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Genesis, Kia, Lexus EVs earn spots on the IIHS Top Safety Picks+ list

A trio of 2023 electric vehicles — the Hyundai Ioniq 6, Lexus RZ, and Genesis Electrified GV70 — have just earned the Top Safety Pick+ rating by the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety. The prestigious award from the IIHS requires that the cars and SUVs achieve top scores in a number of crash tests and that they have an “Advanced” or “Superior” front crash avoidance system that activates to help inattentive drivers prevent vehicle or pedestrian crashes. Previous selections for the award among EVs have included the Rivian R1T/R1S, Kia EV6, Hyundai IONIQ 5, and Tesla Models 3/Y. To earn the “+” designation, the agency stipulates that headlights rated “Acceptable or Good” must be standard across all trims, and that a front crash prevention system that earns Advanced or Superior ratings in both the daytime and nighttime vehicle-to-pedestrian evaluations be available. The GV70 earned “Advanced” ratings in both the daytime and nighttime vehicle-to-pedestrian front crash prevention evaluations. The Ioniq 6 and the Lexus RZ earned “Superior” ratings in these two tests. “To be environmentally friendly, our vehicles and our cities also need to be pedestrian-friendly,” said IIHS President David Harkey. “All three of these vehicles have standard front crash prevention systems designed to protect pedestrians both during the day and at night, when most fatal pedestrian crashes happen.” Overall in its latest list, the IIHS named 51 cars in the “Top Safety Pick+” grouping, and 25 in the secondary Top Safety Pick tier. ThatÂ’s down from 101 total award-winning models last year, likely because the organization has implemented its tough new side-impact test and is also testing for night-time pedestrian detection for collision warning and prevention systems. The IIHS is one of two major automotive safety rating organizations, along with the federal government's National Highway Transportation Safety Administration. IIHS is a private organization funded by insurance companies. By the Numbers Genesis Kia Lexus Green Automakers Insurance Safety Electric

Hyundai, Kia to put solar panels on vehicle roofs

Hyundai Motor Group said Wednesday that future Hyundai and Kia models will be equipped with solar panels capable of generating electricity as a way to increase fuel-efficiency and range and lower CO2 emissions. Hyundai says the solar panels will feature in the rooftops or hoods of select vehicles "after 2019" and will supplement traditional internal combustion, hybrid and battery-electric vehicles. The parent group said it's developing three different types of solar roof charging systems comprised of a solar panel, controller and battery. The first generation will be a silicon solar panel system mounted to the rooftops of hybrid models and capable of charging 30 to 60 percent of the battery per day, depending on weather conditions and other factors, starting as early as 2020. The second generation involves a semi-transparent solar roof system applied to a panoramic sunroof and capable of charging an electric-vehicle battery or a battery mounted on a gasoline engine. Hyundai says the latter configuration will help it increase vehicle exports, since solar-equipped ICE vehicles will be able to adhere to regulations limiting CO2 emissions. A third-generation system is being tested right now. It will add solar production capability in the hood and roof of EVs – but the companies don't provide more detail than that at this moment. "In the future, various types of electricity-generating technologies, including the solar charging system, will be connected to vehicles," said Jeong-Gil Park, executive vice president of engineering design at Hyundai Motor Group. "This will enable them to develop from a passive device that consumes energy to a solution that actively generates energy. The paradigm of the vehicle owner will shift from that of a consumer to an energy prosumer." To date, solar vehicle charging technology has mostly been for light-duty tasks, like cooling off the interior or trickle-charging a conventional battery, such as the system offered in the previous Nissan Leaf. Systems that do more than this have typically come with a very steep pricetag for modest capabilities. Panasonic has developed a 180-watt solar roof available for the Japanese version of the Toyota Prius Prime plug-in hybrid that is capable of adding up to 3.7 miles of range per day – at an unspecified (as of this writing) but undoubtedly high cost. Elon Musk, unsurprisingly, has also discussed making a solar roof optional for the Tesla Model 3.

Kia Soul EV spied, shows over 250-mile range

The upcoming Kia Soul EV has been spied again at the Nurburgring. This time, it was wearing substantially less camouflage, revealing a shape very similar to conventionally powered Kia Soul prototypes. We also get our first look at the compact hatchback's interior. The interior reveals that the Soul EV should have impressive driving range, too. We'll get to the design aspects of this prototype in a moment, but first we want to address the car's range, which is shown on the infotainment display. It clearly shows that this car had 92 percent of its charge remaining, with an estimated range of 437 kilometers, or about 271 miles. That's a lot of range, and it's also in keeping with the European range estimate for the Hyundai Kona Electric, which was 292 miles. We don't expect quite that much range in the U.S., since the Kona is rated for 258 miles under EPA testing. But this makes us think the Soul could have roughly the Kona's U.S. range, which would be impressive. This could also suggest that the Soul EV will have the same 201-horsepower electric motor as the Kona and the Kona's cousin, the Niro EV. It isn't just range that's revealed with this prototype. This example gives us the best look we've had yet at the little electric. It shows us that the Soul EV shares the same boxy shape, boomerang-shaped taillights, and full-width headlights of the gasoline models. There are some unique deviations, though. While the wide headlight section is the same shape as the internal combustion model, it actually appears to house the main illuminating lights. The other version puts the lights for forward illumination lower in the front fascia. On the Soul EV, these lower light pods are still there, but they appear to be for accent lighting, maybe turn signals or possibly fog lights. The large lower grille of the gasoline Soul is also virtually gone except for a small opening at the bottom. It will be interesting to see what Kia does with all this extra space. The interior is an evolutionary take on the current model. The biggest difference appears to be a revised infotainment system with a wider screen and buttons placed underneath, rather than on each side. This being the EV model, it has a little rotary knob for shifting rather than a lever, and the instrument panel shows a speedometer and a dial that provides power information. The doors seem to have some interesting metallic trim with swoopy patterns.