The biggest battery on sale, and 311 miles to show for it

Genesis unveiled the GV90 in San Francisco on 19 August, and it is exactly the car the brand has been building towards: a full-size electric flagship with coach doors that open from the middle, a roof airbag nobody has fitted to a production car before, and a cabin got up as a living room.

It also has the largest battery in any Hyundai group car. 123.5 kWh, against 110 in an IONIQ 9 and 84 in a GV60. On paper that ought to be the end of the argument about range.

It is not. Genesis quotes about 311 miles from internal testing for the seven-seater — a WLTP number will come later, and will probably be higher — and that is less than a G80 manages on 97.5 kWh, or a IONIQ 9 on 110. Put the cars in order of battery size and the GV90 sits at the top of the list, with one of the shorter ranges on it.

None of which is a scandal. It is a 2.03 metre wide, 3.25 metre wheelbase seven-seater with 657 hp and air suspension, and physics has opinions about that. But it is a useful reminder that a big battery is not the same as a long range, and that the number worth comparing is miles per kWh rather than kWh. The GV90 manages about 2.5. A IONIQ 6 does nearly twice that.

What the battery does buy is charging. It is an 800 volt car, so 10 to 80% takes 22 minutes on a 350 kW charger, which is quick for a battery this size: you are moving 86 kWh in the time some cars take to move 40.

The other thing worth knowing is what is running the screens. The GV90 uses Pleos Connect, Hyundai group's new infotainment platform, and it is built on Android Automotive with its own app market. Genesis is not the first to do this — Hyundai's own IONIQ 3 gets it too, at a fifth of the price — but on a flagship it matters more, because these are the cars people keep for a decade and expect to keep working.

UK prices have not been announced. Given where the Electrified G80 sits, do not expect much change from three figures.