Genesis GV70 2024 review: Electrified Performance long-term | Part 2

In the second month of living with the Genesis GV70 Electrified it’s time to address the elephant in the room - real world driving range and charging times.

These two issues are at the forefront of car buying punters' minds and are the first questions anyone asks me when I tell them I'm driving an electric car.

Last month we spent our time schlepping around town in the GV70 Electrified going about our daily lives, but now it’s time to pack up the family and blow away the big smoke and head up the coast.

Unfortunately for us there isn’t an electric car charging point within cooee of this sleepy coastal hamlet, so we needed enough charge to get us there and back and for numerous runs to the beach, cafe and the local general store, or deal with the excruciatingly slow charging via a domestic wall socket.

I’m not too keen on watching paint dry so I sought out the fastest charger I could in Sydney - a 350kW Evie station at Seven Hills.

Plugging in the GV70 at the ultra fast charging port I expected the kW reader to zing up to 350kW immediately with a spaceship-like whirl.

Instead it ticked up to 120kWh pretty quickly before climbing modestly to 160kW and then back down again. After 80 per cent it dropped to about 35kW of juice extraction.

From my past experience, and from others in the CarsGuide office, it appears 350kW isn't achievable in the real world, but the Genesis can suck up about 235kW at its absolute maximum.

It’s also good to know EVs don’t hold this rate from go to woe, instead charging on more of an arc with the max rate held for a short time before it slowly calms down.

This is all done in the name of stopping the battery from overheating. This is also why the charging rate drops dramatically after 80 per cent.

Was it worth the 60km round trip to the ultra fast charger rather than visit the regular 75kW fast charger around the corner from home? Ah, no, but it was a worthwhile experiment.

Now with about 95 per cent battery charge the confidence was high to tackle the circa 350km round trip with ease and have enough left over for general running around.

Heading up the M1 north of Sydney I noticed an odd occurrence, though.

I peered down at the energy usage for the GV70 and it was reading 19.3kWh, which is substantially less than the 23.6kWh it was using around town.

Electric cars are by far less efficient at highway speeds compared to stop-start traffic. Moving a circa-2300kg car at 110km/h is much more energy intensive than punting along at 60km/h. There is also less chance to use the regenerative braking on the open road than in the city.

I can’t explain why this happened, every other electric car I’ve driven has used about 30 per cent more energy than its claimed on the open road.

This is why claimed fuel use and energy use figures are a dark art, there are so many contributing factors affecting it from weather, vehicle load, driving style, tyre pressure and many more.

Regardless it gave us more breathing room to complete the trip without any headaches.

The GV70 could easily accommodate our family of three and all the trimmings that come with with going on a trip with an almost two-year-old. 

The boot was packed with a pram, overnight bags, toys, books, nappies and enough tiny clothes to last three weeks.

And it could handle more, so the GV70 is the ideal size for a family of three, four or five.

On the motorway the GV70 Electrified was a comfy cruiser, the better quality road surfaces meant its soft suspension wasn’t as big an issue as around town where it felt spongy and rocked from side to side often.

It was quiet, too, with minimal road noise and tyre roar entering the cabin and the outside world kept at bay so well my two-year old son napped the whole way home.

The GV70 made light work of overtaking and bounding up steep hills at speed thanks to its potent dual motor performance.

And the heated seats and steering wheel made for a bit of extra pampering on the cold early morning drive.

The GV70 Electrified has blown away two of the biggest issues concerning new electric car buyers, and it's done it in style and luxury.

Next month it’s time to give our final verdict on the GV70 Electrified.

Acquired: April, 2024

Distance travelled this month: 609km

Odometer: 4507km

Average energy consumption this month: 22.7kWh/100km