Hyundai Wia begins mass production of EV coolant hub modules

The coolant hub modules at Hyundai Wia’s Changwon Plant 1 [Photo provided by Hyundai Wia]

Hyundai Wia, an auto components maker under Hyundai Motor Group, has started production of coolant control hub modules, part of the thermal management system in electric vehicles (EVs), a first for Korean auto parts makers, said the company on Tuesday.

Production will be carried out at the company’s Changwon Plant 1, with an annual capacity of up to 210,000 units. The completed units will be installed in Hyundai Motor Group’s vehicles, including Kia Corp.’s full-sized EV9 sport utility vehicle and Hyundai Motor Co.’s new compact Kona EV.

“We’ve successfully come to produce coolant hub modules based on our own technology, accumulated by our long experience in manufacturing automotive parts. We’ll strive to be a company with competitiveness in the global mobility market,” said the company.

A coolant hub module is a component that helps with the management of heat from the batteries, drive units and from other electronic components in an EV. Hyundai Wia’s coolant hub module integrates cooling devices for batteries in drive units, such as motors and inverters, helping to maintain an optimal temperature for both components, and thus eventually improving efficiency.

To ensure the reliability of the coolant hub module, Hyundai Wia had conducted a total of 53 different examinations at different levels throughout the development of the component, from testing individual units and modules themselves all the way to testing at the vehicle level. The company also went through 23 quality control processes before beginning production.

Starting with the mass production of the coolant hub module, Hyundai Wia plans to develop an integrated thermal management system that can encompass motors, batteries and air conditioning by 2025.

To this end, the company is building a thermal management lab at its research center in Uiwang, in the outskirts of Seoul, set for completion in June.