Hyundai Mobis will build two new fuel cell plants in South Korea to accelerate the development of hydrogen economy and ensure broader global market dominance.
On October 7, 2021, Hyundai Mobis held a foundation laying ceremony for a new plant that will produce hydrogen fuel cell stacks in the industrial park of Qingluo international city, Incheon, South Korea. President moon Jae in and vice premier and Minister of economic and financial affairs Hong Nanji, Minister of trade, industry and energy, Wen Chengxu, mayor of Inchon Pu Nanchun, and heads of state energy companies, Chong Wa Dae officials and legislators attended the ceremony. Also attending the ceremony were Chung eunsun, chairman of Hyundai Motor Group, and representatives of SK, POSCO, Hanhua, GS, Hyosung, Hyundai Heavy Industry and E1. They are all member companies of the 15 party "hydrogen energy alliance" launched in September to promote the development of hydrogen energy industry.
Hyundai Mobis announced to invest a total of US $1.1 billion (1.3 trillion won) in the two plants. The new plant will start mass production in the second half of 2023. When fully operational, these facilities are expected to produce 100000 hydrogen fuel cells per year.
Hyundai Mobis has the world's largest fuel cell production capacity. With the increase of new production bases, it is expected to gain greater power in the global hydrogen transportation competition. Once completed, Hyundai Mobis will operate a total of three fuel cell plants. In 2018, the company became the first company in the world to establish a complete production system from fuel cell stack to other electronic components in Zhongzhou. Zhongzhou plant can produce about 23000 hydrogen battery systems every year.
Sung Hwan CHO, President and CEO of Hyundai Mobis, said: "despite the uncertainties including covid-19, we have decided to make this large-scale investment to ensure market leading competitiveness in the global fuel cell industry. We will continue to increase investment in facilities, strengthen R & D capacity, promote the development of hydrogen energy industry and expand ecosystem."
The Ulsan plant will be responsible for manufacturing a so-called fuel cell system that combines chimneys, air processors, thermal management systems and other components to be installed on the FCEV. The construction of Incheon and Ulsan plants will be completed in the second half of 2022; They will be commissioned before full operation in the second half of 2023. The two plants will be able to produce 100000 fuel cell systems per year, plus 23000 units per year produced by Hyundai Mobis's Zhongzhou plant in central Korea since 2018.
The three plants are expected to strengthen Hyundai's nationwide supply chain of fuel cell systems. This supply chain is considered to be a favorable condition for Hyundai Mobis to consolidate its position as the world's largest manufacturer of fuel cell systems, and also a favorable condition for Hyundai Motor Group to seek global initiative in its hydrogen based automotive business.
In a separate speech, moon Jae in his speech stressed that hydrogen is a key component of the government's efforts to promote future business development. He praised the business community for "actively investing and cooperating with each other". "The fuel cell system plant will play a key role in consolidating South Korea's hydrogen based mobility and manufacturing related components on a larger scale. The government will not hesitate to open up the path of the hydrogen economy because we believe in its potential and that South Korea can be proud to be a major player in the industry," he said
Hyundai Mobis said the project, including Incheon and Ulsan, will make cooperation between regional communities more active. It pointed out that Qingluo is the location of a hydrogen energy technology cluster being cultivated by Incheon municipal government, which means that the company can cooperate with researchers in the region. Ulsan is the location of five factories of Hyundai Motor, the flagship subsidiary of Hyundai Motor Group, with an annual output of 1.5 million vehicles. Hyundai also plans to use Incheon and Ulsan plants to develop a wider range of fuel cell stacks for other vehicles, such as excavators and forklifts.
With the completion of the new plant, Hyundai Mobis plans to expand its production lineup of applied fuel cell systems and diversify its hydrogen business. Most of the fuel cell systems produced by Hyundai Mobis are used in fuel cell electric vehicles, but the company is expected to expand its business to other fields, such as construction machinery and logistics equipment.
Last year, Hyundai Mobis developed a fuel cell power pack for hydrogen forklifts, making it possible to enter the field of construction machinery. The hydrogen power pack used by forklifts is a generator that generates electricity by combining fuel cell stacks, hydrogen tanks and cooling devices.
Now, the company is developing power packs for hydrogen powered excavators and plans to expand fuel cell systems for small air mobile.
