SK's Chey Tae-won and Hyundai's Chung Euisun, 'Electric Vehicle Meeting' Expected This Week

[Image source=Yonhap News]

[Asia Economy Reporter Hwang Yoon-joo] SK Group Chairman Chey Tae-won and Hyundai Motor Group Executive Vice Chairman Chung Eui-sun are expected to meet as early as the beginning of this week to discuss cooperation plans related to electric vehicle batteries.

According to SK Group on the 5th, officials are currently discussing the details regarding the meeting between Chairman Chey Tae-won and Executive Vice Chairman Chung Eui-sun. It has been tentatively decided that Executive Vice Chairman Chung will visit SK Innovation's electric vehicle battery plant located in Seosan, Chungnam, as early as this week.

This meeting is an extension of Executive Vice Chairman Chung's activities that began in May. He visited Samsung SDI in Cheonan and met with Samsung Group Vice Chairman Lee Jae-yong, and last month, he visited LG Chem's plant in Ochang and met with LG Group Chairman Koo Kwang-mo.

SK Innovation is the third-largest domestic electric vehicle battery manufacturer following LG Chem and Samsung SDI. With the global electric vehicle supply competition intensifying from this year, this is interpreted as an effort to strengthen cooperation with battery manufacturers. Stable expansion of electric vehicle supply requires securing battery supply.

SK Innovation will supply batteries for electric vehicles based on Hyundai and Kia's dedicated platform (E-GMP), which will begin mass production early next year. SK Innovation has mainly supplied Kia vehicles, but going forward, SK Innovation's batteries will also be used in Hyundai electric vehicles. The contract size is reported to be about 10 trillion KRW over approximately five years. It is also known that SK Innovation is likely to secure the third batch of orders for Hyundai's E-GMP, which will be placed in the second half of this year.

An industry insider explained, "Among the top 10 electric vehicle battery market shares, most are held by Korean and Chinese companies, and it is forecasted that the top three domestic companies and two Chinese companies (CATL and BYD) will account for 70% of the global battery market," adding, "Since electric vehicle battery supply will become insufficient from 2022, this is seen as a proactive move to strengthen cooperation."

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