Case study: Doka helps construct Hyundai Motors EV plant

Doka USA, provider of formwork and safety solutions, announces Doka’s involvement in a massive three-building Hyundai Motors project that is relying on a fast timeline.

Located 30 minutes west of the coastal city Savannah, Ga., Hyundai Motors’ $5.5 billion electric vehicle (EV) and battery plant sits on 2,000+ acres of land. The plant is expected to employ more than 8,000 people to build EVs for the fast-growing North American market — and U.S. consumers incentivized by a $7,500 tax credit for domestically produced EVs, courtesy of the Inflation Reduction Act.

Doka USA is helping construct Hyundai Motors’ new 2,967-acre EV plant in Georgia. (All photos: Doka)

The EV plant is the largest project in the state’s history, says Georgia Governor Brian Kemp. It consists of several buildings that will be used to produce vehicles along with the batteries and powertrains to power them. Construction began January 2023, and the automaker plans to begin initial production at the new facility by April 2024. Full production is expected to happen by the first half of 2025.

That’s fast!

Each building was awarded as a separate project, and given the overall project timeline, several of those project teams relied on Doka’s speed of delivery to mobilize quickly and meet construction milestones. Doka formwork systems were used for the site’s module plant, stamping building, paint shop and culverts.

Module Plant

The Challenges: The scope of work included digging large pits and then installing poured footings, slab on grade, and 14- to 17-foot walls. Harcon Inc. was selected to provide formwork services, but the original concrete contractor dropped out of the project early. Precision Concrete Construction stepped in at a disadvantage—their late entry meant a shortened lead time to mobilize on a project that was already behind schedule. The team needed materials ASAP.

Solution: Both contractors, having previously worked with Doka, decided to use Frami XLife handset formwork for the concrete pit walls. They knew they could trust Doka to deliver the formwork within an accelerated time frame.

“It was a simple project, but the job was massive,” says Doka Account Manager Jeffrey Wilson. “We needed to engineer and deliver 12,000 square feet of equipment within three to four weeks.”

Frami was the ideal formwork solution for this project due to its lightweight design. The panels are easy to handle and can be erected very quickly by hand, without the use of a crane. Frami panels can be used both upright and horizontal to construct walls and footings, and the ingenious modular design makes for optimum adaptability to all jobsite conditions.

The new Hyundai Motors EV plant will consist of buildings including the module plant, a paint shop and a stamping building.

Stamping (Building 100)

The Challenges: Concrete contractors Atom Concrete and CONTEK Construction were tasked with all concrete forming for the mat foundations, walls, piers and elevated decks in the building, which included the 6800T Stamping Pit, Scrap Tunnel, Scrap Pit and 2400T Pit. The team selected Doka systems for their inherent speed and ease of use.

The original construction schedule for the walls and elevated lids inside each structure was approximately five months. However, after about a month into the project, the timeline was shortened to two months.

The Solution: For the elevated lids, the contractors used the 10k Shoring System. To meet the shortened schedule, Doka optimized the shoring layout and increased the qty of shoring and wall form work which helped shortening the schedule of the job by three months.

For the three pits and tunnel walls, the team used the Frami XLife handset and Framax XLife framed wall modular formwork systems because they could be quickly readjusted for shaping between pours. Both systems feature quick, lightweight clamps and either versatile tie solutions (Framax) or fewer ties (Frami) to enable fast assembly.

To meet the project’s tight delivery timeline, Doka provided in-house formwork layout and professional engineer stamping, enabling formwork deliveries to begin within five business days. Starting with approximately 12,000 square feet of wall formwork already onsite, Doka was able to increase that amount to approximately 39,000 square feet within eight business days.

Paint Shop (Building 300)

The Challenges: General contractor Sys-Con self-performed concrete work for this project. Much like the Stamping Building project, Sys-Con used 10k shoring for the building’s elevated lids and Framax wall forming systems for the walls. However, by the time the contractor was ready to pour the walls, the structure had undergone four major redesigns.

The Solution: Luckily, Framax can be easily readjusted for site changes or requirements. The project team was able to adjust the formwork layout to the design revisions onsite without needing Doka’s assistance or a formwork redesign.

For both the Paint Shop and the Stamping Building, Doka field service representatives provided systems training and a pre-pour inspection for the wall formwork.

Culverts

The Challenges: Beech Contractors provided the concrete work for some of the various storm water tunnels. The tunnel cells were 9’x6’ with up to four cells wide, tight schedule, no room for pre-assembly, need a fast and efficient cycling system.

The Solution: Doka provided our pre-assembled Dokamatic tables. Since we have four standard sizes we were able to provide a size that fit the width of each tunnel cell with minimum infill. Stripping and moving of the tables was made easily with our battery operated DoKart.

Doka’s unmatched service — from customer management to engineering — ensured the large amounts of equipment for each project was delivered on time to keep project teams on schedule.

Doka USA is providing the formwork and safety solutions for Hyundai Motors’ new $5.5 billion EV plant in Georgia.

The Facts

Project Name: Hyundai EV Plant

Location: Ellabell, Ga.

General Contractors: Hyundai Engineering America Inc.

Concrete Contractors:

• Building 100 - Stamping: Atom Concrete, CONTEK Construction
• Building 300 - Paint Shop: SYS-CON LLC
• Module Plant: Precision Concrete Construction / Harcon Inc.
• Culverts: Beech Contractors

Architect: HAEAHN / ATLAS Collaborative

Developer: Hyundai

Type of structure: EV Plant

Height: walls up to 22 feet

Stories: 1 story

Duration: 12 months for concrete structure and a little over two years for the project

Area: Multiple buildings over 2,967 Acres

Products used:

• Building 100 - Stamping: Framax XLife, Frami XLife, Frami Tie-Less, 10k Tower Shoring. DokaPly MDO 18mm and DokaPly Phenolic 18mm plywood types for elevated decks.
• Building 300 - Paint Shop: Framax XLife, 10k Tower Shoring

Module Plant: Frami XLife