PROS: Capacious; rated vary over 300 miles; constructed within the US; silent, easy; NACS charging port.
CONS: The costliest Hyundai; seems are within the eye of the beholder.
The 2026 Hyundai Ioniq 9 is the model’s largest and priciest electrical automobile. In truth, it’s the priciest Hyundai interval, now that Genesis is the Korean firm’s high-end luxurious model.
The Ioniq 9 three-row crossover utility automobile is capacious, quiet and easy on the highway, and updated in EV state-of-the-art: It’s in-built a brand new US plant, which qualifies it for the complete $7,500 buy incentive (so long as it lasts), and it’s fitted with a NACS port for charging.
Large, sq., however nonetheless slippery
Three-row crossover SUVs are likely to comply with one among two patterns: both glossy and rounded (e.g. Lucid Gravity) or rectilinear and upright (e.g. Rivian R1S). The Ioniq 9 falls squarely into the latter camp, however its designers formed it to have a drag coefficient of simply 0.27—and say the upright tail (often called a Kamm again) is definitely higher for reducing aerodynamic drag.
The entrance has the brand new Hyundai signature of a skinny, side-to-side gentle bar, whereas the “hips” and tapering greenhouse on the rear clearly channel Volvo huge SUV, whether or not you see it as a gasoline XC90 or all-electric EX90.
Inside, the usual Hyundai low, extensive twin 12.3-inch shows sit atop a large, horizontal sprint, with the one within the heart providing touchscreen controls for driver and entrance passenger. Hyundai designer Gary Lin famous that the theme for the automobile was “Aerosthetic Lounge”; we suspect North American consumers will expertise it merely as a snug and unthreatening inside.
Photographs by John Voelcker
What they may discover is the inside house, with the Ioniq 9 sitting on a wheelbase of 123.2 inches, or totally 9 inches longer than the Palisade three-row gasoline crossover the Ioniq 9 matches in dimension. The rear doorways are big, and two U.S.-sized middle-aged males match comfortably within the third row, definitely not the case for a lot of gasoline-powered crossovers. In our top-spec model, the third row was reached by urgent an influence button on the outer nook of the second-row seat backrests—after which the third row supplied an influence adjustable backrest, in addition to the power to drop out of sight solely.
Behind the wheel: highly effective, predictable
With a 110.3-kilowatt-hour battery pack powering a rear motor or a pair of motors entrance and rear, each model of the Ioniq 9 is EPA-rated at greater than 300 miles of vary. The bottom rear-wheel-drive “S” model, with a single 160-kilowatt (215-horsepower) motor, carries a 335-mile ranking, which falls to 320 miles for the twin-motor model. The SE and SEL fashions add a entrance motor rated at 66 kW, for a complete energy of 303 hp.
The high-end mannequin we drove in early Could exterior Savannah, Georgia, boosts the entrance motor energy to equal that of the rear: each are rated at 157 kW, for a complete energy of 422 hp in Restricted and Calligraphy fashions. Tow rankings are 3,500 kilos in RWD type, 5,000 kilos with AWD.
In follow, that each one interprets to a giant SUV that’s greater than adequately highly effective and drives … effectively, just about the best way you’d anticipate a very good electrical three-row crossover to drive. The suspension is mushy however effectively damped, the steering places the automobile the place you anticipate with a minimal of fuss, and general, it’s a quiet and cozy folks provider that makes minimal calls for on its driver.
Photographs by John Voelcker
We examined the Ioniq 9 each with its lowest setting for regenerative braking—it coasts like a automobile with an automated transmission—and the i-Pedal one-pedal driving mode. Fortunately now Hyundai is making that mode persist by way of a number of energy cycles (known as “latching”) on its fashions, whereas it needed to be requested each time the driving force switched on, and even put the automobile in a ahead gear. As with most such one-pedal programs, as soon as we discovered it, we solely used the brake pedal in instances of sudden, surprising stops.
Hyundai is focusing on each an IIHS Prime Security Choose+ and a NHTSA General 5-Star security ranking. These crash-test outcomes probably gained’t be issued for a number of months but.
NACS … with two adapters
It’s value noting that, just like the 2025 Hyundai Ioniq 5 compact in-built the identical Metaplant in Ellabell, Georgia, the massive Ioniq 9 crossover has a regular NACS charging port. Commendably, Hyundai offers the 2 wanted adapters as commonplace gear: one for Stage 2 AC charging (J-1772 to NACS), the opposite for DC quick charging (CCS to NACS).
Laudably, Hyundai now presents Plug and Cost functionality on “chosen” charging networks. Fee is finished through Hyundai Pay on the automobile’s cellular app. Underneath supreme circumstances, drivers can plug within the automobile and stroll away, with all validation and billing taking place on the again finish.
Photographs by John Voelcker
As for power effectivity, over our check route of virtually 100 miles, we logged roughly 2.7 miles/kWh. For a automobile with a curb weight of 5,500 to six,000 kilos that carries six or seven folks, that’s respectable. However our outcomes over a selected check route are usually not essentially consultant of what different drivers might get on completely different routes, at completely different common speeds, beneath completely different climate situations.
Hyundai has been early to the sport in providing Car-to-Load (V2L) power-out functionality in its EVs through 120-volt retailers in some trims. The Ioniq 9 isn’t any exception, although they could discover extra use in household highway journeys than in smaller EVs extra probably for use in single-occupant commuting obligation. The Restricted and Calligraphy fashions of the massive SUV have their energy outlet within the cargo bay.
USB energy charging, multifunction console
Hyundai has lengthy been a grasp of discovering the proper stability of digital controls and onerous buttons, with loads of intelligent cabin storage as well. The Ioniq 9 continues the custom with the “Common Island 2.0,” a storage bin beneath the entrance seat heart armrest that slides, presents entry from each the primary and second rows, and has a sliding drawer for second-row customers and a major lid that hinges from both the entrance or the rear. Web consequence: Most occupants can get entry to handy storage between the entrance seats. It’s a small factor, however it issues to household road-trippers.
The Ioniq 9 has seven USB-C ports, a number of of which offer a whopping 100 Watts of energy, sufficient to cost a laptop computer laptop whereas in use. It’s so highly effective, in actual fact, that Hyundai offers a specifically rated cable to make use of with it. That sits in a small bag within the entrance trunk, together with the 2 adapters wanted for charging on the automobile’s NACS port.
Ioniq 9 costs ranges from $60,555 for the rear-wheel-drive S model, which is prone to be scarce on seller tons, as much as $78,090 for the top-trim Efficiency Calligraphy Design AWD mannequin. That makes it an $80,000 Hyundai, placing it up in opposition to the underside of the Rivian R1S vary, as an illustration. All Ioniq 9 costs quoted embody a compulsory $1,600 supply cost.
Hyundai offered airfare, lodging, and meals to allow Charged to carry you this first-person drive report.
