Hyundai Motor Group has signed a memorandum of understanding with SK On to secure a supply of EV batteries in North America. The signing took place at the SK Group’s Korean headquarters and was participated by Heung-soo Kim, the Hyundai Motor Group’s Executive VP and Head of Corporate Future Growth Planning Division & EV Division, and Young-chan Choi, the Chief Administrative Officer of SK On.
Activities under the agreement will begin in 2025, when both parties will cooperate to provide SK On batteries to the Group’s U.S. plants for EV production – including the Hyundai Motor Alabama Plant (HMMA), Kia Georgia Plant (KaGA), and Hyundai Motor Group New Plant (HMGMA).
The agreement builds on SK On’s existing relationship with the Hyundai Motor Group, through which it supplies batteries for the OEM’s Ioniq 5 and Ioniq 6 EVs, as well as the Kia EV6. Further details on how the firms will cooperate in the future, through the MOU, will be revealed at a later stage.
Through its cooperation, Hyundai and SK On are also looking to respond to and support the US Inflation Reduction Act. Here, the companies expect to meet the act’s restrictions that lead to the production and processing of key minerals for EV batteries, and the subsequent assembly of the EVs themselves. To secure lithium, a key material for EV battery cell production, SK On recently signed purchase contracts with resource development companies in countries that have signed FTAs with the U.S., including Australia and Chile, that will work similarly to help them meet the act’s requirements.
For Hyundai, the MOU will help accelerate its electrification efforts – such as its global target to sell 3.2 million EVs annually before the end of the decade, and its plans to establish a global EV production network to secure a stable EV supply worldwide.
Hyundai Motor Group is accelerating electrification efforts with the global target to sell 3.23 million full electric vehicles annually by 2030. To realize this goal, the Group plans to establish a global EV production network that will ensure a stable supply of EVs around the globe.