√2022 Hyundai RN22e Concept: Track test

Meet Hyundai’s vision of the future, driven purely by electricity. While still a concept, the science behind the RN22e could power the next generation of performance models.

Hyundai performance concepts: N Vision 74 and RN22e

These two rolling laboratories won’t be in showrooms anytime soon, but they reveal a couple of key ingredients for car enthusiasts.

Hyundai is experimenting with an artificial gearbox feel for its electric motors, dubbed e-shift. And finding new ways to make electric cars sound exciting, as well as creating ‘idle shake’.

The South Korean car giant invited media from around the world – including Drive.com.au – to Germany to test its future electric performance models on a race track.

The sleek coupe-like sedan is the Hyundai RN22e, which is said to be a test bed for the upcoming Hyundai Ioniq 5 N hot hatch electric car.

Meanwhile, the Audi Quattro look-a-like is the N Vision 74 Concept. Although it’s inspired by one of Hyundai’s earliest designs, it is a pointer to the company’s hydrogen future.

Read about our drive of the Hyundai N Vision 74 Concept here.

Hyundai RN22e

With its super-wide bodywork, low-slung stance, and racing wheels and tyres, this car is clearly not designed for the road.

However, based on the upcoming Hyundai Ioniq 6 sedan, it is a sign of things to come – including a sporty and hi-tech interior.

While there could be a high-performance version of Hyundai’s future electric sedan, for now we’re focused on what’s under the skin.

In this case, two high-powered electric motors. One for the front wheels and the other to drive the rear wheels.

As is the case with most electric cars, the battery pack doubles as the platform on which the vehicle is based.

The battery capacity is listed at 77kWh, the same as Hyundai’s longest range electric vehicles in showrooms today.

While this car is heavy, it has plenty of power to make up for the weight gain.

The maximum output of the electric motors are as follows: 160kW for the front wheels and 270kW for the rear wheels, making a total of 430kW (or about 580 horsepower in the old money).

Hyundai quotes a maximum torque figure of 740Nm, which is supercharged V8 levels of grunt.

To tame that level of performance, the RN22e is equipped with massive brakes – which work in addition to the electric motor’s regenerative braking to wash off speed.

The RN22e has two other party tricks: an incredibly realistic exhaust sound that even responds to throttle input when parked in neutral.

And Hyundai has programmed pre-set steps in the electric motor’s power delivery – called e-shift – designed to mimic gear changes in a high-performance twin-clutch automatic.

We got to sample an experimental version of this tech, but for now the jury is out on its effectiveness.

It feels almost like the real thing, but it saps a bit of power and actually makes the car slower because it pauses for each pretend gearchange, rather than accelerating seamlessly.

Hyundai assures us if this mode makes it into production, drivers will have the option to disable the tech at the press of a button.

In normal, though, this car is phenomenally fast. This motorsport-inspired concept may not be as heavy as the production car, but it’s clear there is no shortage of power on hand.

Hyundai N experts estimate the Ioniq 5 N will have somewhere between 580hp and 620hp – in a car that’s not much bigger than the petrol-powered Hyundai i30 N hot hatch.

With these ingredients, Hyundai expects the Ioniq 5 N – due in Australian showrooms next year – will be significantly faster in a straight line and around a race track than the Hyundai i30 N.

As brief as our test drives were – a couple of laps at speed in each vehicle – it was a fascinating insight into how far electric and hydrogen technology has come.

And what the future might hold.

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