After working on hydrogen powertrains for more than a decade, Hyundai opted to launch an FCV adaptation of its Tucson crossover rather than building a new hydrogen-powered vehicle from the ground up.
The Tucson FCV appears to have fallen short of its modest 1,000-unit sales goal for 2015, as first-half deliveries remained below 300 units in the US, Europe and Korea.
Despite the Tucson FCV’s troubles, Hyundai promises to follow Toyota’s Mirai strategy and finally develop a dedicated fuel-cell vehicle.
“We will launch a dedicated vehicle, although it is not clear what vehicle type it will be based around,” said Hyundai-Kia hydrogen research head Sae-Hoon Kim, as quoted by Autocar.
The company is expected to focus on a new crossover with an improved range, jumping to 500 miles from the Tucson FCV’s 375-mile estimate. Top speed will also improve slightly to 110 mph.
The US market has proved difficult for hydrogen vehicles, as lack of costly refueling infrastructure discourages sales and lack of sales discourages infrastructure buildout. Hyundai is confident, however, that hydrogen will prevail and compete with ever-cheaper battery-powered EVs.
“Battery and fuel cell will co-exist, but fuel cell is the best powertrain for larger vehicles,” the executive added.
The report suggests both Kia and Hyundai will have different fuel-cell vehicles on the road by 2020.
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