Hyundai Motor Company has announced a new electric vehicle (EV) plant at its complex in Ulsan. A press release from the company stated that the EV-dedicated plant will lay the foundation for future growth in the era of electrification.
The new EV plant in Ulsan builds on the vision of Hyundai Motor’s Founding Chairman, Ju-yung Chung, who believed the car industry would become the cornerstone of the Korean economy and underpin the country’s industrial development.
Hyundai Motor’s new EV-dedicated plant in Ulsan will form part of a 548,000 m2 site with a capacity to produce 200,000 EVs per year. Approximately KRW2 trillion ($1.53 billion) will be invested in the project, with full-scale construction set to begin in the fourth quarter of this year. The construction is scheduled to be completed in 2025, and vehicle mass production will commence in the first quarter of 2026. An electric SUV from Hyundai Motor Group luxury brand, Genesis, will be the first model to be produced at the new plant.
The dedicated EV plant in Ulsan will be located on the site of Hyundai Motor’s former proving ground, where the company looked to the future and shaped innovation.
The proving ground was first utilised in the 1980s, when the company actively sought to expand into overseas markets, developing vehicles that could withstand the diverse terrains and harsh climates around the world.
Human Centred Facility
The new EV-dedicated plant will be a human-centred facility with an innovative manufacturing platform that delivers an optimal working environment for employees. The new plant will also be the hub for Hyundai Motor’s mobility production in the era of electrification. Hyundai Motor’s Ulsan Plant complex will become a base of future mobility production with the new plant.
At the new plant, Hyundai Motor will actively advance its 56-year brand heritage, automotive business know-how and technological capabilities and will continue to innovate for the benefit of humanity in the era of vehicle electrification based on people-centred humanism.
In line with the humanistic objectives of its Founding Chairman, Hyundai Motor will continue to advance its vision for mobility.
The EV-dedicated facility will be Hyundai Motor’s first new plant in Korea in 29 years, following the opening of the Asan plant in 1996. It will be equipped with innovative production facilities, create an optimal working environment for employees and a space for coexistence with nature, and present itself as a people-centred plant that will lead the next 50 years.
Innovative Technologies
Hyundai Motor plans to apply an innovative manufacturing platform developed by the Hyundai Motor Group Innovation Centre in Singapore (HMGICS) at its dedicated EV plant in Ulsan to future-proof the facility and prioritise employee safety, convenience and efficiency.
HMGICS’ manufacturing innovation platform includes demand-driven, AI-based intelligent control systems; eco-friendly, low-carbon construction methods to achieve carbon neutrality and RE100 certification (100% renewable energy use); and human-friendly facilities that enable safe, efficient working.
Hyundai Motor will use this to build a smart logistics system, including automated parts logistics, at the new EV plant. It will introduce a flexible production system to diversify vehicle models, respond to global market changes and automate assembly facilities to improve productivity and quality.
The company plans to improve the working environment by creating a safer, more accurate and efficient workplace with innovative technologies, such as robotics, smart logistics systems and AI. A nature-friendly space design, breaking away from the closed image that comes to mind when thinking of a conventional plant, will help realise the next-generation manufacturing philosophy as a cradle of eco-friendly future mobility production.
The new EV-dedicated plant will feature a nature-friendly design to reduce worker fatigue and encourage interaction with each other, a departure from the dreary factory environment of heavy machinery.
Natural light will be maximised inside the factory so that workers can feel the sun’s warmth, and the group lounge, which will be used as a rest and office space, will be organised in an open format so that people can gather naturally.
In addition, the plant’s Central Park, which brings the nature of Ulsan into the facility, is expected to become a rest area and a hub connecting each building. Besides, the solar power panels and upcycled concrete panels will be applied to the building façade, making it a sustainable plant that minimises carbon emissions.
Euisun Chung, Executive Chair of Hyundai Motor Group, said that the new EV-dedicated plant in Ulsan is the beginning of a promising future for the next 50 years and the era of electrification.
