Future Cars
Hyundai Motor Group will begin to construct infrastructure for hydrogen fuel cell vehicles in the city of Seoul.
In a signing ceremony attended by Gwangju Metropolitan Mayor Yoon Jang-hyun, Gwangju Creative Economy Innovation Center Executive Director Yoo Ki-ho, and Hyundai Motor Group Vice Chairman Kwon Moon-sik, the group signed a contract at Gwangju Metropolitan City Hall on June 11 to cooperate in establishing integrated stations and testing the operation of the hydrogen fuel cell buses.
Under the agreement, Gwangju Metropolitan City will provide infrastructure including relevant sites, while Hyundai Motor Group will offer various technologies and activities to construct integrated stations.
An integrated station is a piece of infrastructure that plays a role as a hydrogen fueling station, electric car charging station, and electricity distribution feeder after hydrogen production. It provides hydrogen to hydrogen fuel cell vehicles, and it can also supply electricity to charge electric vehicles using electricity generated with stored hydrogen. Gwangju Creative Economy Innovation Center is planning to complete it by the end of this year.
The integrated station is considered to be the foundation to create an ecosystem related to the front and rear industries of hydrogen fuel cells. In a bid to build a platform for the integrated stations, Gwangju Creative Economy Innovation Center will analyze the business models of fuel cell projects and Vehicle to Grid (V2G) demonstration projects. It will also evaluate the performance and verify commercialization of products and technologies such as hydrogen fuel cell vehicle inverters and fuel cell generators.
Gwangju will also take hydrogen fuel cell buses for a spin. Hyundai Motor will offer a 16-passenger hydrogen fuel cell bus to the city and operate it on a trial basis.
Hyundai Motor Group’s hydrogen fuel cell bus will be provided to Gwangju Metropolitan City free of charge until May next year so that the city can evaluate its performance and eco-friendliness. The bus is a next-generation environmentally-friendly vehicle that has the integrated eco-friendly technologies developed by the group. It can speed up to 100 kilometers per hour and has a driving range of 440 kilometers on a full charge. The hydrogen fuel cell bus emits water instead of exhaust while driving.
Hyundai Motor is planning not only to develop a third-generation hydrogen fuel cell bus in the future but also to lead the government’s green car development policy along with the Tucson hydrogen-powered vehicle, an electric bus, and the Sonata plug-in hybrid.