Leading 'Green Mobility' with New Technology

[2023 Green Mobility Awards]
Hyundai Motor and 7 Others Win
Renault Korea Motors Honored with Technology Award
POSCO's 'eAutopos' and Korea GM's 'Ultium' Featured
Mobility Innovation Award Winner

[Asia Economy reporters Hyunseok Yoo and Gyumin Oh] The '2023 Korea Green Mobility Awards,' organized with the aim of having South Korea lead the green mobility market, which is emerging as a battleground in the global automotive industry, was held. At this awards ceremony, eight companies, including Hyundai Motor Company, were honored.

The Technology Award went to Renault Korea Motors. The coupe-style sports utility vehicle (SUV) XM3 hybrid model introduced last year, the ‘XM3 E-TECH Hybrid,’ boasts a hybrid drive system closest to an electric vehicle. The XM3’s E-TECH hybrid system was developed by combining Renault Group’s 10 years of electric vehicle market leadership experience in Europe with hybrid technology know-how used in F1 machines.

Posco, which won the Mobility Innovation Award, launched an integrated brand called 'eAutopos' that provides eco-friendly vehicle products and customized usage solutions for customers. eAutopos is a package of Posco’s steel and secondary battery materials used in electric and hydrogen vehicles, along with customer-tailored solution packages utilizing these materials. Key products include high-strength steel sheets for body and chassis, energy-efficient steel sheets for drive motors, battery pack-specific steel, metal separators for hydrogen fuel cell vehicles, and cathode and anode materials for secondary batteries.

(From the bottom left) Award recipients including Kim Junsik, Head of PR Team at Hyosung; Shin Donghoon, Head of Kakao Mobility Business Office; Lee Seungyeol, Vice President of SK Telecom; Lee Hyunseop, Executive Director of Hyundai Mobis; Seo Yuran, Head of Automotive Materials Marketing at POSCO; Kang Sinnam, Executive Director of GM Technical Center Korea; Geum Wooyeon, Executive Director of Hyundai Motor Commercial LCM Center; and Choi Seonggyu, Head of R&D Headquarters at Renault Korea Motors, are taking photos at the '2023 Korea Green Mobility Awards Ceremony' held on the 31st at the Press Center in Jung-gu, Seoul. Photo by Kang Jinhyung aymsdream@

Korea GM also received the Mobility Innovation Award. GM is presenting the ‘Triple Zero’ vision for sustainable future mobility, which includes ‘zero traffic accidents,’ ‘zero carbon emissions,’ and ‘zero traffic congestion.’ To achieve this, GM is investing approximately $35 billion (about 50.2 trillion KRW) by 2025. The core of GM’s electrification strategy is the electric vehicle-dedicated platform ‘Ultium.’ It features a next-generation modular structure. The Ultium platform is characterized by excellent versatility and guarantees a driving range of up to 450 miles (about 724 km) on a single charge.

Hyundai Mobis won the Mobility R&D Award. The company is focusing its capabilities to become a provider of integrated software-hardware platforms. Specifically, it plans to capture the market with a skateboard-type module that integrates a portfolio of core electrification components. This module combines electrification core parts with an e-powertrain system on the vehicle frame that forms the vehicle’s skeleton. Through this, it can develop electric vehicle-based PBVs (Purpose-Built Vehicles). Hyundai Mobis also developed the world’s first ‘Smart Cabin Controller,’ which comprehensively analyzes various biometric signals of the driver to assist safe driving.

The Mobility Technology Award was awarded to Kakao Mobility. The company emphasizes ‘co-prosperity innovation’ based on cooperation with existing taxi industry suppliers. After reaching a social grand compromise with four taxi organizations in 2019, it has continued service and technological innovation within the institutional framework of platform taxis. As part of ESG (Environmental, Social, and Governance) management, it has also operated various support programs to promote the spread of electric taxis.

Hyosung received the Smart Green Award. The company is expanding its hydrogen vehicle-related businesses such as liquefied hydrogen, hydrogen charging stations, and carbon fiber, establishing itself as a leading materials company. It plans to build a value chain together with the industrial gas specialist Linde Group. Hyosung Heavy Industries has supplied hydrogen charging station equipment to about 30 locations so far, securing the number one market share in Korea.

SK Telecom, which won the Smart Mobility Award, launched a CEO-led UAM (Urban Air Mobility) business promotion task force in 2021 and is conducting research and investment simultaneously. It plans to evolve as a leading business in ‘Connected Intelligence,’ which intelligently connects physical elements such as UAM aircraft, vertiports (takeoff and landing platforms), and existing ground transportation. Based on its location information service operation capabilities such as TMAP, SK Telecom will analyze the economic feasibility of the domestic UAM market and review promising routes and optimal UAM infrastructure.