EVs are now proliferating globally, with legacy OEMs and new startups rolling out innovative solutions and contributing to ever-evolving landscapes for EVs and EV technologies. Adoption rates for these vehicles are also increasing, largely in response to the introduction of government incentives designed to both encourage consumers to purchase EVs, and OEMs to produce them, while ultimately supporting the broader sustainability targets set by these governments. While these incentives have encouraged OEMs to accelerate their EV rollouts and expand their EV line-ups, some automakers are now looking beyond the EV ecosystem and investigating, investing in, and experimenting with new e-mobility technologies.
However, as they continue to develop and occur more rapidly, tracking these activities, while analyzing each of them and extracting their impacts on the industry, can be daunting. That’s why, in this Insight, we will be breaking down Hyundai’s recent 2024 Investor Day – where the OEM shared a number of new announcements, targets, and reveals related to their EVs and e-mobility technologies. While highlighting some of the event’s most interesting takeaways, we will also be closely analyzing their implications on the EV ecosystem, the growing landscape of new technologies, and the automotive industry overall.
Hyundai & Electric Vehicles
At its 2024 Investor Day, ‘EREVs’ were a key focal point of Hyundai’s EV-related announcements. Standing for ‘Extended Range Electrified Vehicles’, and also known as ‘REEVs’, these vehicles are designed to offer an enhanced driving range that allows users to travel farther on a single charge. Hyundai is not the first OEM to work this concept into its EV line-up (with BMW’s i3 and the Chevy Volt having both been positioned as EREVs) although when examining its benefits, it is easy to see why Hyundai sees promise in the technology.
An EREV platform, for example, allows the automaker to produce both BEV and EREV versions with very little modification to the rest of the vehicle (you can think of an EREV as a BEV with a generator bolted to it). As such, the acceleration and torque response of an EREV is similar to that offered in a BEV. For customers, EREVs can offer a stepping-stone that reduces concerns about making the jump from a traditional internal combustion engine (ICE) car straight to a fully-electric vehicle. For Hyundai, working EREVs into its line-up allows it to sell electrified vehicles with smaller batteries (in or around the 30-kWh range, for example) that may still allow fully-electric driving for most use cases, while also providing backup power when needed. This backup power could prove particularly beneficial to customers in colder climates and remote areas, where being stranded could be life-threatening.
While EREVs may seem like they’re the same as PHEVs (Plug-In Hybrid EV), there are some distinct differences. For instance, PHEVs typically allow pure electric driving and also allow the engine to connect directly to the wheels when additional power is needed, or when the battery charge is too low. This can affect the smoothness of the drive as the engine couples or decouples, and throttle response may change when the battery is depleted. EREVs do not suffer from these issues as the engine is never directly connected to the wheels, instead operating as a generator to power the motors entirely electrically.
However, while EREVs have some benefits over PHEVs, there are still compromises compared to BEVs (Battery EV). Since an EREV has an internal combustion engine, they will have some amount of engine noise and vibration that would not exist in a BEV. Here, customers may also find it odd to hear the engine speed not changing linearly with the vehicle’s speed. At the same time, in accommodating this engine, EREVs will suffer from weight and volume compromises and, much like PHEVs, and have more components than either their ICE or BEV counterparts – increasing costs and complexity.
Hyundai & E-mobility
Beyond EREVs, Hyundai also made a big push with BEVs for its Investor Day – with plans to launch 21 new BEV models by 2030. Here, it forecasted its 2030 market penetration at 46% for the US and 62% in Europe, showing a positive, yet realistic view of the future. The OEM is similarly pushing other types of electrified vehicles too – most notably through its plan to quadruple its hybrid vehicle sales in the USA and Canada by 2028, meaning that nearly all Hyundai vehicles sold would be electrified.
This presentation extended to hydrogen, which Hyundai is committing to in a number of ways both inside and outside of automotive. It is continuing to invest heavily in hydrogen, but with a focus on heavy trucks, contrasting with many of the hydrogen investments made by other automakers, who tend to focus on hydrogen-based passenger vehicles. One of the first applications of Hyundai’s hydrogen technology will be a zero-carbon transportation system for its new Metaplant facility in Georgia. This system represents just one part of a broader hydrogen portfolio that will also include end-to-end hydrogen production and utilization, and aim to cover a broad range of energy capabilities. Through it, Hyundai is looking to position itself as a leader in decarbonized energy, not just in vehicles, but the energy sector overall. Much like Toyota’s Woven City, Hyundai envisions a hydrogen-powered future where its energy services are the backbone of society. So far, these big bets on hydrogen have yet to pay off, due to inefficiencies in hydrogen production and consumption. However, a technological breakthrough could be a game changer for Hyundai given its large lead in the hydrogen business.
Underpinning Hyundai’s EV and e-mobility announcements were a series of battery-related announcements. The OEM will, for example, invest a portion of its 50.8 trillion won ($38 billion / €34.2 billion / £28.9 billion) investment in Capital Expenditure into charging infrastructure. While it did not provide further details on this investment, it may be entirely through its existing IONNA partnership (alongside BMW, General Motors, Honda, Mercedes-Benz, Kia and Stellantis), or through other ventures. With battery supply relationships already secured in North America, Hyundai revealed that the Georgia Metaplant will be tasked with producing hybrids, EREVs, and BEVs – which should position Hyundai’s EVs to take advantage of the US IRA’s $7500 tax credit. This is, however, contingent on Hyundai’s battery suppliers being able to secure critical minerals from approved countries (i.e. not China or Russia). To ensure more control of and access to these minerals, Hyundai will establish a dedicated battery JV, a strategy being adopted by most OEMs to prevent supply disruptions and reduce price volatility.
Next Steps
As shown through this Insight, Hyundai is recognizing the importance of advanced EV and emerging e-mobility technologies – aiming not only to make EVs more accessible by adding EREVs to its lineup, but showing a true commitment to alternative energy technologies through its plans to greatly expand hybrid sales in the North American region and its announcement of a full hydrogen portfolio covering both automotive and energy use cases.
Our experts continuously monitor and deeply analyze the evolution of innovation e-mobility technologies, while highlighting the most important takeaways from industry events (like Hyundai’s Investor Day), and analyzing the industry’s most impactful trends, activities, and developments on a quarterly basis. Together these reports help you stay ahead of the curve not only on the topics covered in this Insight, but also the full spectrum of safe, secure, sustainable, and seamless mobility developments occurring across the automotive industry.
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