Kia will launch its first dedicated Purpose Built Vehicle – basically an electric, autonomous machine for commercial use – in 2025. The mid-sized vehicle is being developed under the codename SW – and it will be built in a forest.
Well, it won’t actually be built in a forest, obviously. The new PBV will be built in a dedicated factory that will be built at the Hyundai Motor Group brand’s existing Hwaseong facility in Korea. And that plant will feature an E-Forest, which is the firm’s name for its dedicated production process that merges artificial intelligence, robots and AI.
More of that later, though: let’s start with the new Purpose Built Vehicle (PBV). Because while it might not sound the most glamorous electric vehicle, Kia believes that PBVs will be a huge part of its bold growth and expansion plans, as it transitions from being a car firm into a ‘sustainable mobility provider’.
Effectively, electric PBVs are goods and service vehicles that can perform a variety of tasks. Those could include the sort of tasks currently undertaken by vans – so deliveries, logistics or passenger shuttles – but also larger vehicles that could be used as mobile offices or shops. Kia wants to eventually use autonomous technology for its PBVs to make them even more versatile.
Kia has already unveiled one PBV: the Niro Plus, an electric taxi for the South Korean market based on the outgoing first-get Niro. But that’s effectively a conversion of an existing model: Kia is now looking for bespoke – or, if you will, purpose-built – Purpose Built Vehicles.
That’s why the firm is building the new factory - and it has big plans for it. Construction is due to begin in the first half of next year, with the plans for the facility to initially produce 100,000 PBVs per year – with capacity to increase that to 150,000.
The production site will be used to reduce carbon emissions during production, with ‘clean’ painting and energy-saving systems to minimise the environmental impact and the extensive use of E-Forest technology (the name refers to the ecosystem created by having the AI, robot technology and IT systems working in harmony).
The bespoke PBVs will be built on a dedicated scalable platform named eS (electric Skateboard), which Kia says will allow them to meet a wide variety of uses. The first dedicated machine is codenamed SW, and from the teaser images released by Kia will take a form similar to a current commercial van.
There have been hinted – backed by the images Kia put out to accompany the release – that the firm is initially planning four PBVs, starting with the mid-sized SW model that will come first will be designed for ride-hailing delivery.
There will also be an autonomous 'robo taxi' machine of a similar size, a smaller machine designed for autonomous 'robo deliveries' – think a self-driving machine to deliver your pizza – and a larger cargo van and shuttle.
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The eS platform will be scaleable so it can be used for everything from ‘micro-sized’ vehicles to late machines that can be used as mobile offices, and will also feature over-the-air connectivity and wireless updates.
Kia president Ho Sung Son said the PBV facility was “one of the major pillars” of the firm’s growth plan, and said it will “gradually expand our presence in global markets with dedicated PBV models featuring autonomous driving technologies.”
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