this post was submitted on 06 Sep 2025
148 points (98.7% liked)
Electric Vehicles
1637 readers
22 users here now
Overview:
Electric Vehicles are a key part of our tomorrow and how we get there. If we can get all the fossil fuel vehicles off our roads, out of our seas and out of our skies, we'll have a much better environment. This community is where we discuss the various different vehicles and news stories regarding electric transportation.
Related communities:
- !automotive@discuss.tchncs.de
- !avs@futurology.today
- !byd@lemmy.world
- !ebike@lemm.ee
- !energy@slrpnk.net
- !geely@lemmy.world
- !micromobility@lemmy.world
- !polestar@lemmy.ca
- !rivian@lemmy.zip
- !teslamotors@lemmy.zip
- !xiaomi@lemdro.id
founded 1 year ago
MODERATORS
you are viewing a single comment's thread
view the rest of the comments
view the rest of the comments
It just seems like a hazard to me. If there's a malfunction or fire or something, and it doesn't work, wtf would happen. Seems just like a bad idea in general, for very little gain, if any.
The IONIQ 5 handles are still mechanical, and aren’t any more likely to malfunction than any other mechanical door handle. While they’re recessed, they’re effectively like a see-saw, in that you push down on one end to pop out the handle on the other end (a purely mechanical operation — it’s just hinged in the middle with a small spring). When you pull on the handle, it’s still just a mechanical operation to unlock and open the door. Now there is a motor that can auto pull that handle in and out — but even if the car battery is dead as a door nail popping it out by pushing on one side and pulling out the other is quick, easy, and works 100% of the time as it’s purely mechanical.
So there is no hazard — or at least, not any more than any other mechanical door pull.
You can see a video of the process here. The video is more based on how to open the door when the keyfob battery is dead, but it also applies if the car itself is dead.
That sounds like a smart design.
Yup, thank you, I got lots of replies. 🙂
That wouldn't be an issue at all, at least with the Kia EV3 I use. You can still use them in their retracted state, just push the other side of the handle to get them out.
That makes sense, if they can be mechanically extracted in a panic. That's fine then. 👌
Yeah Kia’s handles are nice with it being just a pivot you can always manually open. I think the Ioniqs are like that too but when I rode in one it always popped out at me before I could test it
Ioniq is the same way
I'm not familiar with this, so I watched a video. It shows that after pressing to lever the handle out of the way of the key hole you have to wedge the key cover (or any object, I assume) into the gap to prevent it from closing itself again. Is that right? Because it sounds annoying for me and impossible for some disabilities/injuries.
Edit: The Ioniq 5 video shows the demonstrator using both hands to unlock the door: one to hold the handle in the open position and the other to do the key. How is a one-handed person meant to operate this vehicle?
I mean you could do that if you want to access the keyhole, but you can also just push it open with one hand and then insert the key with the other. If you only had one hand or something, sure, it could be complicated. But other than that, it's really no big deal, especially considering it's only something you need to do if your key's battery ran out.
Ok, in the case of a complete power failure, a one handed person may have a hard time.
This is not a problem for the vast majority of people and times
They can be purely just physical with zero electronics where it acts like a lever so you push in with your thumb and it causes the handle on the other side to push out.
It doesn’t even need to be any harder to use than a conventional door handle.
It doesn’t really help much for aerodynamics on the micro scale where it saves around 0.6 kWh per 100 km but in the U.S. alone that correlates to around 29 tWh per year at 3 trillion miles driven per year
According to this the average EV uses just under 18.9kWh for 100km. 0.6kWh is over 3%.
I find it really really hard to believe that regular door handles cost 3% of your energy. I suspect that's a massive over estimate.
I got the number from here
“Engineers say that drag reduction due to flush handles amounts to just 0.005-0.01 Cd, saving about 0.6 kWh per 100 km.“
https://www.carscoops.com/2025/09/chinas-possible-ban-on-retractable-door-handles-could-have-ripple-effect/
Huh.
I guess it's costing me about 5p per 100km and it's not going to bankrupt me, but it's definitely a lot more than I expected. Thanks for the link. There are some interesting articles in there.
Still think the ones with 8lb motors in them are a complete waste and can fail too easily but them being flush doesn’t seem like as much of the problem as it being motorized which is the part I personally believe they should correct
Absolutely
You can still use them