodwood Festival of Speed between 13 to 16 July 2023.

The car has completed 10,000km of testing on the Nürburgring so far and will undergo another 10,000km before it reaches production.