(from left) Minister Moon Sung-wook of the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy, Hyundai Motor Group Chairman Chung Eui-sun, President Moon Jae-in, Hyundai Mobis President Cho Sung-hwan and Chairman Song Young-kil of the Democratic Party of Korea clap as they attended a ground-breaking ceremony for building Hyundai Mobis’ fuel cell plant in Cheongna International City in Incheon on Oct. 6. (Photo on the courtesy of the website of Cheong Wa Dae)

Hyundai Motor ranks 1st in the global fuel cell vehicle market as its fuel cell vehicle Nexo has already outpaced Toyota’s counterpart, Mirai. Hyundai Motor also produces Xcient Fuel Cell trucks. The core parts of these electric vehicles are fuel cells.

Hyundai Motor Group Chairman Chung Eui-sun marked one year in office on Oct. 14.

Chairman Chung has attached priority to hydrogen-powered vehicles. As part of his efforts to bet big on the hydrogen-power vehicle market, Hyundai Motor held a groundbreaking ceremony to build Hyundai Mobis’ fuel cell plant in Cheongna International City in Incheon on Oct. 6.

Hyundai Mobis is investing 1.3 trillion won in the project. Chairman Chung attended the event, along with other members of the Korea H2 Business Summit, the Korean version of the Hydrogen Council, a global CEO-led initiative of 92 leading energy, transport, industry and investment companies.

They included SK Group Chairman Chey Tai-won, POSCO Group Choi Jeong-woo, Lotte Group Chmn. Shin Dong-bin and Hyosung Group Vice Chairman Cho Hyun-sang.

Hyundai Motor has strengthened its presence in the hydrogen-powered vehicle market by releasing new Nexo models, exporting Xcient Fuel Cell trucks and launching a project to build its first overseas hydrogen fuel cell plant in Guangzhou, China.

Of late, Hyundai Motor declared a vision to make hydrogen a part of the general public’s lives by 2040.

On the sidelines of the IAA Mobility 2021 held in Munch in September, Chung unveiled the vision on the early realization of carbon neutrality by capitalizing on the company’s leading hydrogen technology.

Hyundai Motor decided to release new commercial EV and hydrogen vehicles, and all commercial vehicles will adopt a hydrogen fuel cell system starting from 2028.

Hyundai Motor is the first automaker in the world to allot at least one hydrogen fuel cell model or more for each commercial vehicle brand.

 
One of Hyundai Motor Group’s strengths in the hydrogen fuel cell vehicle sectors is developing fuel cell systems, the core parts of hydrogen-powered vehicles, on its own.

Chairman Chung bet big on the hydrogen-powered vehicle market by building new hydrogen fuel cell plants in Incheon and Ulsan, on top of the existing plant in Chungju, Chungcheongbuk-do.

At a ceremony to sign the launch of the Korea H2 Business Summit in March, Chairman Chung said, “Hydrogen is used not only as an energy source, but also as an energy storage, so it will serve as a kind of energy currency in an era of carbon neutrality.”

In a related development, the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy (MOTIE) unveiled a vision of raising production of hydrogen to 1 million tons by 2030 and 5 million tons by 2050 by supporting verification.

The vision calls for nurturing 30 world-class hydrogen companies and creating 50,000 jobs.

Chmn. Chung Also Concentrates on Big Picture of UAM and Robots

Chairman Chung has also declared urban air mobility (UAM) and robots as future new businesses.

Chung has been responsible for making preparations for the emerging UAM business, and making inroads into the robotics business. He spearheaded a bid to acquire Boston Dynamics, a U.S. robot company, for 1 trillion won.

For this, Hyundai Motor had inaugurated an in-house robotics team in 2018 to nurture robots as a new business.

Under the stewardship of Chairman Chung, three years in office, including two years as senior executive vice chairman, Hyundai Motor Group has been undergoing tremendous changes.

He has spearheaded the transformation of the company’s business portfolio and corporate culture.

A group official said Chairman Chung reviewed future businesses. Chung, then senior executive vice chairman, once revealed a blueprint of making the portion of automobile, UAM and robotics sectors 50 percent, 30 percent and 20 percent of the company, respectively.

As soon as Chung took office as chairman, he accelerated efforts to make inroads into the UAM business. He hired Senior Executive Vice President Shin Jae-won, the former No. 2 man of the U.S. National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), and upgraded the UAM headquarters into the UAM Business.

Hyundai Motor has been collaborating with governments and cities around the world to commercialize logistics UAM by 2026 and passenger UAM by 2028.

Hyundai Motor Group has daunting tasks to be tackled urgently down the road to secure hegemony in the global future car market: securing core technologies on its own ranging from batteries to semiconductors, self-driving and software.