Hyundai has been building steam as one of the most improved car companies over the last decade and it’s only getting stronger. Today, the Korean brand has announced two new rolling lab concepts that signal the future of performance at Hyundai. The first, dubbed the RN22e, is an all-electric monster with some 576 horsepower and 740 Nm of torque.
Those motors are powered by a 77.4 kWh
battery pack that’s built atop a 400- / 800-volt architecture. That should
sound familiar to Hyundai and Kia fans as it’s the basis for the group’s
Electric-Global Modular Platform (E-GMP). The RN22e which itself is packaged in
the body of the upcoming IONIQ 6, is the very first time that Hyundai has used
the E-GMP platform for a rolling lab project and it looks like a real winner
from what the brand is telling us.
First of all, it’s equipped with all-wheel
drive. A single motor sits at each axle. Hyundai says that it utilizes torque
vectoring “by twin clutch” though they don’t specify exactly how that works in
the case of the RN22e. Drivers in the car can actually choose the torque split
between the front and rear axles through a drive mode selector. Once you’ve
used up the battery, Hyundai says that it’ll charge from 10 to 80 percent of capacity
in under 18 minutes.
The brand is hoping to cement itself even
further as a serious performance vehicle builder as the transition to electric
vehicles takes hold. “N is moving forward to set new standards in sustainable
high performance. We enthusiastically start this new chapter of electrified
high-performance and will pursue this goal by using our creativity, engineering
expertise and competitive spirit,” said Till Wartenberg, the VP of N Brand
Management at Hyundai.
Somewhat interestingly enough, the RN22e
also tries to provide some of the ferocity that can be missing from EVs. To do
so it pipes in “N Sound+, which generates sound from the interior and exterior
speakers, for a dynamic driving feel.” Hyundai even goes so far as to add in
fake shift vibrations. Former RM (Racing Midship) concept vehicles have led to
major technological advancements in Hyundai road cars. For example, the
Veloster N and the Elantra N utilize a special trick differential that limits
torque steer and oversteer while also helping the car get out of corners
quicker. That component was first seen in an RM concept car.
Hyundai says that “Both RN22e and N Vision
74 will continue to be tested and verified by Hyundai’s engineers, so future N
road cars can be equipped with their advanced technologies.” so don’t expect
the RN22e to ever be a production vehicle, but much of its tech could very well
make it to the road.
