Automotive Engineering - February 2025 - 27

A week with the
HYUNDAI WAY
TECHNOLOGY FEATURE
The Hyundai Initium concept
previews a production fuel-cell
EV due in the first half of 2025.
From 'Being a First Mover in Hydrogen' to cute city EVs, Hyundai's future
technology plans run the gamut.
by Sebastian Blanco
H
yundai's recent Hyundai Way tech presentation week in Korea
was, like the company's future strategy, a cornucopia of technologies.
The week included an EV-focused performance event
co-sponsored with Toyota, a test drive of the cute-as-all-getout
city EV called Inster and presentations of Hyundai's upcoming hydrogen
strategy. The automaker also revealed its latest H2-powered
passenger car, the Initium, a rugged-esque CUV that at least looks
more capable than any hydrogen cars available today.
The broad-strokes approach makes sense. When the company announced
its Hyundai Way strategy in August 2024, it identified several
key components that would make up its " flexible response approach to
market conditions and focus on electrification. " As part of spending
120.5 trillion KRW ($85 billion US) through 2033 on the Hyundai Way,
the automaker plans to offer a " full lineup " of 21 EV models by 2030,
introducing an " enhanced next-generation hybrid system, " doubling its
hybrid vehicle offerings from 7 to 14, develop " affordable " nickel manganese
cobalt oxides (NCM) batteries and work to commercialize its
autonomous driving vehicle foundry business.
A next-generation TMED (transmission-mounted electrical device)
hybrid system will be the pivotal piece in Hyundai's hybrid expansion
strategy, which will see all Genesis models (other than pure EVs) getting
a hybrid option. The new powertrain will offer what the automaker
said would be " significantly improv[ed] performance and fuel
efficiency " compared to the current system. The TMED-II hybrid will
appear in production vehicles starting from January 2025.
On the hydrogen front, Hyundai said in August that it would expand
its fuel cell system lineup to include vehicles besides passenger
cars. This could include trams, trains, air mobility, heavy equipment,
and sea vessels (more on H2 below). In its original Hyundai
AUTOMOTIVE ENGINEERING
Way announcement, the automaker also promised
that it would introduce new EREV models, which it
called " a new type of EV " that will have a range of
more than 900 km (559 miles) on a single charge for
the North American and Chinese markets.
As new as Hyundai might make the EREV sound,
some obvious similarities exist to other range-extending
hybrids, like the Chevrolet Volt. Hyundai's
new EREV will use an ICE to charge the battery, and
the company has developed a new power electronics
(PT/PE) system " to enable four-wheel drive with the
application of two motors. " The first mass production
EREV will come to North America and China by the
end of 2026, but sales of the large SUV (in the U.S.)
and C-segment vehicles (in China) won't start " in earnest "
until 2027.
Given the breadth of the Hyundai Way, it's not surprising
that we were only exposed to some aspects of
it during a recent " Hyundai Way Week " in Seoul.
Here's what we learned.
Hyundai Initium concept
Despite producing some of the most awarded EVs in
recent memory, Hyundai has never abandoned hydrogen
vehicles. The company has been working on H2
vehicles since 1998 with its Mercury and Polaris I projects,
which included the independent development of
its core fuel cell stack technology.
February 2025 27
SEBASTIAN BLANCO
Automotive Engineering - February 2025

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