A manual EV? Hyundai e-shift is a game changer for performance EVs and the Ioniq 5 N electric car proves why | Opinion

We’d been invited to a preview drive of Hyundai’s powerhouse Ioniq 5 N, with the aim of gaining a background understanding of the global engineering program that’s developed the most appropriate suspension tune for the car in various markets, including ours.

It was an eye-opening exercise and you can read about it here. But another part of the Ioniq 5 N immediately captured my attention, the ‘e-shift’ system - a potential game changer for performance EVs.

Before parking my backside in the Ioniq 5 N I’d been struggling to bond with electric vehicles designed to appeal to driving enthusiasts. 

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City-sized EV hatches and SUVs are ideal in the urban environment; quiet, smooth, quick and economical. And at the other end of the spectrum big luxury electric vehicles leverage those same attributes perfectly.

Near silent, with effortless performance and a low centre of gravity for bolted down road feel. Cars like the BMW i7 and iX, Mercedes-Benz EQS and Rolls-Royce Spectre are the result of high-voltage marriages made in automotive heaven.

But for me, while the Fiat 500e is a brilliant if pricey proposition, its Abarth 500e sibling doesn’t quite scratch the hot hatch itch. And, so far, Audi’s e-tron GT and its Porsche Taycan cousin have left me cold.

Abarth has installed a combustion engine-style soundtrack in its 500e, which adds to the fun, until you get above about 80km/h on the freeway, where, thanks to the single-speed transmission, aural support hits an annoying, incessant ‘rev ceiling’.

The ‘e-shift’ system is a potential game changer for performance EVs.

With no higher ratios to pull it’s soon a matter of turning the engine noise off, at which point the angry-cute looking little scorpion feels just like any other EV.

And there’s no doubting the Taycan’s accelerative ability and in typical Porsche fashion it’s supremely well buttoned down dynamically. But there’s something missing. Engagement. 

In the before times it would come courtesy of a ‘click-clack’ direct manual gear shift, controlling the rise and fall of a raspy or roaring engine. You’re interacting with a machine rather than riding on a hoverboard.

As emissions regulations and fuel-efficiency requirements began to erode the engine noise and exhaust note delivered by performance combustion cars, varying amounts of synthetic support began to be piped through the audio speakers. I’ve never liked it. It feels like you’re being duped.

City-sized EV hatches and SUVs are ideal in the urban environment; quiet, smooth, quick and economical.

But once you've crossed the Rubicon and the ICE has been ditched in favour of pure-electric propulsion it’s a different playing field and new possibilities open up.

BMW has commissioned film composer Hans Zimmer to create drive sounds and system intros for some of its EVs. And Mercedes-AMG has created a ‘Performance’ soundtrack with specific ‘Race-Start’, ‘Engine Startup’, ‘Drive Sound’, and ‘Engine Shutdown’ sequences.

But the Ioniq 5 N’s e-shift is something new. It’s physical as well as audible, and as I began to experience it a smile spontaneously spread across my face as a sense of relief washed over me. Maybe EV performance cars can be fun?

The e-shift is a transmission program that simulates the feel and sound of a slick-shifting dual-clutch auto in manual mode.

The Ioniq 5 N's e-shift is something new; it's both physical and audible.

All of a sudden the wheel-mounted shift paddles are helping you pluck the next ‘ratio’, moving up and down a set of eight virtual gears.

Its software manages power, torque and regen braking to create a pulse between up-changes that feels for all the world like the momentary pause and subsequent push in the back a mechanical dual-clutch delivers.

On the way down the audio function matches revs as slight retardation changes the car’s balance and overall attitude.

There are 10 speakers inside the car as well as two on the outside (one front and rear) and you can choose from traditional turbo ICE accompaniment in ‘Ignition’ mode to the other-worldly ‘Supersonic’.

Carmakers are keeping a close eye on the development and acceptance of e-shift.

Turn the internal speakers down and the relatively distant external engine thrum and exhaust roar sound uncannily like a real engine. 

Not hard to imagine in the near future acquiring a crowd-sourced e-shift soundtrack via an over-the-air update? Electronic tuning taking over from the mechanical kind. 

Some see e-shift as a gimmick, but it’s no surprise, according to Hyundai, other carmakers are keeping a close eye on its development and acceptance, seeing it as a potential way to add that physical engagement to the performance EV driving experience.

I’m as gullible as the next petrolhead and maybe e-shift will be a passing fad. But at this point, I like it. I like it a lot.