Hyundai, Kia Sign MoU With Exide For EV Battery Production In India

Hyundai Motor Company and Kia Corporation have signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with Exide Energy for strategic cooperation for its electric vehicles (EV) expansion plans in India. With this MoU, Hyundai and Kia plan to localise their EV battery production for the Indian market.

While the batteries will be made in India, there is no confirmation if the batteries will be produced at Hyundai/ Kia's facilities in India or Exide Energy's facility in Bengaluru.

The two South Korean companies aim to manufacture lithium-iron-phosphate (LFP) cells for EV batteries. Heui Won Yang, President and Head of Hyundai and Kia’s research and development (R&D) department, said, “India is a key market for vehicle electrification due in part to the government’s carbon neutrality goals, which makes securing cost competitiveness through localized battery production crucial.”

Hyundai and Kia say this partnership will help them gain a strategic advantage as its future electric models in India will gain a cost advantage with the locally sourced and produced batteries. Hyundai is currently developing an all-electric version of the Creta, which is likely to debut by 2025 and could be the first model to benefit from this MoU with Exide Energy. Kia is also working on bringing two EVs to India that could also benefit from this MoU. In India, Hyundai currently sells the Ioniq 5, while Kia only has the EV6 in its electric portfolio. 

Exide Energy is a wholly-owned subsidiary of Exide Industries Ltd. The latter is a market leader in lead-acid batteries and was established in 1947. Exide Energy, on the other hand, was established in 2022 and deals in the production of lithium-ion cells, modules and battery packs.