Hyundai Motor is reviewing production of hydrogen fuel cell trucks and hoping to achieve economies of scale in hydrogen powered mobility, according to a senior executive’s remarks in an interview with the Korea Herald.
Kim Sae-hoon, vice president of Hyundai Motor’s fuel cell group told the newspaper that details of the project are confidential.
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He also said that the big challenge now is to utilise scale economies to make the technology viable.
“What we can disclose for now is that we are currently developing hydrogen-powered 5-ton garbage trucks as part of the government project,” he said in the Korea Herald interview.
The newspaper also noted that Toyota and Honda are also planning hydrogen fuel cell trucks.
Analysts note that commercial vehicle applications for hydrogen fuel cell vehicles could overcome fuel infrastructure obstacles by adopting ‘closed loop’ approaches that would entail planned refuelling at stations specifically provided for the vehicles.
The report added that Hyundai plans to produce 1,000 fuel cell buses in Korea by 2020 as part of the national project led by South Korea’s government which has announced a big investment programme to boost the hydrogen economy.
Hyundai is also working with Audi, which leads VW Group’s hydrogen projects. Audi has said it will unveil a small series of fuel cell cars in 2020, the report added.
Through the alliance, the two firms are able to access each other’s intellectual property and share components, Kim said.
