Hyundai Motor to invest $2.45 billion in India for EV battery plant, charging stations

Hyundai Motor employees work at its manufacturing plant in Chennai, India. [HYUNDAI MOTOR]

Hyundai Motor will invest around 200 billion rupees ($2.45 billion) in India over the next 10 years to build a battery pack assembly plant and 100 charging stations for electric vehicles (EVs) in Tamil Nadu.

Hyundai Motor India signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) with the government of Tamil Nadu on Thursday.

Under the agreement, Hyundai will set up a battery pack assembly unit with an annual capacity to assemble 178,000 batteries. It will also install 100 EV charging stations at key locations along highways.

The automaker will also expand its production volume at its existing plants in Chennai, also in Tamil Nadu in the southernmost part of India. The current volume stands at around 750,000, and Hyundai aims to increase that to 850,000.

"As part of our long-term vision, we have finalized plans to develop and establish Tamil Nadu as a base for Hyundai’s EV manufacturing in India," said Kim Un-soo, CEO of Hyundai Motor India. "This will help us to strengthen our portfolio and provide best-in-class features and technologies in our vehicles which will exceed our customer aspirations.”

The Korean automaker recently signed an agreement with General Motors to acquire its manufacturing facility in the western state of Maharashtra, India.

Hyundai Motor has gradually expanded sales in India in recent years, becoming the No. 2 after Maruti Suzuki, according to data from the Society for Industrial and Applied Mathematics.

India has the world’s third largest auto market after China and the United States and ahead of Japan. Around 4.73 million vehicles were sold in India alone last year, up 25.7 percent.

Hyundai Motor hopes to sell 595,000 vehicles in India this year, up 7.2 percent. That would be the fourth largest year-on-year increase after China, Korea and North America.

BY SARAH CHEA [chea.sarah@joongang.co.kr]