The 3rd Hydrogen Economic Committee… POSCO, Hanwha, and Hyosung also invested
Eui-sun Eui-sun and Tae-won Choi discuss cooperation such as building a hydrogen vehicle charging infrastructure
SK builds the world’s largest clean hydrogen base… Produced 280,000 tons after 5 years
On the 2nd, Hyundai Motor Group and SK Group signed a business agreement with Incheon City and Incheon Seo-gu Office to establish the foundation for hydrogen business. From left, Lee Jae-hyun, head of Incheon Seo-gu Office, Incheon Mayor Park Nam-chun, Hyundai Motor Group Chairman Eui-sun Chung, Prime Minister Jeong Se-gyun, SK Group Chairman Choi Tae-won, Hyundai Motor Company President Gong Young-woon, and SK E&S President Hyung-wook Choo. Reporter Eun-gu Kang [email protected]
Hyundai Motor Group and SK Group form a’hydrogen alliance’. It is to accelerate the transition point of a hydrogen society by joining forces to build a hydrogen ecosystem. Hyundai Motor Group Chairman Eui-sun Eui-sun and SK Group Chairman Choi Tae-won met on the 2nd and agreed to cooperate from various angles in hydrogen related projects.
○SK to convert 1,500 vehicles into hydrogen cars
On this day, Hyundai Motor Group and SK Group signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) that includes expanding the supply of hydrogen electric vehicles and building additional charging infrastructure. The two groups decided to convert all 1,500 vehicles operated by SK Group’s business sites into hydrogen electric vehicles. Hyundai Motor Company plans to provide hydrogen cargo trucks from 2022 and hydrogen tractors to SK Group from 2024.
The two groups will also cooperate to build the infrastructure for charging hydrogen electric vehicles and high-speed electric vehicles. By the end of next year, SK will install one hydrogen charging station for commercial vehicles at logistics bases in Incheon and Ulsan. The two companies are also planning to discuss how to install hydrogen chargers and fast chargers for electric vehicles at SK gas stations nationwide. The two companies also discussed ways to supply hydrogen produced by SK to Hyundai Motor Company.
Chairman Chung said, “The goal is to build a healthy hydrogen ecosystem in which hydrogen production, distribution, and utilization are organically carried out in cooperation with SK Group. Chairman Choi emphasized, “I will contribute to realizing carbon neutrality through the creation of a hydrogen ecosystem.”
Five groups, including Hyundai Motor Company and SK, announced that they will invest 43 trillion won by 2030. Hyundai Motors invests 1.1 trillion won in development of hydrogen cars and hydrogen fuel cells, and SK invests 18 trillion won in fuel cell power plants and liquefied hydrogen production facilities. POSCO (10 trillion won), Hanwha (1.3 trillion won), and Hyosung (1.2 trillion won) are also helping. The government announced that it will provide a budget of 8244 billion won this year to assist in the purchase of hydrogen electric vehicles, build a hydrogen production base, and develop core technologies for hydrogen fuel cells.
○SK to produce 280,000 tons of hydrogen by 2025
On this day, SK Group announced its goal to leap to the world’s No. 1 hydrogen company. It plans to invest 18.500 trillion won in the hydrogen industry by 2025 to induce employment of 209,000 people and create social and economic benefits of 3,410 trillion won. SK will first invest 500 billion won by 2023 to build a liquefied hydrogen production base at SK Incheon Petrochemical Complex.
This plant purifies by-product hydrogen supplied from SK Incheon Petrochemical to high purity, processes it into a liquid, and supplies it to the metropolitan area. It plans to produce 30,000 tons of liquid hydrogen per year. 30,000 tons of hydrogen is the amount that 75,000 Hyundai’s hydrogen electric vehicle Nexo can travel around the globe (about 46520 km). SK explained that it has the same carbon reduction effect as planting 12 million trees.
Separately, SK plans to complete the world’s largest clean hydrogen production base in Boryeong, South Chungcheong Province, that produces eco-friendly hydrogen from liquefied natural gas (LNG) by investing 5.3 trillion won by 2025. It is a scale capable of producing 250,000 tons of clean hydrogen per year. Investment in hydrogen distribution continues. SK has revealed its goal to operate 100 hydrogen charging stations nationwide by 2025.
In the industry, there are also observations that the meeting between Chairman Chung and Chairman Choi on this day will lead to expanded collaboration related to electric vehicle batteries. SK has decided to supply the first amount of batteries to be applied to vehicles based on Hyundai Motor’s dedicated platform (E-GMP). There is also an expectation that many of the 3rd volume, which will be confirmed soon, will return to SK.
Reporter Do Byeong-wook [email protected]