Hyundai Mobis to build electric drives in Slovakia
The supplier, which is part of the Hyundai Motor Group, wants to produce 300,000 power-electric systems for the European market per year there. Hyundai Mobis already has a plant in Slovakia, located in Zilina, right next to the Kia vehicle plant there. Nováky is around an hour and a half’s drive south of Zilina.
Hyundai Mobis defines ‘power-electric systems’ as ready-to-install drive units. In addition to the electric motor itself, these consist of the reduction gearbox and the power electronics – the inverters that convert the direct current from the battery precisely and as efficiently as possible into alternating current for the electric motors.
As Business Korea writes, Hyundai Mobis plans to invest 350 billion won, the equivalent of around 236 million euros, in the construction of the plant in Nováky – 250 billion won will be earmarked specifically for drive production.
Part of the supply chain has also already been finalised: this January, Hyundai ordered motor cores (consisting of stator and rotor) from the South Korean steel company Posco. Almost half of these will be delivered to a Hyundai Mobis plant in Slovakia starting in 2025 and installed in finished drive units. In January, we still assumed that this would be the factory in Zilina – but Hyundai Mobis is actually building the new plant in Nováky for drive production.
However, the supplier is also investing in Zilina with a view to electric mobility: a new assembly plant for brake systems for electric cars and airbags is to be built on the Zilina site for the equivalent of 64 million euros (originally 95 billion won). Kia is not yet building electric cars in Zilina, but there have been rumours about a unique European version of the Kia EV4, which will also be built in Europe.
0 Comments