Hyundai Ioniq 6 Can Rip Burnouts Just Like The RN22e Concept

It may be far outside the scope of what the typical electric vehicle owner will ever attempt with their car, but the 2023 Hyundai Ioniq 6 is technically capable of ripping a big, smokey burnout. We checked. During a Q&A session to discuss the newly released Ioniq 6 sedan, CarBuzz asked a question that garnered some laughter among the automotive media in attendance; can the Ioniq 6 do a burnout?

Our question was spurred by a feature available on the dual-motor Ioniq 6 with all-wheel drive. To save battery and drive more efficiently, Hyundai put a dog clutch on the front motor so it can disconnect and run on the rear motor only. Naturally, we thought this could be turned into a burnout/drift mode, and we were correct.

"Technically, the car could lock the front axle, and you wouldn't need to hit the brake to do a burnout," explains Dean Schlingmann, manager of engine management, on-board diagnostics, and vehicle emissions labs at Hyundai-Kia America Technical Center.

Not only can the Ioniq 6 manage a burnout, but it would be easier to execute than a traditional internal combustion engine car. Since the computers can control each motor individually, it can tell the front to stay locked while the rear one spins, thus inducing a burnout. The driver wouldn't even need to stand on the brakes and slowly release them as they would in an ICE car. Ford has patented a similar feature for EVs, so we clearly aren't the only ones thinking about it.

It's worth mentioning that the Ioniq 6 is currently only programmed to disconnect the front axle in Eco Mode, so the feature is not designed to help owners smoke their rear tires.

The question may seem silly since the Ioniq 6 is a relatively mainstream EV sedan that offers up to 361 miles of driving range. But Hyundai has teased that a sportier N version is coming, and features like drift and burnout modes would be far less outrageous in that application.