Hyundai Steel Accelerates Aggressive Expansion into High-Performance Materials Market for Electric Vehicles

World's First Mass Production of 1.8GPa Premium Hot Stamping Steel
Global Strategy with High-Performance Materials for the Electric Vehicle Era

[Asia Economy Reporter Kiho Sung] Hyundai Steel is targeting the global market with high-performance materials in the era of electric vehicles. The company aims to secure future growth engines through core technology development.

According to industry sources on the 24th, Hyundai Steel recently succeeded in the world's first mass production of 1.8GPa premium hot-stamping steel in collaboration with Hyundai·Kia Namyang Research Center's Basic Materials Research Center.

This product is being supplied as a new steel grade for Hyundai Motor's next-generation electric vehicles, the Genesis Electrified G80 and the new G90. Initial supply to Hyundai Motor began last year, and from this year, 145,000 sheets will be supplied annually. This quantity is enough for about 30,000 electric vehicles.

The 1.8GPa ultra-high-strength hot-stamping steel not only reduces vehicle weight but also ensures passenger safety during automobile collisions. It improves tensile strength by 20% compared to the existing 1.5GPa hot-stamping steel and enables approximately 10% weight reduction in parts manufacturing.

Currently, demand for high-strength lightweight materials applied to eco-friendly vehicles is rapidly increasing. As battery weight and the proportion of electronic components increase, vehicle weight is rising, making vehicle lightweighting a top priority to secure driving range.

Hyundai Motor and Kia are gradually increasing the application rate of hot-stamping parts to achieve lightweighting of eco-friendly vehicles. In fact, about 15% of hot-stamping steel is applied to internal combustion engine vehicles, but this has been raised to 20% for electric vehicles.

Along with this, Hyundai Steel has developed alloy steel for reduction gear used in electric vehicles and the corresponding manufacturing technology, obtaining the New Excellent Technology (NET) certification from the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy.

The alloy steel developed by Hyundai Steel features 48% improved thermal deformation compared to the steel grades used in existing reduction gear parts, reducing noise generated during gear operation and thereby improving driving quietness.

Additionally, by securing high-temperature stability, the durability of reduction gears has been increased by about twice compared to existing materials. This technology will be applied to the high-performance electric vehicle EV6 GT launching this year, with plans to continuously expand to other models.

A Hyundai Steel official said, "The high-performance alloy steel for reduction gears developed this time has superior thermal deformation and durability compared to existing steel grades," adding, "By developing proprietary steel grades for reduction gear materials and obtaining the New Excellent Technology certification, we have proven excellent technological capabilities and expect to greatly contribute to securing competitiveness in the electric vehicle parts market."

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