TOKYO – Hyundai Motor Group, just months after announcing it will build a dedicated electric vehicle plant and battery manufacturing factory in Georgia, said it has agreed with South Korean battery maker SK On Co. to supply power packs to its U.S.-built EVs.
The deal, announced Tuesday, will “secure supply of EV batteries in North America” as the carmaker embarks on a plan to sell 3.23 million a year EVs globally by 2030.
The companies said deliveries would begin after 2025. But they did not say where the new batteries would be produced or detail what volume would be delivered.
“Further details on the cooperation will be revealed at a later stage,” they said.
Hyundai Motor Group — No. 2 in the U.S. EV market through September — said in May it will plow $5.5 billion into its first dedicated EV factory in the world in Ellabell, Ga.
Heung-soo Kim, Hyundai Motor Group executive vice president, said the memorandum of understanding will help the automaker meet U.S. emissions regulations while building sales.
“We will be able to further accelerate our efforts to secure EV leadership in the North American market,” Kim said. “We expect the stable supply of EV batteries from SK On will also enable us to contribute to emissions reduction and meet climate goals in the market.”
The Hyundai group — maker of the Hyundai, Kia and Genesis brands — has pledged $16 billion globally through 2030 for EVs. Kia Corp. has earmarked about half of its five-year, $22 billion investment budget to future projects, such as EVs.
The group targets annual sales of 3.23 million EVs globally by 2030. The Hyundai and Genesis brands are developing 17 EV models globally by then; Kia plans 14 EVs by 2027.
Commerical production at the Georgia EV assembly plant is scheduled to start in the first half of 2025. The factory will create 8,100 jobs and have the capacity to crank out 300,000 EVs annually.
But the carmaker says that could increase to 500,000, depending on demand.
In May, Hyundai declined to identify the factory’s battery supplier, but Hyundai and Kia use SK Innovation batteries in some of their vehicles. And South Korea’s SK Innovation – the parent company of SK On – already operates a $2.5 billion battery manufacturing plant in north Georgia.
The new auto plant will build up to six EV nameplates for the Hyundai, Kia and Genesis brands.