Hyundai Taps Canoo For Joint Development Of New EV Platform
Credit to Author: Kyle Field| Date: Tue, 11 Feb 2020 21:00:44 +0000
Published on February 11th, 2020 | by Kyle Field
February 11th, 2020 by Kyle Field
Canoo and Hyundai will be developing an all-electric platform based on Canoo’s skateboard. The move has the potential to inject some much needed electric vehicle innovation into Hyundai, which, despite the success of the Hyundai Kona EV and sister company Kia’s Niro EV, has yet to find a solid foothold in the market.
The Canoo skateboard sitting in front of the chassis of Canoo’s first electric vehicle. Image credit: Kyle Field | CleanTechnica
According to a new press release, the companies will jointly develop a production-ready fully electric platform that will build on Canoo’s existing skateboard platform for new Hyundai and Kia EVs. Together, the companies will push to standardize the skateboard for production in hopes of simplifying and standardizing the underpinnings for future electric vehicles. Developing a single standard skateboard will ultimately allow the two companies to leverage greater economies of scale as a way to drive the cost of future EVs down.
“We were highly impressed by the speed and efficiency in which Canoo developed their innovative EV architecture, making them the perfect engineering partner for us as we transition to become a frontrunner in the future mobility industry,” said Albert Biermann, Head of Research & Development, Hyundai Motor Group. “We will collaborate with Canoo engineers to develop a cost-effective Hyundai platform concept that is autonomous ready and suitable for mass adoption.”
The new venture is by no means a silver bullet for either company, but does present the opportunity for both companies to bring together the best of their worlds into the new platform. Canoo will bring its engineering services to the table to work with the Hyundai and Kia teams to tailor it to their needs.
The canoo leverages the low floor of the Canoo skateboard to add an impressive amount of storage. Image credit: Kyle Field | CleanTechnica
CleanTechnica spoke with In Charge at Canoo Ulrich Kranz in January, who shared that the current Canoo skateboard was designed to strike at the heart of the automotive market. They believe this single skateboard can support around 75% of all current vehicle types on the market today. Looking around a parking lot of vehicles, this truth is not obvious, but distilling vehicles down to their core components, many of them are simply body on chassis, with a fairly generic chassis underneath, and different bodies bolted on top.
“We have been working diligently to develop a bold new electric vehicle and partnering with a global leader like Hyundai is a validating moment for our young company,” said Ulrich Kranz. “It is a real honor for us to help Hyundai explore EV architecture concepts for their future models.”
The new joint effort with Hyundai speaks to this truth, as Hyundai looks to build its own vehicles literally on top of Canoo’s early wins in engineering and design. The new venture with Canoo is just the latest manifestation of the Hyundai Motor Group’s much larger commitment to investing $87 billion over the next five years in future technologies like electric vehicles. Of this amount, the Hyundai brand will invest $52 billion in future technologies, while Kia has a more specific goal of investing $25 billion in electrification and future tech technologies. Kia’s spending will support its goal of achieving 25% of its total sales coming from eco-friendly vehicles by 2025.
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Kyle Field I’m a tech geek passionately in search of actionable ways to reduce the negative impact my life has on the planet, save money and reduce stress. Live intentionally, make conscious decisions, love more, act responsibly, play. The more you know, the less you need. TSLA investor.