Hyundai Motor Co. will invest 19.4 trillion won ($16.15 billion) in electrification through 2030 the company accelerates its electric car ambitions with a new target to sell 1.87 million pure EVs by 2030 and launch 17 new EV models across the Hyundai and Genesis brands.
Hyundai Motor CEO Jaehoon Chang unveiled the fresh EV targets on Wednesday during the automaker’s Investor Day forum.
He said the company would accelerate its EV shift despite the headwinds of the global supply shortages and the COVID-19 pandemic.
Hyundai’s target of 1.87 million EVs by 2030, compares with its prior goal of 560,000 by 2025. Achieving the goal, Hyundai said, will give the company about 7 percent of the global EV market.
Hyundai had previously said it expects to get 50 percent of its U.S. sales from electric vehicles in 2030, on surging customer interest in the technology and growing government support for it.
In December, the company forecast that combined Hyundai and Genesis EV sales would reach 220,000 units globally in 2022, from just 90,000 in 2020. Genesis will start phasing out internal combustion in 2025 on its way to becoming an all-EV brand by 2030.
Under the new plan, Hyundai wants operating profit margin of 10 percent or higher on battery electrics, helping the parent company achieve a consolidated 10 percent operating margin.
New EV platform
Hyundai will also deploy a new dedicated EV platform, called the Integrated Modular Architecture, or IMA, in 2025. This platform will be an evolution of the existing e-GMP platform developed for the EVs of the Hyundai Motor’s three brands, Hyundai, Genesis and Kia.
IMA will underpin passenger vehicles and so-called purpose-built vehicles, a new range of commercial offerings that will include vehicles for such things as ride hailing and robotaxis.
The IMA setup will have a standardized chassis, battery system and motor but be flexible enough to be used across all segments. It will also deliver an improved driving range. Hyundai will deploy five standardized motors for IMA, depending on the model specifications.
Of the 17 new pure electrics on tap, the Hyundai brand will get 11 and the Genesis premium brand will get 6.
Under the plan:
- Hyundai’s lineup will cover three sedans, six crossovers, one light commercial vehicle and a “new type” model that the company did not detail.
- Genesis will get two passenger cars and four crossovers, including the Electrified GV70 that launches this year. From 2025, all newly launched Genesis models will be electrified, the company said.
The 19.4 trillion won ($16.15 billion) that Hyundai will plow into electrification is part of a bigger bundle of 95.5 trillion won ($79.49 billion) that the automaker plans to spend on “future businesses” by 2030.
It will fund EV production capacity, charging networks and technology alliances. Some 12 trillion won ($10 billion) of the larger outlay goes toward connectivity and autonomous driving.
To bolster profitability in the EV age, Hyundai will also expand its EV production sites beyond centers in Korea and the Czech Republic. This year, it will also start EV production in Indonesia.
Batteries
Hyundai wants to increase the local procurement of batteries through alliances in different regions, including the U.S. It plans to obtain half its next-generation lithium ion batteries this way from 2025.
Hyundai said it has enough battery supply to carry it through 2023 and that it will expand its global supply to 170 GWh by 2030 to cover the upcoming EV push.
On next-generation solid-state batteries, Hyundai said it was cooperating with partners.
In a December interview with Automotive News, Chang said it was too early to promise commercialization of solid-state batteries by 2030, as some Japanese automakers have done. In the meantime, the company will continue to work on next-generation version of lithium ion and lithium metal batteries. That will be done in partnership with South Korean battery makers.
Chang, who was the global head of Genesis before being tapped as head of Hyundai Motor in December 2020, takes the helm at a critical turning point for the country’s flagship automaker.
Hyundai’s big push into EVs comes as the company fleshes out several key business components its rapid ascent to the top tier of global automakers, by nailing quality control, turning heads with sexy styling, rounding out a full line of crossovers and putting Genesis on the premium map.
Hyundai long played catchup to matching global rivals in those areas, but Chang said the work is now largely complete. It is time now to shift gears for the brewing new battle in electrification.
OTA updates, self-driving tech
On other fronts addressed at Hyundai’s Investor Day, over-the-air software updates will be deployed in new models launched from the end of 2022 and be expanded it to all Hyundai models by 2025.
The use of integrated control units in cars will be cut by one-third by 2030.
The automaker’s first Level 3 autonomous driving system will also be deployed in the second half of this year, in the Genesis G90 sedan. And a robotaxi service using the Hyundai Ioniq 5 will commence in 2023.
Through its Motional joint venture with Aptiv, Hyundai also plans to start a self-driving delivery service using a partnership with Uber Eats.