Hyundai Rotem Establishes Hydrogen Reformer Plant in Uiwang... "Production Induction Effect of 50 Billion Won"

Partial Construction of 600-Pyeong Area within Wang Research Institute
Annual Hydrogen Production of 4,700 Tons... Future Expansion Planned

Aerial View of Hyundai Rotem Uiwang Hydrogen Reformer Factory Interior

[Asia Economy Reporter Dongwoo Lee] Hyundai Rotem is set to accelerate its hydrogen refueling equipment supply business by establishing a hydrogen reformer factory.

On the 28th, Hyundai Rotem announced that it will build a hydrogen reformer factory on the site of its Uiwang Research Center located in Uiwang, Gyeonggi Province. A hydrogen reformer is a device that extracts hydrogen from natural gas and is a key component in building hydrogen refueling infrastructure.

The hydrogen reformer factory will be constructed as a single-story building by remodeling part of the existing 2,000㎡ (approximately 600 pyeong) electric components factory within Hyundai Rotem’s Uiwang Research Center. With this, the company has accelerated its business by establishing the hydrogen reformer factory just one month after announcing its entry into the hydrogen refueling equipment supply business last month.

The newly constructed factory will have an annual production capacity of 20 hydrogen reformers. The amount of hydrogen produced from 20 hydrogen reformers is approximately 4,700 tons per year, which is enough to fully fuel about 850,000 hydrogen vehicles (based on Nexo). The factory is scheduled to begin full-scale operations in October, and Hyundai Rotem plans to expand the factory depending on future hydrogen reformer orders.

Hyundai Rotem’s strategy to successfully enter the early hydrogen refueling infrastructure market is to maximize synergy between departments and concentrate company-wide capabilities by placing production facilities and personnel at the Uiwang Research Center, where research staff are located.

Additionally, through collaboration with Hyundai Motor Group’s research center located in Uiwang, the company plans to continuously promote research and development related to hydrogen refueling infrastructure and mobility, while expanding marketing with prompt responses to local governments and customers.

Hyundai Rotem expects that once full-scale hydrogen reformer production begins, it will create new jobs and generate an annual production inducement effect of over 50 billion KRW. Furthermore, cooperation with hydrogen reformer parts manufacturers near the metropolitan area is expected to foster the creation of a hydrogen refueling infrastructure manufacturing ecosystem.

The domestic hydrogen refueling infrastructure market size is expected to continue growing. In January last year, the government announced the ‘Hydrogen Economy Activation Roadmap,’ which includes goals such as accumulating 2.9 million hydrogen electric vehicles and establishing 1,200 hydrogen refueling stations by 2040, and announced plans to build 100 new hydrogen refueling stations nationwide by 2020, emphasizing the promotion of the hydrogen industry.

On the 16th, the government announced the Green New Deal policy, planning to invest 20.3 trillion KRW by 2025 to supply 200,000 hydrogen vehicles, install 450 hydrogen refueling stations, and simultaneously build hydrogen production bases that produce hydrogen and supply it to refueling stations.

A Hyundai Rotem official said, “With the transition to a hydrogen economy society, hydrogen consumption is expected to increase exponentially, and building hydrogen refueling infrastructure to meet demand is essential. In line with the government’s Green New Deal policy, we will play a pioneering role in revitalizing the domestic hydrogen economy by supplying hydrogen refueling stations and hydrogen trams.”

Meanwhile, Hyundai Rotem has been developing hydrogen electric trams with Hyundai Motor since last year and plans to produce a performance test platform vehicle by 2021. The global demand scale for hydrogen electric trains is about 600 billion KRW, and the market is expected to gradually expand with the growth of the hydrogen electric train market.

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