"Electric Cars, Hydrogen Cars, and Unmanned Drones Gathered in One Place"… International Green Car Exhibition Held in Gwangju

Future Eco-Friendly Mobility Including Electric Vehicles, Autonomous Cars, and UAM Gathered in One Place
Attention-Grabbing Components Like Future-Type Biometric Recognition Seats

The "2021 International Green Car Exhibition," hosted by Gwangju City and jointly organized by the Gwangju Green Car Promotion Agency, Kim Dae-jung Convention Center, and KOTRA, will be held for three days from the 18th to the 20th.

Photo by Korea Automobile Journalists Association

[Gwangju=Asia Economy Reporter Ki-min Lee] An event where future eco-friendly mobility such as electric vehicles, hydrogen vehicles, autonomous vehicles, and unmanned drones can be experienced all at once has been prepared.

Hosted by Gwangju City and jointly organized by the Gwangju Green Car Promotion Agency, Kim Dae-jung Convention Center, and KOTRA, the '2021 International Green Car Exhibition' will be held for three days from the 18th to the 20th.

Marking its 13th anniversary this year, the International Green Car Exhibition is held simultaneously with the International Root Industry Exhibition, which focuses on basic manufacturing technology, and the International IoT Home Appliance Robot Expo, which introduces advanced intelligent robot industry technologies.

This exhibition features 93 domestic and international companies operating about 170 booths, showcasing domestic trends in eco-friendly cars, autonomous vehicles, car parts and accessories, and infrastructure services.

Electric vehicles currently on sale in Korea this year, such as Hyundai Ioniq 5, Kia EV6, and Genesis GV60, attracted visitors' attention. SsangYong Motor exhibited four models including the Rexton Sports Khan, setting up booths with various camping concepts.

The 'Casper,' the first model of the Gwangju-type win-win labor-management job model, along with Casper body parts supplied by local parts companies such as Hyundai Hitec, Hyunsung Autotech, and Howon, are also on display.

Daeyu A-Tech, which manufactures Casper and Kia's new Sportage seats, showcased a future seat concept for purpose-built vehicles (PBV) that becomes fully flat with just the push of a button. Biometric recognition seats that detect the driver's health status such as heart rate and blood pressure also drew attention.

Additionally, Korea Three-axis exhibited the autonomous electric truck 'Seyo,' and the ultra-compact electric car 'MaiV' made by KST Electric, as well as small EV cleaning vehicles and large lithium iron phosphate battery cells (450ah) from Kaon Electric Vehicle Development, attracted visitors' interest.

Furthermore, products from automotive parts companies such as Goa Precision, Daekyung AT, Newmotec, and Lado CS Electronics were displayed, and Maruieng introduced various eco-friendly automotive technologies including personal mobility. Some companies like LIG Nex1 exhibited small to large unmanned drones.

Various side events such as autonomous driving simulator technology seminars and electric vehicle-related seminars are also being held.

On this day, Gwangju Mayor Lee Yong-seop told reporters, "Integrating artificial intelligence (AI) into automobiles is impossible without electronic components," adding, "Gwangju is the only city in Korea developing an AI cluster." He continued, "We will become a mecca city for future eco-friendly electric, hydrogen, and autonomous vehicles by constructing data centers equipped with supercomputers."

Kim Sang-mook, president of the Kim Dae-jung Convention Center, also said, "The International Green Car Exhibition is a valuable opportunity to gauge the future market potential of next-generation eco-friendly vehicles," and urged, "As this exhibition is a chance to see the present and future of Gwangju's automotive industry, we expect many citizens to show interest and participate."