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EV battery prices to stop falling in 2020, Hyundai says

SEOUL — Hyundai believes electric vehicle battery prices will level off by 2020 due to supply constraints of key ingredients, ending years of sharp declines that have helped stimulate activity in the booming sector. Despite its cautious outlook, the South Korean carmaker and smaller affiliate Kia plan to release 38 green models using a variety of technologies by 2025, Hyundai Motor Senior Vice-President Lee Ki-sang said. "Not a single ingredient is going in a positive direction in terms of pricing," Lee, who oversees Hyundai's green car operations, said in remarks to reporters last week that were embargoed until Wednesday. "So far battery prices have been declining at a rapid pace, but the pace will moderate significantly or maintain the status quo by 2020." While rivals have announced ambitious plans for electric vehicles, some analysts say Hyundai has been late to the game. It plans to launch a long-range electric vehicle next year, well behind the likes of General Motors and Tesla. Demand for minerals such as nickel, cobalt and lithium used in electric car batteries is forecast to soar in the coming years as governments crack down on vehicle pollution and carmakers step up their investments in electric models. Batteries are the most expensive part of electric vehicles, and their affordability is key to the take-up of the technology. Lithium-ion battery cell prices fell about 60 percent in the five years to 2016 as larger-scale production made them cheaper to make. In September, Reuters reported that Volkswagen was moving to secure long-term supplies of cobalt for the group's electric vehicle plans, but its talks with cobalt producers in November ended without a supply deal. Lee said that although Hyundai saw the need to develop batteries in-house, it still relied on outside suppliers due to a lack of economies of scale to secure raw materials. It aimed to release vehicles powered by solid-state lithium batteries by about 2020, promising greater range and safety than existing lithium-ion units. Japanese rival Toyota also has announced a similar schedule for the development of vehicles powered by new, potentially revolutionary solid-state batteries. In addition to hybrids and battery-powered vehicles, Hyundai was "coordinating" with Fiat Chrysler Automobiles over hydrogen cars propelled by electricity generated from fuel cells, Lee added.

Where is Hyundai's upscale Genesis brand going, and what is it, anyway?

"Genesis is the beginning, where everything sprung from. That's where the light is, and that's where we see ourselves." Manfred Fitzgerald. A genesis is an origin story, a new start. So when Hyundai had accomplished its original mission of achieving near parity with the top Japanese marques in the middle-class car market and decided to attempt to move upscale into the profitable luxury automotive sector a few years ago, it made some sense that this was the moniker it bestowed to its spinoff brand. "Genesis is the beginning, where everything sprung from," says Manfred Fitzgerald, the global brand chief. "That's where the light is, and that's where we see ourselves." But now that genesis has turned to germination. A pair of production sedans have been launched, the G80 and G90 luxo-barges. A smaller, 3 Series-fighting sedan, the G70, was previewed as a concept in last year's New York Auto Show. And now, last week in New York, the brand showed something in the all-important crossover category, the GV80. Powered by a hydrogen fuel cell, it's a look ahead at what Genesis' SUV line could be like, though the fuel-cell element faces hurdles. View 2 Photos "We have great resources with our brand partners in fuel-cell technology, so when it came to alternative propulsion, this was a natural," says Fitzgerald. "Not just for the US market, but looking at this globally, this is the best technology, but there are a lot of pain points to overcome, especially in terms of infrastructure." Genesis has promised us a handful more cars by 2020, including a coupe and another crossover. Expansion into additional vehicle realms ought to help flesh things out a bit. Though the brand can't really flesh things out any less. Only Maserati, Alfa Romeo, Smart, and Bentley sold fewer cars so far this year, and two of those brands are a century old and Italian, one is a century old and extremely exclusive, and the other is irrelevant in the United States. Given that company, where does that place Genesis? After a recent test drive in a G90, we have to say that we're not sure. The styling is acceptable, if a bit derivative and anodyne. The level of delight is quite lackluster. And the ride is cushy, quiet, and competent, but no better than a contemporary Buick. In a category in which excellence and exquisiteness are the point of entry, what does Genesis represent, what is its category-killing feature or component or capability? "We are known for being audacious.

Hyundai planning N-badged Genesis performance models

Speaking with Australian media ahead of the launch of the new Genesis G90 at the Detroit Auto Show this week, Albert Biermann, performance chief at Hyundai, confirmed that there will be N-badged versions of both Hyundai and Genesis models. And he ought to know. Biermann was recently poached over to South Korea after having served as chief engineer at BMW's M division. "N is a sub-brand and with N high-performance cars we work for both brands — so you have to be ready for N versions for Hyundai and for Genesis," said Biermann. "We have a nice roadmap for the next five years... There will be Genesis cars included" that will offer "the full package... real racetrack-going high-performance cars." The first model that the N division is expected to fettle is the next-generation i30 hatchback – Hyundai's challenger to the likes of the Ford Focus and Volkswagen Golf. That ought to give the Korean automaker a solid rival to the Focus ST and Golf GTI, and a venue for Hyundai to showcase everything it's learned in the World Rally Championship. But that's not all Biermann and company have in store. Hyundai is working on a new Genesis G70 that will take on the BMW 3 Series and its many competitors. The G70 would make a prime candidate for the N treatment, and with the benefit of Biermann's expertise, it could prove the sweet-handling and hot-performing Korean sports sedan we've been waiting for. We wouldn't at all be surprised, either, to see N performance versions of the new G90, the G80 that was launched just recently as the Hyundai Genesis sedan, and other future products under both brands – particularly a successor to the Genesis Coupe. Related Video: