Hyundai and Kia have announced a strategic investment of €100 million in the UK-based electric commercial vehicle startup Arrival. The new partnership aims to introduce competitively priced small and medium-sized electric vans and other products for logistics and on-demand ride-hailing and shuttle service companies.
Arrival has a scalable ‘skateboard’ platform that can be adapted for multiple vehicle categories, and Hyundai and Kia will explore opportunities to create a range of Purpose Built Vehicles (PBV). Of the total investment, Hyundai will contribute €80 million; Kia €20 million.
L-R: Avinash Rugoobur (CSO, Arrival), Denis Sverdlov (CEO, Arrival), Albert Biermann (President, Hyundai R&D), Edward Lee (EVP, Hyundai CV Business)
Founded in 2015, Arrival is said to be having R&D centres in the US, Germany, Tel Aviv and Russia too in addition to the one in the UK. The aforementioned skateboard platform incorporates a battery pack, electric motor and driveline components, and is fully scalable to accommodate multiple vehicle types.
Currently, Arrival is carrying out pilot projects with multiple logistics companies in Europe using cargo vans manufactured with the said technology. With the rapid global growth in online shopping, the number of light commercial vehicles in urban areas has gone up. The demand for eco-friendly commercial vehicles is expected to continue growing as environmental regulations tighten. From 2021, the EU is expected to introduce the world’s most stringent vehicle emissions regulations, limiting each automaker’s fleet-wide average CO2 emissions by around 27 percent, from 130 g/km to 95 g/km.
Hyundai said that the partnership with Arrival enables the company to accelerate its ‘Two-track’ strategy to deliver BEVs and hydrogen fuel cell solutions for the European CV market. To support that strategy, Hyundai recently established Hyundai Hydrogen Mobility (HHM), a joint venture between Hyundai and Swiss hydrogen energy company H2 Energy. It aims to export 1,600 hydrogen fuel cell trucks to Europe by 2025, following the first export to Europe on January 3 as part of a pilot program.
Under ‘open innovation’ spirit, Hyundai and Kia are exploring partnerships with various companies in the rapidly expanding global EV market. In May 2019, Hyundai and Kia invested KRW 100 billion ($90 million) in Rimac.
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