Hand in Hand: Chung Eui-sun and Koo Kwang-mo Discuss Future Electric Vehicle Battery Collaboration

Jeong Eui-seon, Senior Vice Chairman of Hyundai Motor Group (left), is shaking hands with Koo Kwang-mo, Chairman of LG Group, during a visit to LG Chem's Ochang Plant on the 22nd.

[Asia Economy Reporter Kiho Sung] Chung Euisun, Executive Vice Chairman of Hyundai Motor Group, and the management team met with Koo Kwang-mo, Chairman of LG Group, and his management team on the 22nd to discuss cooperation plans in the electric vehicle battery sector.

Hyundai Motor Group announced that Executive Vice Chairman Chung, along with Albert Biermann, President of Hyundai-Kia R&D Division, Kim Geol, President of the Planning and Coordination Office, Seo Bo-shin, President in charge of Products, and Park Jung-guk, President of Hyundai Mobis, visited LG Chem's Ochang plant that day. During the visit, Chairman Koo, Vice Chairman Kwon Young-soo, LG Chem Vice Chairman Shin Hak-cheol, President Kim Jong-hyun of the Battery Business Division, and President Kim Myung-hwan, Head of the Battery Research Institute, welcomed the Hyundai Motor Group executives.

The Hyundai Motor Group executives shared the technology and development directions of future batteries, including the long-life batteries, lithium-sulfur batteries, and all-solid-state batteries that LG Chem is focusing on developing.

The management teams of both groups exchanged opinions on future battery interests and discussed cooperation plans, and toured the battery production lines and advanced development sites at LG Chem's Ochang plant.

Hyundai Motor Group currently applies LG Chem batteries in hybrid cars produced by Hyundai and Kia, as well as in Hyundai's Kona Electric and Ioniq Electric models. Additionally, LG Chem has been selected as the secondary battery supplier for the 'E-GMP (Electric-Global Modular Platform)' dedicated electric vehicle platform scheduled for mass production in 2022, and they are collaborating to secure optimal performance.

The LG Chem products installed in Hyundai and Kia electric vehicles based on the ‘E-GMP’ platform are next-generation high-performance lithium-ion batteries with significantly improved performance, expected to create synergy with the unique features of electric vehicle-exclusive models and provide greater value to customers.

Hyundai and Kia plan to launch a total of 44 eco-friendly vehicles by 2025, with more than half, 23 models, being pure electric vehicles. Hyundai aims to sell 560,000 electric vehicles by 2025 and become one of the top three companies worldwide, including hydrogen fuel cell vehicles, while Kia plans to increase its global electric vehicle market share from 2.1% last year to 6.6% by 2025.

A Hyundai Motor Group official said, “Hyundai and Kia are researching related technologies to realize optimized battery performance necessary for the world's best-performing electric vehicles,” adding, “This visit was to review the development status of next-generation high-performance batteries to be installed in future electric vehicle-exclusive models and to share development directions for future batteries.”

An LG Group official said, “LG Chem, leading the global electric vehicle battery market, is accelerating the development of game-changing technologies in future battery fields such as long-life batteries, lithium-sulfur batteries, and all-solid-state batteries,” and added, “We look forward to cooperation between the two companies.”

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.