German and Japanese Automakers Jumping into Hydrogen Car Market

Major Japanese and German automakers such as Toyota and BMW are jumping into the hydrogen-powered vehicle market, which is dominated by Hyundai Motor Co.

Toyota will introduce the second-generation model of the Mirai, a hydrogen car, to the Chinese market in December. It plans to use about 100 units of the Mirai for short-term car rental and cab hailing services to raise consumer awareness, and then start retail sales. The new Mirai's performance has greatly improved compared to the previous version, with the maximum driving distance extended to 850 km on a single charge. The mileage is more than 200 km longer than that of the Hyundai Nexo (609 km). Toyota is also planning to use the hydrogen fuel cells of the Mirai for the pickup truck Hilux and begin full-scale production of the commercial vehicle in 2023.

Honda is currently selling the hydrogen car Clarity. It plans to convert the sports utility vehicle (SUV) CR-V into a hydrogen model and mass-produce it beginning from 2024. It intends to differentiate the hydrogen model of the CR-V by enabling drivers to charge its batteries with electricity like an electric car.

Some European automakers have also finished preparations to enter the hydrogen car market. On Dec. 5, BMW began test production of the hydrogen concept car iX5, which was unveiled last year. The iX5 is a model powered by hydrogen fuel cells developed by BMW together with Toyota and will come out in Japan in 2023. Even Volkswagen, which had been skeptical of the commercialization of hydrogen cars, recently applied for a patent related to hydrogen fuel cells together with a German energy company.

Meanwhile, Hyundai Motor Co. has proved its competitiveness in hydrogen vehicle technology by exporting the world’s first mass-produced Xcient hydrogen trucks to the European market. The Xcient hydrogen truck can travel 570 km on one single charge and has a maximum output of 476 horsepower, which overwhelms other existing diesel models. Hyundai Motor has exported 47 Xcient hydrogen trucks to Switzerland so far. In August, it also supplied 27 units to Germany. Hyundai Motor went one step further and began to sell Xcient hydrogen trucks to customers in Korea.

Hyundai Motor Co. also recently raised its bar by deciding to develop a third-generation hydrogen fuel cell. Hydrogen fuel cells currently applied to the Nexo and the Xcient hydrogen truck is a second-generation product.

Hyundai Motor sold 9,591 units of the Nexo in the global market between January and October of this year, logging a 59.2 percent share, said SNE Research, a market research institute. The Nexo widened its gap with Toyota Mirai (17.9 percent) at second place to 41.3 percentage points.