Hyundai Plans Hybrids, Electric Cars & More: 5 Questions With Green R&D Head Ki-Sang Lee

The Hyundai Motor Group, encompassing both the Hyundai and Kia brands, is known as one of the most aggressive competitors in the global auto business.

And the company has big plans for expanding its lineup of green vehicles, as we learned in an interview last week with Ki-Sang Lee, a senior vice president who's head of its R&D Center for "eco-friendly vehicles."

We spoke with Lee and several other company executives at last week's Detroit Auto Show, at which the company launched its 2016 Hyundai Sonata Hybrid and Plug-In Hybrid models.

The following questions have been condensed and reworded from a wide-ranging interview. They summarize the points made by Lee and his colleagues about future green vehicles from Hyundai.

How does the 2016 Sonata Plug-In Hybrid differ from the regular hybrid model?

We have increased the output of the electric motor from 38 to 55 kilowatts (51 to 74 horsepower), so it can power the car alone in charge-depleting mode.

We consider this system to be the second generation of our hybrid technology, after we launched our first hybrid for 2011 and revised it for 2013. The engine is smaller (it is now 2.0 liters), and the battery is more compact.

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For the plug-in hybrid, drivers always want more electric range, but they don't think about the price. They just say they want a range that's as long as possible.

Extra battery capacity in a plug-in hybrid is often unnecessary, something that drivers don't use often, and it increases the weight and the price of a vehicle.

We think about the price of the whole system. We believe that up to 30 miles of electric driving can be provided at a reasonable price, and it will cover more than half of the daily driving people do in the U.S.

How will you evolve that system in years to come?

The third generation of our hybrid system will come next year, in our dedicated hybrid vehicle.

That will use our dual-clutch transmission (now offered in the U.S. only in the 2015 Hyundai Sonata Eco model), rather than the adapted six-speed automatic transmission in today's hybrids.

MORE: 2015 Hyundai Sonata Eco: Best Car To Buy 2015 Nominee

We have developed range-extended electric vehicles in our research labs, but only to prepare for possible future use.

We have not decided yet if that is a technology we would offer.

So Hyundai will have hybrids, plug-in hybrids, and a dedicated hybrid-only vehicle soon; what about electric cars?

The platform we will use for the dedicated hybrid can also be used for plug-in hybrids and battery-electric vehicles, with only minor changes to the exterior.