Hyundai planning hydrogen fuel cell sequel

Hyundai has revealed that it will battle it out with Toyota’s Mirai with an all-new hydrogen fuel cell-powered vehicle.

Speaking to Brit mag, Autocar, Hyundai’s Hydrogen fuel cell boss, Sae-Hoon Kim, said that the Korean car-maker will once again manufacturer an H2-powered SUV, but this time it will be a bespoke design.

Previously, the firm’s hydrogen fuel cell was built around an existing vehicle, the ix35 SUV.

“We will launch a dedicated vehicle, although it is not clear what vehicle type it will be based around”, said Kim.

“Developing a bespoke car offers clear advantages. For instance, the larger the radiators on a fuel cell car the better, and you can see on the Mirai that they have developed a cooling solution that helps with that scenario.” He told Autocar.

Kim said Hyundai’s next-gen hydrogen fuel cell car would have a range of more than 800km and a top speed around 180km/h. This compares with the current hydrogen-powered ix35 that has a top speed of 160km/h and a range of 600km.

According to Kim when Hyundai consulted its customers about a future replacement for the current ix35 fuel cell car both increasing its range and boot space were ruled priorities. To solve the dilemma of a bigger fuel tank robbing boot space, according to the fuel cell expert, Hyundai was looking to aerospace to solve the issue.

Hydrogen is now seen by car-makers as a viable renewable fuel following the expansion of green tech like solar that can store any excess energy as hydrogen.

Hyundai’s Kim told Autocar he thought hydrogen fuel cell technology was the best powertrain for larger, long-range vehicles.