800V car designs are fantastic because they enable faster charging without compromising battery longevity, which is likely the largest problem EVs face. However, Hyundai continuously tries to overplay its benefit via the use of sophisticated, if sometimes unscrupulous, marketing ploys because it is dissatisfied with the edge it currently has.
What exactly is charging speed?
Before we address charging, it is important to note that no car ever charges at its listed maximum charging speed. The majority of them only reach peak speed for the initial 20% or so of the battery’s life when it is almost entirely depleted. And only if both the battery as well as charger are at the ideal temperature.
So you shouldn’t expect to charge a car’s 100kWh battery in a half-hour from empty when you read that it supports 200kW DC charging. A complete charge will take more than an hour because the average rate will be half that.
Since everyone is doing it, what is the issue?
I guess not quite. While a car won’t be able to maintain its optimum charging speed for too long, it can still do so. In fact, it will give it to you at the exact moment you need it, such as when your battery is running low and you want to quickly top it off before continuing.
On the other hand, the Hyundai and Kia EVs will never, ever hit 350kW—not even for a brief moment. They won’t even come anywhere near that, peaking at less than 250kW, which is much lower than the figure the corporation would want to suggest it supports.
Are they telling us a lie?
Of course not; a business of this stature would never publish blatantly misleading statements. It chose the solution of listing the charger’s parameters rather than those of the vehicle. Therefore, charging speeds for “DC Fast Charge 50kW” and “DC Fast Charge 350kW” can be found on Hyundai or Kia’s websites.
The precise speeds indicated, while not technically incorrect, clearly indicate that the car can consume all the juice available if you connect it to a 350kW charger. In actuality, the number would stay the same if you utilised a 250kW charger rather, and we find it hard to imagine a large group of extremely knowledgeable Korean engineers don’t know that.
The company’s language differs from that of practically every other manufacturer, which raises the possibility that it is intentionally misleading. Hyundai is therefore offering you a created number but not openly lying, and they are letting the media and potential buyers do the lying on their behalf.
Given how challenging it is to verify peak charging speed, many reviewers have fell for it. Even on owner forums, there are a lot of folks who believe they could reach 350kW speeds if solely those annoying charging networks weren’t sabotaging them for various reasons.
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