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Hyundai Motor, Kia build group's first battery-centric R&D hub

Published: 28 Nov. 2025, 15:32

A rendering shows Hyundai Motor and Kia’s Future Mobility Battery Campus, set to be built at the Fifth General Industrial Complex in Anseong, Gyeonggi. [HYUNDAI MOTOR GROUP]

Hyundai Motor and Kia are building the group’s first large-scale battery-centric hub, the “Future Mobility Battery Campus,” as part of an effort to strengthen their next-generation electrification capabilities.

Once completed, the project will consolidate battery research and development (R&D) — currently spread across facilities — into a single location.

Hyundai Motor and Kia on Friday held a topping-out ceremony for the Future Mobility Battery Campus at the Fifth General Industrial Complex in Anseong, Gyeonggi. The campus will offer a total floor area of about 111,000 square meters (1.19 million square feet) and is being built with an investment of 1.2 trillion won ($818.5 million). Construction is slated for completion by late 2026.

Until now, Hyundai Motor and Kia have conducted battery R&D at their Namyang and Uiwang research centers in Gyeonggi. While the existing centers were largely responsible for early-stage design, the new campus will be reorganized to handle the full battery development cycle.

The companies said that the campus will be equipped with high-level test environments. By testing vehicles' performance and safety under real-world driving conditions, Hyundai Motor and Kia expect the facility to significantly shorten development time and improve product quality.

The Hyundai Motor headquarters in Gangnam District, southern Seoul, on April 25, 2024 [YONHAP]

The campus will also house advanced equipment capable of performing all stages of battery cell production, including electrode manufacturing and assembly. This setup will allow engineers to repeatedly verify whether new cell structures or materials are suitable for mass production and whether they meet quality and safety standards — all within a single test bed.

Research aimed at improving the performance of high-output lithium-ion batteries for extended-range electric vehicles, a transitional electrification model, will also be conducted at the campus. The initiative marks Hyundai Motor's third major domestic investment, following its hydrogen fuel cell plant in Ulsan and its purpose-built vehicle plant in Hwaseong, Gyeonggi.

“The battery campus will serve as a starting point for deepening cross-industry collaboration and advancing cutting-edge technologies,” said Yang Heui-won, the head of R&D at Hyundai Motor and Kia. “It will become a key driving force in strengthening national competitiveness in the global electrification market.”

This article was originally written in Korean and translated by a bilingual reporter with the help of generative AI tools. It was then edited by a native English-speaking editor. All AI-assisted translations are reviewed and refined by our newsroom.
BY KIM HYO-SEONG [[email protected]]