Hyundai Wants to Spend Billions to Become an Electric Car Powerhouse

It wasn’t two days ago when we were talking about Hyundai being a real force in EVs, and, what do you know, on Wednesday Hyundai and Kia announced a new plan to spend $16.5 billion on EV development in what is an EV arms race among automakers.

From Bloomberg:

Hyundai Motor Co. and its affiliate Kia plan to invest 21 trillion won ($16.5 billion) to boost the production of electric vehicles in South Korea, including the establishment of new factory that would ultimately have the capacity to make around 150,000 cleaner cars a year.

Under the plan, the two automakers aim to increase annual EV production in [South Korea] to 1.44 million units by 2030 from an expected 350,000 units this year, Hyundai said in a statement Wednesday. That forecast 1.44 million output would account for about 45% of Hyundai and Kia’s planned global EV production volume by then.

The new factory for purpose-built vehicles will be located within its existing Hwaseong manufacturing site, as said in a separate statement. Construction is expected to begin in the first half of 2023, with commercial production starting in the second half of 2025.