While there is a battery enlargement race in the automotive world to increase the range of electric vehicles, a game-changing breakthrough has come from the South Korean manufacturer Hyundai. Manfred Harrer, who is of Porsche origin and will head the technological development of Hyundai Motor Group as of 2026, harshly criticized the uncontrolled battery growth in electric cars. Speaking at a time when brands such as BMW, one of the giants of the industry, are turning to huge batteries in their flagship models, Harrer emphasized that the perception of luxury and performance should be measured not by the size of the batteries, but by the efficiency of engineering.

“We Should Have Started Limiting Battery Sizes Five Years Ago”

One of the most striking points in the German technician’s interview was that the automotive industry tried to solve the range problem with a wrong strategy. What’s that Hyundai electric car Reminding that the main promise of the model should be “efficiency”, Harrer stated that the uncontrolled growth of the market causes harm to the consumer by increasing vehicle costs.

Harrer shared a self-criticism about the department’s lateness, saying, “I think we should have started finalizing battery sizes five years ago.” The experienced manager argues that in today’s technology and charging infrastructure, a 100 kWh capacity battery should be the upper limit for passenger vehicles and offers a very sufficient performance. He pointed out that the search for higher battery capacity makes electric cars significantly more expensive and makes them unnecessarily heavy, and He said that he argued that large batteries directly cast a shadow on the principle of “efficiency”, which is the most basic promise of electric vehicles.

Harrer made a direct reference to the new generation BMW iX5 model, which was recently introduced with its huge battery with a capacity of 148 kWh and a range of up to 845 kilometers. Stating that the industry is trying to solve the range problem with wrong engineering, Harrer said that the ideal electric vehicle battery capacity He drew a clear boundary for

800 Volt Technology Departs the Entry Segment

Choosing to focus on fast charging architecture instead of large batteries, Hyundai has proven its success in the premium class. 800 Volt charging infrastructure It is literally counting the days to reduce it to lower segments. Stating that the engineering group works on this question every day, Harrer said that they want to standardize this technology despite the technical limitations in the compact class.

These are the first models in which the company switched to LFP (Lithium Iron Phosphate) battery technology. Hyundai Ioniq 3 oath Kia EV2 , is the greatest proof of this strategy. Stating that they set the performance standards worldwide with the Ioniq 5 N model, Harrer said that the new track monster Ioniq 6N While aiming to take driving pleasure to the next level, he gave the good news that they will maintain driver-oriented mechanical solutions such as regeneration (energy recovery) paddles behind the steering wheel in models such as the budget-friendly Ioniq 3.