Hyundai Motor Company has announced a new EV plant at its complex in Ulsan that will act as a hub for its future mobility production practices. It will, likewise, operate as a human-centered facility offering a manufacturing platform designed to deliver an optimal working environment for employees. The EV-dedicated facility will be Hyundai Motor’s first new plant in Korea in 29 years, following the opening of its Asan plant in 1996.
The Ulsan plant will form part of a larger 548,000m2 site that itself will be capable of producing an estimated 200,000 EVs per year. Hyundai will invest approximately $1.53 billion (KRW 2 trillion) in the project, with full-scale construction set to begin in Q4 2023 and completed in 2025, with vehicle mass production expected to commence in Q1 2026. The corporation confirmed that the first model to be produced at the plant will be an electric SUV from its luxury brand, Genesis.
At the plant, Hyundai will look to apply a manufacturing platform developed at the Hyundai Motor Group Innovation Center in Singapore (HMGICS) in order to future-proof its new facility while prioritizing employee safety, convenience and efficiency. For the Ulsan plant, this platform includes demand-driven, AI-based intelligent control systems; eco-friendly, low-carbon construction methods that will help the corporation achieve carbon neutrality and RE100 certification (100 percent renewable energy use); and human-friendly facilities that enable safe and efficient working.
Hyundai Motor will further leverage the platform to build a smart logistics system at the new EV plant, which will include automated parts logistics. Here, it will introduce a flexible production system that will help diversify vehicle models, respond to global market changes, and automate assembly facilities to improve productivity and quality.
