Is Hyundai’s IONIQ 6 the ultimate EV? Fast charging, long-range, and affordable price
While automakers prepare to launch their next wave of electric vehicles, Hyundai already has an EV that checks all the boxes. According to a new report, the Hyundai IONIQ 6 is the only EV on the market offering fast charging in under 20 minutes, over 350 miles range, and at an affordable starting price.
Hyundai IONIQ 6 checks all the boxes as an affordable EV
Hyundai introduced the IONIQ 6 electric sedan in South Korea in late 2022, with sales kicking off in the US in March 2023.
Based on Hyundai’s E-GMP dedicated EV platform, the same one underpinning the IONIQ 5, the IONIQ 6 offers up to 361 miles of driving range. Perhaps, more importantly, you can charge Hyundai’s electric sedan (10% to 80%) in as little as 18 minutes with 800V DC fast charging.
And you get all of this starting at an affordable starting price of as little as $38,650. With long-range capabilities, fast charging, and an affordable price tag, is the Hyundai IONIQ 6 the ultimate EV?
According to a new report from Boston Consulting Group, the Hyundai IONIQ 6 is the only EV on the market that meets potential buyers’ median price, range, and charging targets.
BCG research found that 70% of US consumers are considering buying an EV. Other than the 6% that already own one, 38% said they plan to purchase an EV as their next vehicle, and another 27% are considering one in the future.
However, the study found those holding out are looking for faster charging, more range, and lower prices.
The median requirements include 20-min charging, 30 min detour and wait times for fast-charging stations, 350 miles range, and a price of $50,000.
2024 Hyundai IONIQ 6 trim |
Battery (kWh) |
Estimated Range (miles) |
Starting Price |
| SE Standard Range RWD | 53 | 240 | $38,615 |
| SE RWD | 77.4 | 361 | $43,656 |
| SEL RWD | 77.4 | 305 | $46,365 |
| Limited RWD | 77.4 | 305 | $51,265 |
| SE Dual Motor AWD | 77.4 | 316 | $47,065 |
| SEL Dual Motor AWD | 77.4 | 270 | $49,865 |
| Limited Dual Motor AWD | 77.4 | 270 | $54,765 |
Hyundai launched the 2024 IONIQ 6 for $4,100 cheaper than last year’s model. Starting at $38,615, Hyundai’s IONIQ 6 checks all the boxes as an affordable, long-range, fast-charging EV.
To make it even more attractive, Hyundai is offering a $7,500 cash offer on all trims, bringing prices down to potentially just over $30,000.
Tesla’s Model 3 was the next closest model to hitting the threshold. The 2024 Tesla Model 3 starts at $38,990 with up to 272 miles range. For the Long Range model, prices start at $47,740, with up to 341 miles range.
The race for lower-cost electric cars
Automakers are rushing to introduce new low-cost EVs. Ford is shifting from large EVs, like the F-150 Lightning, to smaller, more affordable models.
According to a new Bloomberg Businessweek report, Ford plans to launch a new low-cost EV platform. The platform will underpin a next-gen smaller electric pickup and SUV with starting prices around $25,000. Meanwhile, the American automaker is putting plans for a larger three-row electric SUV on hold.
Ford’s CEO Jim Farley explained at a Wolfe Research conference last month that if you cannot keep up with Chinese EV makers, “20% to 30% of your revenue is at risk.”
Farley explained, “As the CEO of a company that had trouble competing with the Japanese and the South Koreans, we have to fix this problem.”
Ford put together a “skunk works team” to develop it with “some of the best EV engineers in the world.” That team is led by Alan Clarke, who led the engineering of the Tesla Model Y.
Speaking of Tesla, the EV leader is gearing up to launch its next-gen electric car, a $25,000 vehicle.
Although initial plans called for Tesla’s next-gen EV to be built at Gigafactory Mexico, CEO Elon Musk confirmed it will be built in Texas.
Musk said the model was “advanced” in its development in December. Tesla’s CEO said he reviews the production line plans “every week.”
Rivian recently unveiled its cheaper R2, starting at $45,000 with at least 300 miles range across all trims. It’s due to enter production in the first half of 2026. The EV startup also introduced the R3, an even smaller and more affordable model that will follow.
Hyundai’s sister company, Kia, is launching a lineup of affordable EVs with starting prices between $30,000 and $50,000.
Kia is expected to launch its entry-level EV3 by the end of the year, starting at around $30,000. It will be followed by the Kia EV4 next year, with prices expected to be around $35,000.
The Korean automaker already launched the compact EV5 electric SUV in China with a low starting price of $20,000 (149,800 yuan).
What do you think? Does the Hyundai IONIQ 6 check all the boxes? Let us know in the comments.
If you want to see what Hyundai’s affordable IONIQ 6 has to offer, we can help you get started today. You can use our link to find great deals on the 2024 Hyundai IONIQ 6 at a dealer near you.
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EV sales kept up their momentum in December 2024, with incentives playing a big role, according to the latest Cox Automotive’s Kelley Blue Book report.
December’s strong EV sales saw an average transaction price (ATP) of $55,544, which helped push the industry-wide ATP higher, according to Kelley Blue Book. The December ATP for an EV was higher year-over-year by 0.8%, slightly below the industry average, and higher month-over-month by 1.1%. Tesla ATPs were higher year-over-year by 10.5%.
Incentives for EVs remained elevated in December, although they were slightly lower month-over-month at 14.3% of ATP, down from 14.7% in November.
EV incentives were higher by an impressive 41% year-over-year and have been above 12% of ATP for six consecutive months. Strong sales incentives, which averaged more than $6,700 per sale in 2024, were one reason EV sales surpassed 1.3 million units last year, according to Cox Automotive, a new record for volume and share.
(My colleague Jameson Dow reported yesterday, “In 2024, the world sold 3.5 million more EVs than it did in the previous year … This increase is larger than the 3.2 million increase in EV sales from the previous year – meaning that EV sales aren’t just up, but that the rate of growth is itself increasing.”)
Kelley Blue Book estimated that in December, approximately 84,000 vehicles – or 5.6% of total sales – transacted at prices higher than $80,000 – the highest volume ever. KBB lumps gas cars and EVs together into this luxury vehicle category, so this is where Tesla Cybertruck is slotted.
However, Tesla bundles sales figures of Cybertruck with Model S, Model X, and Tesla Semi(!) into a category it calls “other models,” so we don’t know for sure exactly how many Cybertrucks Tesla sold in Q4, much less in December. However, Electrek‘s Fred Lambert estimates between 9,000 and 12,000 Cybertrucks were sold in Q4, and that’s not a stellar sales figure.
What will January bring when it comes to EV ATPs? What about tax credits? Check back in a month and I’ll fill you in.
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Tesla is now claiming that Cybertruck was the ‘best-selling electric pickup in US’ last year despite not even reporting the number of deliveries.
There’s a lot of context needed here.
As we often highlighted, Tesla is sadly one of, if not the most, opaque automakers regarding sales reports.
Tesla doesn’t break down sales per model or even region.
For comparison, here’s Ford’s Q4 2024 sales report compared to Tesla’s:
You could argue that Tesla has fewer models than Ford, and that’s true, but Tesla’s report literally has two lines despite having six different models.
There’s no reason not to offer a complete breakdown like all other automakers other than trying to make it hard to verify the health of each vehicle program.
This has been the case with the Cybertruck. Tesla is bundling its Cybertruck deliveries with Model S, Model X, and Tesla Semi deliveries.
Despite this lack of disclosure, Tesla has been able to claim that the Cybertruck has become “the best-selling electric pickup truck” in the US in 2024:
It very well might be true. Ford disclosed 33,510 F-150 Lightning truck deliveries in the US in 2024 while most estimates are putting Cybertruck deliveries at around 40,000 units.
Those are global deliveries, but Tesla only delivered the Cybertruck in the US, Canada, and Mexico in 2024, and most of the deliveries are believed to be in the US.
However, there’s essential context needed here, as we highlighted in our recent ‘Tesla Cybertruck sales are disastrous‘ article.
First off, Tesla had a backlog of over 1 million reservations for the Cybertruck that it has been building since 2019. This led many to believe Tesla already had years of demand baked in for the truck and that production would be the constraint.
However, based on estimates, again, because Tesla refuses to disclose the data, Cybertruck deliveries were either flat or down in Q4 versus Q3 despite Tesla introducing cheaper versions of the vehicle and ramping up production.
Again, that’s after just about 40,000 deliveries.
Furthermore, with almost 11,000 deliveries in Q4 in the US, Ford more likely than not outsold Cybertruck with the F-150 Lightning in Q4.
Electrek’s Take
Tesla is in damage control here. There’s no doubt that it is having issues selling the Cybertruck.
Inventory is full of Cybertrucks and Tesla is now discounting them and offering free lifetime Supercharging.
Tesla is great at ramping up production, and it’s clear the Cybertruck is not production-constrained anymore. It is demand-constrained despite having over 1 million reservations.
Again, those reservations were made before Tesla unveiled the production version, which happened to have less range and cost significantly more.
The upcoming cheaper single motor version should help with demand, but I have serious doubts Tesla can ramp this program up to more than 100,000 units in the US.
As a reminder, Tesla installed a production capacity of 250,000 units annually and Musk said he could see Tesla selling 500,000 Cybertrucks per year.
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