Hyundai has waited until the Ioniq 5 was about to hit the American market to announce its “integrated clean energy ecosystem.” Called Hyundai Home, the idea is to supply solar panels, stationary batteries, home chargers, and electric cars in a single solution. That’s something Tesla also provides, but Hyundai will do that with a plus: “trusted industry-leading support, maintenance, and leading warranties.”
We have no idea if Hyundai poked Tesla by chance or on purpose, but it was spot on. The American EV maker is facing a lawsuit due to the acquisition of Solar City and multiple installation problems and delays with its Solar Roofs. Tesla says it is delivering fewer due to supply constraints, but it would not surprise us if demand had also dropped due to the negative experience that people are having with these roofs.
Hyundai has another relevant difference compared to what Tesla sells: it does not want to do everything on its own. The Korean carmaker said it will “streamline the home-electrification experience” by offering “the best products from the best partners.” It will also have a concierge representative that will guide Hyundai Home clients to the most fitting solution for their energy needs. Nowadays, Tesla Solar clients complain that they cannot reach customer services when they have any issues.
Hyundai did not disclose who the partners it selected to create this new service are. However, one of the released images shows an LG stationary battery to store the solar energy produced by photovoltaic panels. That may indicate that Hyundai and LG are on good terms after the Kona Electric recall.
With the V2L (vehicle-to-load) capabilities of the Ioniq 5, Hyundai customers may even ignore the stationary batteries and use their electric vehicles to store the solar energy they generate in their houses. Ironically, the Ioniq 5 uses SK Innovation cells, a company LG had a massive legal dispute not long ago.
According to the Korean automaker, Hyundai Home will be available in selected markets in 2022. The company did not state which, but we bet on the most relevant EV markets worldwide, such as Norway, Germany, Korea, the U.S., and possibly China – if there is enough production scale to deal with the largest EV market in the world.
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