Hyundai Motor, Kia expand into India's booming EV market

By Baek Byung-yeul, The Korea Times - Hyundai Motor and Kia will use battery cells produced by a local Indian company for their future EVs sold in the West Asian country, a move to increase their presence in the blossoming Indian EV market, the carmakers said Monday.

The carmaking firms of Hyundai Motor Group said they signed a strategic cooperation agreement for local production of battery cells for India-specific EVs with India’s battery maker Exide Energy, at their R&D center in Hwaseong, Gyeonggi Province.

Exide Energy is a subsidiary of Exide, a leading battery company in the Indian lead-acid battery market, which has been active there for over 75 years. Exide Energy aims to start the pilot production of EV battery cells as early as the end of the year.

Initially, Exide Energy will develop and produce lithium iron phosphate (LFP) battery cells, which will be supplied to Hyundai Motor and Kia's production bases in India. The battery cells from Exide Energy will be equipped in their future India-specific EVs, marking the first EVs to use locally produced batteries.

The agreement covers the carmakers’ India-only EVs, diversifying battery sources and strengthening the responsiveness of India’s EV market, which is set to grow even larger in the near future, the Korean carmakers said.

"Hyundai Motor and Kia will pursue joint cooperation for the development and production of battery cells that will be used in Hyundai Motor and Kia’s EVs, expand the partnership for electric models including EVs and hybrid electric vehicles (HEVs) and secure price competitiveness," the carmakers said.

Hyundai Motor and Kia will cooperate with Exide Energy in all stages from development of batteries to mass production to ensure quality. Furthermore, the companies also plan to respond jointly to the Indian government's EV policies.

India, one of the top three car markets in the world, is considered one of the countries actively pursuing an electrification strategy, including offering incentives to companies starting EV production on its soil. The Indian government also announced plans to expand the share of EV sales to 30 percent of total vehicle sales by 2030.

Hyundai Motor and Kia expect that EVs equipped with domestically produced batteries will become a favorable purchasing factor for Indian consumers. Also, they expect the partnership will decrease the risks of geopolitical uncertainties spreading across the global economy.

“India is an important market where electrification is expected to expand in the future, and securing cost competitiveness through battery localization from the beginning is important,” said Yang Heui-won, president of Hyundai Motor and Kia’s R&D division. “It is very meaningful that the upcoming India-specific EVs to be mass-produced in India will be the first EVs using batteries produced locally by an Indian company."

Hyundai Motor previously announced plans to invest about 200 billion rupees ($2.4 billion) from 2023 over 10 years for the establishment of EV production facilities and infrastructure in India. In particular, by 2028, it aims to introduce six EV models and install a large number of EV charging stations.

Source: https://www.koreatimes.co.kr/www/tech/2024/04/129_372306.html 

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