“FAR” FROM MONACO – While the automotive world has its eyes on Monaco Salon, Hyundai Motor Group (which includes the brands Hyundai and Kia) presented online, in the virtual forum Hydrogen Wave Forum its program on the use of hydrogen in the coming years (see qui below the video event). Ambitious program, which aims to make this energy vector available “for everyone, for every need, everywhere” by 2040.
> In the two photos above, the Vision FK, a hydrogen sports sedan that Hyundai Motor is developing in collaboration with RImac.
NEW FUEL CELL – Plan Hydrogen Vision 2040 also provides for the implementation of new projects, in particular in 2023 a new generation of fuel cells (transform hydrogen into electricity and water vapor) with costs halved compared to current solutions: Hyundai already has a vehicle since 2018 hydrogen, the Nexus and before that (in 2013) it had built fuel cell versions of the ix35. The aim is to achieve fuel cell solutions with costs comparable to those of battery electric vehicles by 2030. In addition to costing less, the new solutions are also less bulky (by 30%), more powerful and more reliable (with an expected “life” of up to 500,000 km). The automotive world and other industrial sectors will benefit. In fact, while the 100 kW sizes of the third generation fuel cells will be destined for the successor cars of the Nexo, the 200 kW ones are aimed at the world of commercial vehicles.
> The new fuel cells are more compact than the previous ones.
CRUCIAL YEARS – Already in 2020, the Hyundai group had presented a fuel cell truck, called Xcient and destined to go into production in 2023. And by 2028 the electrification of all commercial vehicles (including buses), which will be powered by batteries or fuel cells, is expected, with evident benefits in terms of emissions for the whole world transport and logistics. The demand for hydrogen is therefore destined to grow, with a forecast that leads to 18% of the total energy demand in 2050. The massive use of this “clean” vector (as mentioned, only water vapor is emitted from fuel cells) will help to cut global emissions by over six billion tons of carbon dioxide, with obvious benefits for the environment: this gas is not toxic, but contributes to the greenhouse effect that causes global warming. The use of hydrogen also becomes crucial for the achievement of neutrality in terms of emissions, which Hyundai has set itself for 2045 (we wrote about it who)
IN THE SIGN OF PERFORMANCE – Environmental sustainability and performance can go hand in hand according to Hyundai, which at the Hydrogen Wave Forum showed (always virtually) a prototype of a high-performance rear-wheel drive vehicle: it is called Vision FK and it has a power of 680 CV, and an acceleration declared in the “0-100” of less than four seconds. It uses a high-powered fuel cell and is credited with a range of 600 km.
> The Trailer Drone is a hydrogen powered self-driving truck prototype.
AUTONOMOUS DRIVING TRUCKS – On the occasion ofHydrogen Wave Forum the Hyundai group also showed images of the Trailer Drone, a truck prototype that matches power to hydrogen (with a range of 1000 km with a full tank) with an advanced fully autonomous driving system. The idea is to start development for South Korea. But the hydrogen diffusion projects also concern Europe, both for light commercial vehicles (which represent 400,000 units per year) and for cars, starting from the aforementioned Nexo. But the use of hydrogen is not excluded also for industry (by combining several modules it is possible to produce large quantities of energy) and for the aeronautical sector: after all, the Hydrogen Wave Forum’s slogan is Everyone, Everything, Everywhere.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hnWFXaQwKdE
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