Hyundai says hydrogen car pricing on par with EVs by 2030

In an analogy I think we can all understand, Sae Hoon Kim claims the difference between battery-powered cars and their hydrogen-fuel-cell-powered counterparts is as simple as the one between milk and cheese. Nomads “preserve milk as cheese left over from the summer,” explains the executive vice-president and head of Hyundai’s fuel cell group, so that they can use it over the winter as a “milk substitute.” Not only is its solid form more easily preserved than the liquid, but it is even more dense in nutrients.

Those same advantages will be why, according to Kim, hydrogen will become tremendously important when a renewable energy society is established. “Hydrogen will play a similar role to cheese,” he said during a presentation at today’s Hydrogen Wave online conference, because it will “convert excess electricity generated from clean sources — such as wind or solar power — into [energy-dense] hydrogen that can be stored in huge quantities.”

Quite literally, says Kim, “Electricity is like milk while hydrogen is the cheese,” more easily transported over long distances and more energy-dense than batteries, both key factors in our conversion electrification, especially for commercial vehicles.

And, for an executive VP in charge of designing some of the most complicated devices on the planet, Kim makes the interior workings of a fuel cell sound dead simple. In essence, he says, fuel cells are just the polar opposite of the electrolysis experiments we all did in tenth-grade chemistry class. Instead of separating water into its constituent hydrogen and oxygen with jolts of electricity, a fuel cell joins hydrogen and oxygen to create an electrical charge. That conjoining, by the way, is the reason the only byproduct of hydrogen fuel cell power is water — the combination of hydrogen and oxygen we all recognize as H2O.

Despite both being driven by electricity, battery electric vehicles (BEVs) and fuel-cell electric vehicles (FCEVs) differ in a fundamental way: while a battery is a passive energy source which stores electricity, a fuel cell produces energy through a chemical reaction. In this regard, says Kim, a hydrogen fuel stack is much like an internal-combustion engine, only “without the carbon emissions.” And, like the ICE engines, one reason the fuel cell is a more compact energy source than a passive battery is because some of its fuel — the oxygen components — doesn’t have to be carried around in the vehicle. They’re simply drawn in from the atmosphere.

But then, if we had all been paying attention in high school, we’d probably know that already. What is new is Hyundai’s massive acceleration of it hydrogen plans. Indeed, in one fell swoop, Hyundai looks to have passed Toyota in its conversion to fuel cells, and alongside the announcement that its luxury arm, Genesis, will be fully electric by 2030 — and will not launch new ICE-powered models after 2025 — this move represent perhaps the largest commitment by any mainstream automaker to popularize the hydrogen fuel cell.

Not only will the Korean giant introduce smaller, more efficient fuel-cell stacks by 2023 and become the first automaker to offer fuel-cell systems in all its commercial vehicles models by 2028, but it is promising that by 2030 it will produce a fuel-cell electric vehicle with a price point comparable to a battery electric vehicle’s.

This significance of this last point cannot be overstated: Just as BEVs must match ICE vehicles’ price-points if battery-powered electrification is to transplant internal combustion as the powertrain of the future, fuel cells, which trail EVs significantly in price competitiveness, must, too. If Hyundai can really match BEV pricing in the next decade, it will be a significant boost to the hydrogen economy.

Hyundai’s commitment to hydrogen is complete, says chairman Euisun Chung, promising “to make hydrogen readily used for everyone, everything, and everywhere.” Not content with just cars and commercial vehicles, Hyundai is also looking to apply its FCEV technology to planes, trains, and ships, all modes of transportation that require long-range capabilities married with greater energy densities than batteries can offer.

Highlighting the automotive part of this transformation will be the Vision FK hydrogen-powered hybrid hypercar, its 500 kilowatts — 670 horsepower — capable of scooting to 100 kilometres an hour in less than four seconds, while offering a range of over 600 kilometres that can be recharged in just a few minutes. Falling under the same umbrella will be the M.Vision Pop (an EV-based ultra-small urban mobility vehicle with “crab” drive and autonomous parking) and a minicar version of its Nexo platform. And, of course, there will be a range of fuel cell-powered commercial trucks labeled XCIENT.

But Hyundai’s proposed range of hydrogen-fueled vehicles is far more encompassing. For one, it’s developing a portable hydrogen refueling station called H Moving. Then there’s something the company is labeling a Rescue Hydrogen Generator Vehicle , which will basically use a compact, energy-dense hydrogen fuel cell to generate electricity — up to three phases and 380 volts — for emergency power generation. The automaker’s even working on a version of this mobile fuel cell generator to supply electricity for the new ETCR electric touring car racing series, with hydrogen literally serving as a portable, compact quick-charging charging station for energy-starved battery-powered race cars.

By far the most intriguing development is something Hyundai call a “trailer drone.” Patterned after the undercarriages that support trains, a pair of fuel cell “e-Bogies” sit under a traditional shipping container. Each bogie is hydrogen-powered and completely autonomous. In fact, not only is there no steering wheel, but there’s no cabin either, just a container carried by two emissions-free completely self-driving platforms barely taller than the wheels they ride on.

The result is a container shipping system that, thanks to the incredible articulation of the two e-Bogies, can parallel park with more efficiency than an automobile. Even if it were not hydrogen-powered, Hyundai’s e-Bogie would be a revolution for the trucking industry. That it boasts up to 1,000 kilometres of emissions-free range and yet can be recharged as quickly as current diesel trucks makes it the biggest news in commercial haulage in decades.