Hyundai Motor has mentioned it has agreed to start a pilot battery leasing business specific at fleets of electric taxis, with the collaboration of the South Korean authorities and top local corporations.
The memorandum of knowledge (MOU) was signed this week with the Ministry of Trade, Marketplace and Electricity, the automaker’s logistics affiliate Hyundai Glovis, top EV battery manufacturer LG Electricity Alternative and local taxi business KST Mobility, with the intention of creating a rental business for electric taxi batteries and also for the sustainable reuse of these batteries in power storage programs (ESS).
With this undertaking, Hyundai is wanting to build an EV battery ecosystem which would decrease the first value stress of EV buys, as nicely as creating new companies that allow the reuse of the batteries.
Beneath the arrangement KST will provide the ownership of the batteries in its newly acquired EVs to Hyundai Glovis, which will then lease them back to KST. This will decrease the first EV buy value, with KST having to pay a regular rental the moment the automobiles start making revenue.
Right after extensive utilization, the batteries will be swapped and the old ones used in ESS to power rapidly-charging stations for the taxi fleet. To help save charges the ESS batteries can be billed at off-peak instances these as in the middle of the night time when electrical energy charges are cheapest.
Beneath the arrangement Hyundai will control the overall business, provide EVs to KST and also supply warranties for the batteries. An first 20 Kona EVswill be equipped for the undertaking.
Hyundai Glovis will function the battery rental service and recover batteries soon after their first use. The enterprise recently acquired a patent for container technologies that lets for the efficient transport of massive numbers of used batteries.
LG Electricity Alternative will watch the battery protection and repurchase the batteries soon after their to start with use. It will provide them to KST Mobility and put in them in ESS-driven rapidly-charging stations. Facts produced from EV and battery utilization will be shared with all get-togethers.