[단독] Samsung SDI’s first battery supply to Hyundai Motor Company

It is known that Samsung SDI, along with SK Innovation, was selected as the final candidate for the third battery supplier for Hyundai Motor’s electric vehicle (EV) platform’E-GMP’. The total supply is about 25 trillion won. When the contract is signed, it is the first case that Samsung Group and Hyundai Motor Group will cooperate in the future EV business.

According to the automaker industry on the 3rd, Hyundai Motor Company will confirm its third E-GMP battery supplier at the beginning of this month. Hyundai Motor Company has been selecting suppliers since the end of September last year. Currently, Samsung SDI and SK Innovation have been nominated for the finalists, and it is known that the two companies are highly likely to supply the two companies in separate quantities.

An industry insider said, “Hyundai Motors is thinking about the final candidate, so the results may be different.” It is evaluated as high, and the two companies are likely to win a contract together,” he said. In this regard, there are also observations that LG Energy Solutions can also win some or a significant amount.

The 3rd E-GMP battery to be ordered by Hyundai will be installed in the large sports utility vehicle (SUV)’Ioniq 7’to be released in 2023 as early as 2023. E-GMP is the first EV platform developed by Hyundai Motor Group. Based on E-GMP, Hyundai Motor Company will successively release EVs such as’Ioniq 5 (mid-size SUV)’ this year and’Ioniq 6 (sports sedan)’ next year.

Hyundai Motor Company previously selected SK Innovation as the primary E-GMP battery supplier for Ioniq 5. Next, LG Energy Solutions and CATL in China were selected as secondary battery companies for Ioniq 6. The first supply is estimated at 10 trillion won and the second is 16 trillion won. The third is estimated at around 25 trillion won.

If Samsung SDI wins the 3rd E-GMP volume, it will leave a milestone in its first cooperation with Samsung Group and Hyundai Motor Group’s automobile business companies. The two groups have been holding back each other since Samsung started Samsung Motors (now Renault Samsung Motors) in 1995 and entered the finished car business. Samsung SDI has never supplied batteries to Hyundai and Kia.

Recently, Samsung Electronics Vice Chairman Lee Jae-yong and Hyundai Motor Group Chairman Eui-sun Eui-seon, the third-generation owners of the two major groups, received attention from the business community while showing the possibility of cooperation. Vice-Chairman Lee and Chairman Chung met at Samsung SDI’s Cheonan plant in May last year, and met again at Hyundai Motor Group’s Namyang Research Center in July.

Following the battery, Samsung and Hyundai Motor Group may expand the scope of cooperation in the field of automotive electronic equipment parts including semiconductors. In fact, it is reported that Samsung Electronics and Hyundai Motor Group are discussing cooperation to develop semiconductors to be installed in next-generation autonomous vehicles.

If Samsung and Hyundai Motor Group, as well as SK and LG Group, form the K-Future Car Alliance, synergy is expected to be great. According to the EV Volumes, Hyundai and Kia sold 170,000 EVs, Plug-in Hybrids (PHEV) and Hybrid Vehicles (HEVs) from January to November of last year, leading the world’s fourth EVs connecting Tesla, Volkswagen, Renault, Nissan, and Mitsubishi alliances. Got up as a company.

In addition, according to SNE Research, in the global EV battery market during the same period last year, LG Energy Solution ranked second with 22.6% market share, and Samsung SDI and SK Innovation ranked fourth and fifth with 5.8% and 5.5%, respectively.

[원호섭 기자 / 이종혁 기자]
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