2016 Hyundai Sonata Plug-In Hybrid, 22 Miles On Zero Gas

What was once the province of the rich and relentlessly eco-conscious is now heading down-market at a high rate of speed. Only a few years ago, hybrids either came in the Prius flavor, or were only available on upper end Lexus products. Plug in hybrids? 'Maybe sometime in the future,' came the hesitant response from car company marketing wonks.

But now, a company as declaratively proletariat and everyman as Hyundai is rolling out a plug in hybrid that anyone with reasonable amounts of cash can buy. Oh, and it can travel 22 miles before you even have to start burning fossil fuels.

Rolling out a few days ago at the Detroit auto show, the 2016 Hyundai Sonata plug-in hybrid is notable for a number of things.

First and foremost, Hyundai says this thing can go for 22 miles using just battery power alone. Meaning, if you don't do much driving, say a short commute or just puttering around on errands, you might be able to get in your day's driving without using the internal combustion engine at all.

Also notable is the powertrain. In this case a 9.8 kWh lithium polymer battery pack is expected to give Sonata Plug-in Hybrid an expected all-electric range of up to 22 miles, which, Hyundai says, is farther than any other midsize PHEV sedan. There's a six-speed automatic transmission with a thingo called a TMED attached to it. That would be Hyundai-speak for "Transmission-Mounted Electrical Device". In layman's terms it's a 50 kW electric motor in place of the torque converter. This new electrical motor is 32 percent more powerful than the motor used the in regular Sonata Hybrid and also allows EV operation at higher speeds. Although there's no word from Hyundai if they can use the TMED as an actual performance enhancer. Old school-wise, there's a 2.0-liter Nu four-cylinder GDI engine coupled to the electric motor. Said mill cranks out 154 horsepower and 140 lb. ft. of torque and the whole she-bang puts out 202 horsepower at 6,000 rpm.

 

If you want the economy numbers, they break down like this: 93 MPGe combined in EV mode based on internal estimates. In charge sustaining mode (which I'm assuming means using some sort of regenerative braking scheme) the Sonata PHEV is expected to return 38 mpg in the city, 43 mpg on the highway and 40 mpg combined. Recharge time ranges from two and a half hours at a 240V Level 2 charging station to five hours using a standard 120V outlet.

The Sonata PHEV also features a rather cool "Blue Link" smartphone app. This handy bit of modern technology will allow you to perform remote control services and vehicle diagnostics. So you can start or stop charging or set up charging schedule with days of the week and time to take advantage of lower nighttime electricity rates. It also lets you deal with climate control and the defroster (handy on very hot or very cold days). And with the connected car services you can run vehicle diagnostics/status, check existing battery level and a whole host of other parameters.

It's notable that it looks like a car. It does not look like a moon ship or something an anime character would cook dinner in. It looks like a rather run-of-the-mill sedan. Three box design (more or less), squashed hexagonal grill that has been the fashion for a while now, dog-bone lower front end, squinty headlights. The only exterior feature that gives it away is the round port just below the driver's side A-pillar that looks like a misplaced gas cap. Indeed, this is where the plug-in portion of the plug-in hybrid happens. Beneath said cover there's an outlet. And you can run a power chord from your house (or your office) to charge the 2016 Hyundai Sonata's batteries. This translates into using less gas to juice up the battery pack and also adding the potential of going with renewable energy sources like wind or solar if those are available.

The Sonata Plug-in Hybrid will be built at the Asan, South Korea plant and will go on sale in select markets later this year. Sadly, no word on MSRP, but c'mon, it's a Hyundai, how expensive can it be?

 This post originally appeared on GizMag