POSCO hosted the 2017 Global EV Materials Forum at the Songdo Global R&D Center in Incheon.

POSCO welcomed more than 380 local and overseas customers to the forum where they announced the current status of POSCO Group’s EV projects and strategies. The company also showcased its core EV technologies for high-value-added products such as motors, batteries and lightweight chassis/bodies.

During the forum, POSCO highlighted customer needs, market trends and development statuses in three areas: lightweight materials, traction motor cores and batteries. POSCO researchers also gave presentations on POSCO’s high-value-added products and solutions to share market insights and technological developments with the participants.

Participants listen to presentations at the 2017 Global EV Materials Forum.

In his keynote speech, In-hwan Oh, president of POSCO, said, “POSCO is in full preparation for the future of an electric vehicle ecosystem, to become a reliable partner to our customers.”

There were also external speakers at the forum, including Stephen Zoepf, Executive Director of the Center for Automotive Research at Stanford University, who spoke about “Electric Vehicles: Adapting to a Changing Marketplace.” Another external speaker was Martin Woehrle, senior director of BMW Korea, who gave a presentation on the trends in EV development.

In addition, POSCO held a separate exhibition at the venue consisting of four key product zones: motors, batteries, light-weight chassis/bodies and charging infrastructure. There was also an EV model on display in the Highlight Zone for a better understanding of the structure of EVs.

Visitors examine the electric Nissan Leaf

On display In the lightweight chassis/bodies exhibition zone was POSCO GIGA STEEL for lightweight chassis/bodies, which is lighter but much stronger than existing automotive steel sheets. Also on display was POSCO’s lithium materials for EV batteries; POSCO is the first company in Korea to commercially produce lithium for EV batteries.

In the motor zone was POSCO Daewoo’s a high-efficiency traction motor core for EVs made with POSCO’s Hyper NO, its highest-grade, non-oriented electrical steel. POSCO is already supplying it to major automakers.

The charging infrastructure zone showed POSCO ESM and POSCO Chemtech’s core materials of EV batteries, such as cathode and anode materials. In addition, POSCO ICT is the only company in Korea to provide a total-service electric vehicle charging infrastructure, including supply, installation and operation to membership management and supplementary services.

To close, POSCO pledged to become a “Total Solution Provider” for its partners in the auto industry bracing for the age of electric vehicles with its innovative technology, premium products and customized services.

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As 2014 Paris Motor Show is still on the show, car fanatics around the world are continuing to devote their attentions to the automobile industry. For today’s last episode of our globalblog’s 2014 Paris Motor Show series, we would like to share another context of POSCO’s engagement in the automobile industry. Recently, POSCO participated in an automobile event in Malaysia. Let’s find out about POSCO’s activity in the event!

POSCO’s Participation in Malaysia’s ‘PROTON Technology Day’
Over the course of 2 days in Malaysia from September 27^th to 28^th, POSCO participated in the PROTON Technology Day for the first time in Southeast Asia. PROTON, headquartered in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia renowned for its strong automobile manufacturing business in Southeast Asia, hosted this technological event and invited a number of world-famous technology giants, including Bosch and 3M, and over 25 other automobile-related electronic components manufacturers of the automobile industry. Despite the fact that POSCO was the only company invited globally from the steel industry, it was highly praised for its technological breakthroughs,  super strength steel such as PosM Steel or Aluminum Plated HPF, and a wide range of various automobile parts from the audience.

POSCO, the ‘Solution Provider’ powered by EVI Program and PROTON Automobiles
Through this opportunity, POSCO emphasized its competitiveness as the world-leading steel manufacturer and actively promoted itself as the ‘Solution Provider’ by introducing the EVI program that supports developments of new cars and relevant technologies for its clients. Regards to POSCO’s presentation at the PROTON Technology Day, PROTON’s CTO Mr. Rashid stated that, “I was deeply intrigued by POSCO’s effort to support technological breakthroughs in automobile industry through the EVI program and I hope we can build a stronger corporate relationship with POSCO concerning joint technological development for the new cars”.

At the PROTON Technology Day, board members of POSCO held a business meeting with the CEO Mr. Harith from PROTON to discuss how both parties could mutually enhance the corporate relationship. Furthermore, both corporates held an in-depth discussion session on the 26^th to review potential technical exchange gathering programs for board members of the two companies to achieve joint technological development in more effective and efficient manner.

POSCO in Malaysia
POSCO saw a big potential in the local steel market for automobiles and appliances in Malaysia and has been aggressively investing in Malaysia for the past years. Accordingly, POSCO currently operates POSCO-Malaysia that manufactures electronic galvanized steel sheet, POSCO-MKPC that acts as a processing center for steel products, and POSCO-South Asia Kuala Lumpur Office in Malaysia.

To briefly introduce, POSCO-MKPC is a steel-processing center located in Selangor, Malaysia that operates 2 separate processing factories that account for processing 100 and 120 thousand tons of steel per year respectively; POSCO-Malaysia is responsible for operating manufacturing factory that produces approximately 18 thousand tons of steel products per annum. By operating these facilities, POSCO aims to expand supply and clients by providing high-quality steel products to the Malaysian market.

Though 2014 Paris Motor Show will be closing on the 19^th this month, we hope all of our POSCO fans to maintain the interests in POSCO in the automobile industry. We will continue to post more content on POSCO’s technology in various fields of industries, so stay tuned for our next series!