I love how ‘thoughtful’ Mr. Chang is being. Must make sure it’s in the best interest of their customers.
I’m betting they join before the end of this month and it’ll have nothing to do with their customers.
The timing seems right to me, but they're going to insist Tesla deploy V4 Superchargers with Hyundai/Kia access in some major markets. I'm confident that they really want to take advantage of their 800v, with nearly zero chances other than their own or Tesla v4.
Introducing the E-GMP, the Electric Global Modular Platform that opens up a new era for Hyundai Motor Group, pioneering the development of electric vehicles
www.hyundai.com
Of course there are other very high speed options but with little serious uptake expected soon, Tesla probably seems the best option for them. They already cooperate with Tesla through Hyundai Glovis and probably other areas.
When coupling 48v Cybertruck and all the new vehicles Hyundai/Kia are quite likely to want to move quickly themselves, so Tesla cooperating with them for 48V compatible suppliers would make an obvious adjunct to the Superchargers.
It's never a good idea to underestimate Korean OEM competitive instincts. Since the Pony they've steadily and consistently made excellent moves.
So end of June might be a trifle fast, but I agree that such a deal is very likely. A major complication regarding timing is that Korea is the only non-NA country using CCS1. Hyundai definitely wants that killed ASAP since they have US-style breakage problems. Tesla would be required to support converting South Korea to NACS, perhaps even changing the acronym, while installing Gen 4 Superchargers.
I firmly expect those to happen, if Tesla can move quickly enough to accommodate those demands, every one of which is compatible with the Tesla mission. One impediment is that Tesla will hold out for unimpeded Korea market access, in exchange for enhanced supplier agreements, but...
There are now agreements between Hyundai and LG for batteries, between Hyundai and Samsung for chips. Tesla also has supplier agreements with both of those. For those who are not familiar with South Korea business it is nearly unprecedented to have such deep cooperation between competing groups.
Given the rapidly evolving supplier agreement and cooperation, it might be that Samsung, Hyundai and LG all agree that NACS-4 is the best national solution, coupled with a rapid adoption of 48v architectures.
The NA market NACS adoption part is quite obviously important, but is only coherent in the large issues of cooperation and Korean market movements.
Of course all this could evolve slowly, but that would be a departure from Korean and Tesla propensity to dither on a decision, but move at Plaid speed once they decide.