Hyundai's bold new hydrogen concept EV gives us a glimpse of its future, but the tech still has a long way to go

• Initium conception showcases caller creation guidance for substance compartment vehicles
• Production is scheduled to statesman adjacent year
• SUV style is simply a ploy to beryllium hydrogen is robust and safe for mundane use

Hyundai has lifted nan lid connected its latest hydrogen substance compartment concept, which features all-new substance compartment electrical conveyance exertion (FCEV) for improved range, capacity and durability.

Destined to switch nan Nexo, Hyundai’s long-serving but comparatively slow-selling FCEV, nan Initial conception showcases a bold caller creation guidance that will location nan latest technology.

Despite a world push for axenic electrical vehicles, Hyundai is 1 of nan fewer automakers that is afloat committed to hydrogen arsenic a root of substance for some early rider cars, arsenic good arsenic an array of commercialized vehicles, including buses, trucks and moreover building equipment.

The Initium conception takes nan shape of a rugged SUV, complete pinch a caller ‘Art of Steel’ creation connection that main designer SangYup Lee says is some “solid and safe”. Apparently, nan ‘+’ inspired schematic that you spot successful nan ray signature and nan bumper will go a unchangeable portion of nan company’s FCEV rider cars of nan future.

It borrows overmuch disconnected its look from nan retro-futuristic N Vision 74 concept, a car that showcased hydrogen’s domiciled successful high-performance EVs. Initium is simply a continuation of this but wrapped up successful a much consumer-friendly, SUV package.

Massive 21-inch wheels are covered successful bespoke aerodynamic covers and wrapped successful debased rolling guidance tires, while a rugged tile rack houses integrated beforehand lamps and taillights.

The rear conception has a feint whiff of Pontiac Aztek astir it, though nan LED lighting signature moves things connected from Walter White chic. The 4 cubes astatine nan beforehand and rear apparently morse codification for nan missive ‘H’, signifying some Hyundai and hydrogen.

According to Jin Huang Jung, caput of conveyance improvement astatine Hyundai, 220V Vehicle-to-Load exertion allows nan substance compartment stack, dubbed a portable greenish power source, to powerfulness everything from outdoor cookers to appliances successful nan home. There’s nary request for an adaptor either, arsenic nan outer socket is designed to return Korean plugs.

Hyundai’s 27 years successful hydrogen substance compartment investigation has resulted successful nan adjacent procreation of substance compartment stacks that it believes moves nan crippled connected from nan early units recovered successful nan marque’s ground-breaking Tucson IX35, which offered a scope of astir 258-miles, and nan Nexo of 2018, which accrued that scope to 414 miles successful later iterations.

The adjacent procreation substance compartment vehicle, which will spell into accumulation adjacent year, is aiming for a scope successful excess of 400 miles, which is not precisely nan immense summation galore expected. But pinch accrued hydrogen density aboard its tanks and an electrical centrifugal that is now tin of processing 150kW – aliases astir 200bhp – arsenic opposed to 120kW.

The 0-62mph is now pegged astatine 8 seconds, complete a 2nd faster than Nexo.

More importantly, Hyundai says nan system’s durability has been drastically improved, reducing nan wide degradation of nan substance compartment stack to guarantee it delivers nan claimed scope and capacity for nan vehicle’s lifespan.

Hyundai says it has besides developed an FCEV-specific way planner that, overmuch for illustration those systems that hunt down an electrical conveyance charging station, tin crippled an optimal way from wrong nan infotainment system, uncovering hydrogen charging stations on nan measurement without having to entree a abstracted app.

Analysis: Hydrogen still has a agelong measurement to go

According to Hyundai engineers, it costs astir $23million to set-up a nationalist hydrogen refueling station.

Despite this, South Korea hopes to turn its nationalist charging stations from nan 192 disposable today, to good complete 600 by 2030. This will thief it work nan 40,000 hydrogen-powered vehicles it presently has connected nan roads.

However, nan number of fueling stations successful different cardinal markets makes for depressing reading. There are conscionable 100 successful North America and 265 successful Europe. In nan UK, nan number of hydrogen fueling stations is really dwindling, not growing.

Producing and transporting hydrogen is besides an costly business, making nan full process costly and much analyzable than simply recharging batteries. Even handling a hydrogen fueling nozzle, which delivers nan state astatine a monolithic 350bar pressure, requires dense lifting and a knowledge of nan process.

There are besides large questions complete sustainability, arsenic a hydrogen substance compartment stack is besides analyzable and requires nan usage of earthy world materials. Couple this pinch nan truth they besides require a modular automotive artillery battalion to function, albeit a overmuch smaller 1 than a emblematic EV, and it presents a awesome problem erstwhile it comes to recycling and nan end-of-life process.

Jin Huang Jung, Hyundai's caput of conveyance development, states that nan institution was “developing strategies” to recycle elements of nan substance compartment stack astatine nan extremity of its life, but recognized that location were nary programs to reuse them for illustration location are pinch typically EV artillery packs.

There are besides galore issues surrounding nan business of producing hydrogen that, if not done utilizing cleanable power sources for illustration upwind aliases solar, requires a immense magnitude of CO2-producing energy.

But Hyundai’s HTWO imagination goes beyond simply processing hydrogen-powered vehicles, arsenic its scheme is to create a information system wherever hydrogen is produced from biomass and integrative waste, distributed via its fleet of hydrogen-powered trucks and past utilized by everything from trams to moreover eVTOL craft.

The institution already has a successful programme moving successful nan larboard of Oakland, California, wherever immoderate 30 Class 8 Xcient substance compartment hydrogen-powered trucks are helping it trim its c output without impacting payload abilities aliases halting operations pinch lengthy charging stops.

Hyundai sees hydrogen arsenic an important portion of nan future’s power mix, but nan technology, contempt being immoderate 27 years old, still feels very overmuch successful its infancy wherever rider cars are concerned.

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