Hyundai Rotem CEO Yong-bae Lee's Aggressive Moves in Hydrogen Business... Meeting with Changwon Mayor This Month

Yong-bae Lee, CEO of Hyundai Rotem.

[Asia Economy Reporter Dongwoo Lee] Lee Yong-bae, CEO of Hyundai Rotem, is expanding efforts to grow the hydrogen infrastructure business as a new growth engine. He plans to develop the hydrogen mobility business, a future core sector, into a key cash cow to overcome management difficulties caused by low-price railway orders.

According to industry sources on the 18th, CEO Lee is scheduled to meet Changwon Mayor Heo Seong-moo on the 29th to discuss the hydrogen industry ecosystem. Since Changwon City is actively developing as a hydrogen city, including operating the nation’s first hydrogen city bus route, it is expected that Hyundai Rotem will exchange opinions on its hydrogen tram technology and implementation plans at this meeting.

Hyundai Rotem, along with the Korea Railroad Research Institute, is the only domestic company possessing hydrogen fuel cell tram technology. The company has also secured core technology for hydrogen reformers, devices that extract hydrogen from natural gas, providing comprehensive solutions from design to procurement and construction necessary for building hydrogen charging stations.

The company’s strategy is to maximize synergy through the smooth establishment of hydrogen supply infrastructure projects and the supply of hydrogen trams in the railway business sector. CEO Lee has set a goal to achieve sales of 350 billion KRW by 2025 through the hydrogen infrastructure business.

In fact, the hydrogen infrastructure strategy led to the installation of the nation’s first hydrogen tram in Ulsan City. This was realized after CEO Lee proposed the project. The hydrogen tram to be installed in Ulsan will operate on the 4.6 km Ulsan Port Line railway section connecting Taehwagang Station and Ulsan Port. Hyundai Rotem is expected to officially sign a memorandum of understanding with Ulsan City on this matter next month.

Following this demonstration project, which involves a total investment of 32.9 billion KRW, Hyundai Rotem plans to discuss the application of hydrogen tram technology to the entire tram construction project promoted by Ulsan City. Ulsan is currently pursuing the introduction of four tram lines totaling 48.25 km with a budget of 1.33 trillion KRW.

The reason CEO Lee is actively promoting the hydrogen infrastructure construction business is due to deteriorating profitability caused by chronic low-price railway orders. Hyundai Rotem recorded an operating loss of 279.9 billion KRW last year, widening the deficit compared to the previous year (-196.2 billion KRW).

Considering that the global hydrogen fuel cell train market is expected to gradually grow from a scale of 600 billion KRW, Hyundai Rotem is expanding its hydrogen charging facility supply business. The company began developing hydrogen trams with Hyundai Motor Company last year and plans to produce a performance test platform vehicle by 2021.

A Hyundai Rotem official stated, "We will continue efforts to strengthen our technological capabilities and competitiveness related to hydrogen fuel cell trains and hydrogen charging infrastructure, aiming to respond to the global market and become a technology-leading company that creates customer value."

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