Hyundai: EV Unveiling, EV Sales, and EV Battery Research – CleanTechnica

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Hyundai is joining its cousin Kia in a series of EV highlights this week. None of these are blowing the industry out of the water, but it’s good to see a company highlighting its EV progress in a year when that’s out of vogue, and jumping into new EV adventures.

Hyundai EV Sales — Good or Bad?

First of all, Hyundai highlights that it “sold around 16,500 electric vehicles (EVs) worldwide in November.” To be honest, I wouldn’t really be boasting about that one. That seems too low and weak for a company of Hyundai’s size. However, if Hyundai’s happy to make some progress and focus more on EVs, I guess we should take it. And 16,500 EVs a month would be about 200,000 a year, which is becoming a significant number … even if it’s still far less than the total number of automobiles Hyundai sells in a month. I’d like to see that 16,500 figure doubled in a year. We’ll keep an eye on it.

Unique Hyundai IONIQ 9

The Hyundai IONIQ 9 is Hyundai’s hot new electric vehicle, and it truly is a special one. I wrote about its unveiling two weeks ago (see link), but Hyundai just wrote about its “World Premiere event” at Goldstein House, “an icon of mid-century modern architecture.” Clearly, Hyundai wants to highlight the IONIQ 9’s innovative design, and this is one way of doing so. In fact, Hyundai says directly that choosing that location was “reflecting Hyundai Motor’s commitment to innovation and EV leadership through its IONIQ vehicle lineup.” Furthermore, “The event featured a Terrace Talk program highlighting IONIQ 9’s design and spatial innovations.” Okay, this is getting old fast…. Nonetheless, it’s a cool property and it’s better that Hyundai try to get millions of eyeballs on the IONIQ 9 than not try to do so.

“Hyundai Motor has cemented its position in the U.S. as a top-three EV sales leader, driven by demand for its award-winning IONIQ 5 and IONIQ 6.” So we’re celebrating being in 3rd place now? Well, I guess it’s a bronze medal.

You can learn more about the IONIQ 9 and its launch event here. A lot of the writing is about how big and spacious the vehicle is.

Hyundai and Indian Institutes of Technology (IITs)

Lastly, Hyundai has partnered with the Indian Institutes of Technology (IITs) in order to advance battery research and development. Hyundai Motor Group plans to invest about $7 million in the next five years “to jointly conduct battery and electrification-related research with the IIT universities.”

“We are delighted to join forces with IITs, a group of leading engineering universities renowned for its exceptional education and research,” said Naksup Sung, Head of Hyundai Motor Group Research and Development (R&D) Planning & Coordination Center. “We believe that Hyundai CoE will cultivate a strong network of talented individuals from India’s academic landscape, driving innovation and future growth.”

The broader good news here is that it portends Hyundai doing more in India to electrify transport. “The Group plans to contribute to the establishment of an electric vehicle (EV) ecosystem in India. This will be done in conjunction with various policies for expanding EV distribution, implemented by the Indian government. The collaboration will involve the Centre for Automotive Research and Tribology (CART), the only EV-related research institute in India, located within IIT Delhi,” the company writes.

“The Hyundai CoE will not only conduct joint research on academic-industrial cooperation tasks but also facilitate technical and human exchanges between battery and electrification experts from Korea and India. This will involve technical exchange meetings, special IIT lectures by Group battery and electrification experts, and operation of Korean visit training programs.” Progress marches on.