Unlike other top EV players in the industry, Hyundai announced that it is set to have all hydrogen fuel cell-powered EVs by 2028. The South Korean automaker says that they plan to launch a new fuel cell system which would be implemented in all its vehicles eventually.
Executive vice president and head of the fuel cell center at Hyundai Motor Group, Saehoon Kim says that the move is to overcome the cost competitiveness with battery-powered vehicles. In recent times many battery manufacturing plants are looking for various efficient and cheaper batteries like cobalt-free batteries, sodium-ion batteries, etc. It is a part of tackling the challenging battery costs for Hyundai, which costs almost half the cost of an EV. By 2030 they plan to achieve these goals to compete with battery-powered vehicles.
Furthermore, the company shared information regarding the specifications of the vehicle. It is a high-performance rear-wheel-drive hydrogen sports car. And it can go 0-100km/hr in less than four seconds. With a 500kw fuel cell system, the range of the vehicle is 600km (373km). The announcement didn’t include details about the release of the new hydrogen sports car.
Hydrogen fuel cell cars have been criticized by top automakers like Tesla’s Elon Musk, Volkswagen’s Herbert Diess. Yet the market in Europe for Hydrogen cars is growing, as a part of reducing carbon emissions. BMW and Daimler have been embracing hydrogen fuel cells alongside also working on battery vehicles.
Hyundai’s sales
By 2023, Hyundai plans to launch two hydrogen fuel cell cars. Later they hope to continue and make it mainstream. Furthermore, the third generation of Hyundai’s fuel stack will come in two options, 100kW or 200 kW outputs. Hyundai Motor Group already has one fuel cell vehicle on the market, a bus. The Elec City Fuel Cell bus has 115 busses on South Korean roads. Additionally, there is one fuel cell truck live, Xcient Hyundai. Around 45 of them are currently running Switzerland roads since last year.
In the recent IAA Mobility conference, it announced that they are to launch a large fuel cell-powered SUV after five years from now. MD and CEO of Hyundai Motor Group, Seon Seob Kim said, “Fuel cell is a proven technology that can deliver the benefits of hydrogen to people around the world in various fields. Basically, a fuel cell is a power generator like an engine. It differs from a battery which stores electricity. A fuel cell system consists of a fuel cell stack that generates electricity, a hydrogen supply system, an air supply system, and a thermal management system. It generates power by combining hydrogen and oxygen, similar to the engine of an internal combustion vehicle, but without the carbon emissions.”