Promotion of Hydrogen Cars
The Ministry of Environment has commissioned research on the popularization of hydrogen fuel cell vehicles and charging infrastructure. The government will come up with a long-term plan for the promotion of such vehicles in July, based on the result of four months of research.
The Ministry is looking to adjust its hydrogen vehicle distribution goal upward, too. Specifically, it is going to supply at least 1,000 hydrogen vehicles and 10 charging stations to the public sector by 2020.
It had run 100 test vehicles and 13 stations in 2013, but supplied just 12 vehicles and one station last year.
The atmosphere is different this year though. The Hyundai Motor Group and Gwangju City announced in January that they would turn the city into a base of the hydrogen fuel industry of Korea. More recently, President Park Geun-hye praised hydrogen fuel vehicles as one of the best examples of future-oriented and eco-friendly technology.
Hyundai has cut the price of the Tucson ix FCEV by 43 percent, and auto parts manufacturers such as LG Chem are accelerating their R&D on hydrogen fuel cells, too. The market is expected to show a very rapid growth once substitutes for the costly platinum catalyst become available.