Hyundai Motor is making all-out efforts to bolster its battery business capabilities in response to the Chinese electric vehicle (EV) assault. The strategy aims to compensate for its relatively weaker 'price competitiveness' compared to Chinese EVs while further strengthening its superior 'safety' to increase market share both domestically and internationally.
According to the automotive industry on the 8th, Hyundai plans to accelerate the mass adoption of electric vehicles by introducing next-generation batteries featuring cost reduction, improved energy density, and enhanced stability starting next year. The company believes that EV competitiveness ultimately hinges on the battery—the 'heart' of the vehicle—and is therefore speeding up related R&D (research and development).
In this process, Hyundai has focused on 'price.' Since EVs use expensive batteries, they are priced higher than internal combustion engine vehicles, creating a barrier to entry for buyers. The reason Chinese EVs sell particularly well in major countries worldwide is attributed to price competitiveness driven by domestic oversupply and government support.
Hyundai plans to first develop mid-nickel (Mid-Ni) NCM (nickel-cobalt-manganese) batteries, which are relatively affordable yet feature high energy density, and equip them in Yangsan vehicles in the first half of next year. According to Hyundai, this battery reduces the content of expensive nickel material, making it cheaper than high-nickel NCM and bringing its price close to that of LFP (lithium iron phosphate). Another key feature is its ability to carry 30% more capacity in a battery pack of the same volume compared to LFP. Hyundai intends to apply high-nickel NCM to EVs requiring fast charging, mid-nickel NCM to reasonably priced EVs, and LFP to ultra-low-cost models.
Hyundai has also developed next-generation battery technology with enhanced 'safety.' Considering unresolved fire concerns regarding some Chinese-made batteries, the company judged it could gain a relative advantage in this area. The thermal runaway protection (TRP) technology developed by Hyundai excels at fundamentally preventing heat transfer from one cell to another even if an anomaly occurs in a single cell. Hyundai stated that it verified the safety of this technology through over 200 repeated tests using all NCM prismatic and pouch batteries applied inside vehicles. The company aims to first apply TRP technology to the Genesis 'GV90,' launching in the fourth quarter of this year, and subsequently expand its application to all vehicle models and segments.
The reason Hyundai is also looking at battery competitiveness as it expands its business scope beyond electric vehicles into robots and UAM (urban air mobility) is that these products require optimal batteries tailored to their respective characteristics. Relying on external sources for battery procurement would reach a limit in achieving this. In fact, during a recent 'Investor Day' held for investors and others, Hyundai presented areas where its battery technology could be applied, including humanoid (human-shaped) robots 'Atlas,' PAVs (personal air vehicles) being developed with Uber, and unmanned fire-fighting robots co-developed with the National Fire Agency, alongside electric vehicles.
in INDUSTRY
