Hyundai Hi-Charger 2019

Designers: McKinsey Design, San Francisco, California, USA
Manufacturer: Creative Works, Seocho-gu, Seoul, South Korea

The Hyundai Hi-Charger offers a completely new charging experience through an innovative ‘weight-free’ system.

Demand for electric vehicles is rapidly growing. Approximately 4 million EV units are expected to be sold globally in 2020. 8 out of 10 EV owners are not satisfied with their charging experience.

The current high-capacity EV chargers force the user to lift a heavy and usually dirty connector to charge because vehicle charging ports are all in different positions. High-capacity DC combo connector and liquid-cooled cable are difficult to operate because of its weight and stiffness.

In order to solve this problem, Hyundai designed an experience that allows a ‘zero-gravity’ solution. The user simply chooses the position of vehicle’s charging port on a digital screen, and a connector automatically rotates and descends to the selected point for an effortless connection.

The seamless and effortless charging experience of the Hyundai Hi-Charger creates a new paradigm in the electric vehicle charging experience.