Hyundai Announces Charging Partnership, Safety Feature For IONIQ 6 EV

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In a couple of news releases, Hyundai and Electrify America announced free charging for new Ioniq 6 owners and Hyundai told us more about an important Ioniq 6 safety feature. Let’s take a look at both of these announcements!

Free Charging For Two Years

Electrify America has announced a partnership with Hyundai, offering all-electric IONIQ 6 owners two years of 30-minute complimentary charging sessions from the date of purchase. The company’s mobile app allows owners to easily locate and access their growing network of DC fast chargers when on the road.

“We are excited for a third collaboration with Hyundai to offer customers hyper-fast charging experiences to EV owners,” said Rob Barrosa, vice president of technology, Electrify America. “We look forward to helping advance the electric vehicle revolution with leading automakers such as Hyundai and their latest IONIQ 6 model.”

Electrify America continues to collaborate with Hyundai to support Kona Electric, IONIQ 5, and now IONIQ 6. With a capable vehicle, drivers can access speeds of up to 350kW. The latest IONIQ 6 model offers an Ultrafast 800-Volt Multi-Charging system that can take batteries from 10 to 80% in as little as 18 minutes, with an EPA estimated driving range of up to 361 miles. It will be available for purchase in Spring 2023.

“Our investment in the 800V eGMP platform that enables DC fast charging aligned with customer research that our customers expect fast charging (10-80% in 18 mins) and high AER (361 miles),” said Olabisi Boyle, vice president, product planning and mobility strategy, Hyundai Motor North America. “Our customer’s experience is further enhanced by our extended partnership with EA that provides complimentary access to the fastest charging network.”

To access the charging benefits and start a charge, IONIQ 6 drivers will be able to use the Electrify America app. The company also offers home charging equipment and resource pages for new EV drivers which can be found here.

One possible downside to this is that some IONIQ 6 drivers might abuse their free charging, replacing home charging with the free charging at Electrify America stations. But, the limited session lengths could help alleviate this. We’re sending Electrify America a request for more information about this to see if they have any thoughts on this aspect of free EV charging.

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An Important IONIQ 6 Safety Feature

On top of free charging at Electrify America for 2 years, Hyundai wanted to let everybody know about an important safety feature the vehicle has.

This safety technology is the headlights. The Hyundai IONIQ 6 is making history with the introduction of its state-of-the-art Intelligent Front-lighting System (IFS). This system utilizes Matrix Beam LED headlights, which automatically adjust depending on the road situation. Specifically, when a car is detected in front or on the opposite side of the road, these lights will partially turn off to reduce the risk of dazzling other drivers – giving users more peace of mind when driving at night.

Image provided by Hyundai

The Intelligent Front-lighting System (IFS) found in the Hyundai IONIQ 6 is an advanced form of the High Beam Assist (HBA) active safety feature. While the HBA disables the high beam when detecting a vehicle in front or from an opposite lane, it can also reduce visibility for the driver temporarily. However, IFS works by partially turning off the high beam to create continuous illumination without distracting other road users. This helps maintain optimal visibility for both drivers and travelers on the road.

The Intelligent Front-lighting System (IFS) in the Hyundai IONIQ 6 makes use of the Parametric Pixel lamps, each containing a Matrix Beam LED. This means that 8 IFS segments are aligned per lamp, providing high, concentrated visibility. Additionally, thanks to its diversified light sources, IFS can precisely regulate both direction and intensity of light beams — allowing drivers to travel with optimal safety at night.

The Matrix Beam LED in the Hyundai IONIQ 6’s Parametric Pixel lamps produces light waves that are then subjected to two specific lenses. The optic lens, situated directly ahead of the light source, forms a rectangular matrix beam pattern. The second lens precisely redirects this light and shapes it according to the driver’s needs — allowing for optimal visibility at night.

The freeform lens helps to finesse the light shapes generated by the Matrix Beam LED and project them onto the road ahead of the car. Without these optical structures, the powerful lighting capabilities of the Hyundai IONIQ 6’s Parametric Pixel lamps would be in vain. The combination of both lenses allows drivers to experience optimal visibility.

The Hyundai IONIQ 6’s Intelligent Front Lighting System (IFS) works in three key steps in order to maximize driver visibility and prevent distracting other drivers on the road.

First, the forward-facing camera located on top of the windshield detects the position and angle of vehicles ahead and shares this information with headlamp controller.

Second, this controller identifies the ‘disturbance zone’ where LED segments within the headlights should be dimmed or turned off in order to minimize distraction to other drivers.

Finally, the headlamp controller then designates which out its 16 IFS segments are to be activated or deactivated based on these calculations.

The final step of the Hyundai IONIQ 6’s Intelligent Front Lighting System (IFS) is executed by the high beam module, which turns off the relevant LED segments designated by the headlamp controller and leaves the rest on. This ensures that drivers of IONIQ 6 have a consistent level of optimal visibility, while other road users are kept out of harm’s way.

Another cool benefit to this technology is that it gives the car a look that works well with Hyundai’s EV styling so far.

The Hyundai IONIQ 6 proudly follows the company’s award-winning IONIQ 5 in featuring its signature Hyundai Look design strategy. This technique gives each model a distinct look, reminiscent of a chess board.

Representing the perfect fusion of digital and analogue, Hyundai IONIQ 6 is integrated with the exclusive Parametric Pixel technology. This feature encompasses over 700 illuminated pixels that appear in various places around the car, such as headlamps, rear combination lamps, front lower sensors, air vent garnishes and center console indicator — all to create a cohesive identity for each vehicle. As a bridge between past and future generations, Hyundai says this innovative technology showcases Hyundai’s commitment to an all-electric future.

Featured image provided by Electrify America and Hyundai.


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Jennifer Sensiba

Jennifer Sensiba is a long time efficient vehicle enthusiast, writer, and photographer. She grew up around a transmission shop, and has been experimenting with vehicle efficiency since she was 16 and drove a Pontiac Fiero. She likes to get off the beaten path in her "Bolt EAV" and any other EVs she can get behind the wheel or handlebars of with her wife and kids. You can find her on Twitter here, Facebook here, and YouTube here.

Jennifer Sensiba has 1902 posts and counting. See all posts by Jennifer Sensiba