Competition heating up for hydrogen vehicles

Hyundai Motor seeks to solidify leadership through huge investment

By Kim Bo-eun

The market for hydrogen-powered vehicles is gaining momentum amid global interest in the fuel as a means of meeting carbon targets.

Major economies have announced plans to achieve carbon neutrality by 2050 and have unveiled national roadmaps for building a hydrogen economy. These efforts are placing an increased focus on eco-friendly vehicles such as electric vehicles (EVs) and hydrogen fuel cell electric vehicles (FCEVs).

The market for FCEVs remains a niche segment of the global car market but is seeing growth. According to energy market tracker SNE Research, 2,594 hydrogen-powered vehicles were sold worldwide in the third quarter of 2020, up 27.3 percent from the same quarter of 2019.

Those in the industry state that FCEVs are more suitable than EVs for delivery trucks that carry heavy loads and travel long distances. Major vehicle makers are in a race to secure a major share of the market as it develops.

Leading French carmaker Groupe Renault said earlier this month it will set up a joint venture with Plug Power, the leading U.S. firm in fuel cell systems and hydrogen-related services, in the first half of the year.

Through the partnership companies aim to boost their competitiveness in R&D, manufacturing and sales of FCEVs.

The joint venture is seeking to capture more than 30 percent of Europe's fuel cell-powered light commercial vehicle market.

The announcement came shortly after Korean conglomerate SK Group unveiled investments of 1.6 trillion won ($1.5 billion) into both Plug Power and its own plan to establish a joint venture by 2022. With the investment, SK Holdings and its energy development affiliate, SK E&S, own 9.9 percent of the U.S. fuel cell company.

Meanwhile, Japan's top carmaker, Toyota, acquired shares of the Portuguese bus manufacturer Caetano last month to manufacture fuel cell buses in Europe.

Toyota has set up its Fuel Cell Business Group in Europe to oversee its global business and work with national and regional governments, as well as industrial partners.

In October, the Japanese carmaker stated it would jointly develop hydrogen fuel cell trucks for the North American market with its subsidiary, Hino.

Last month, Toyota launched the completely redesigned FCEV sedan, Mirai, and is targeting a 10-fold increase in global sales of the vehicle.

German automotive group Daimler launched a truck fuel cell unit last year, which will transition into a joint venture with Volvo, to develop, produce and commercialize fuel-cell systems for trucks.

Daimler Trucks premiered the Mercedes-Benz fuel-cell concept truck with plans for customer trials in 2023 and aims to begin production in 2025.

Hyundai Motor Group is a leading player in the global FCEV market, selling 73.8 percent of the 6,664 fuel cell vehicles sold globally between January and September last year, according to SNE Research. This sales success was attributed specifically to the sales of its fuel cell SUV, Nexo.

Hyundai has unveiled plans to invest 7.6 trillion won into FCEVs by 2030, and to increase production to 500,000 vehicles a decade from now. Hyundai produced 11,000 FCEVs in 2020.

The carmaker plans to roll out 1,600 of its XCIENT fuel cell trucks by 2025; and by 2030, Hyundai is expecting more than 12,000 vehicles to be exported to the U.S. ― 25,000 to Europe and 27,000 to China.

Hyundai is also focusing on the production of fuel cell systems. The group said earlier this month it is setting up an offshore fuel cell system production facility in Guangzhou, China.

Construction is set to begin next month and reach completion in the second half of 2022. The plant will be Hyundai's first fuel cell production base outside Korea, with a capacity to produce 6,500 fuel cell systems per year.

"Carmakers are still in the early stages when it comes to hydrogen vehicles. Partnerships with global entities and getting the necessary infrastructure laid out are among their top considerations," said Moon Jong-chol, a research fellow at the Korea Institute for Industrial Economics and Trade (KIET).

"For hydrogen-powered vehicles, there is still lots to do in developing the technology. Difficulty and high costs of production remain challenges to work on," said Lee Hang-koo, senior researcher at the Korea Automotive Technology Institute.

The government is seeking to boost the number of FCEVs on Korean roads to 6.2 million by 2040, up from 2,000 in 2018. By 2040, it is aiming to have 80,000 taxis, 40,000 buses and 30,000 trucks powered by hydrogen. To enable these numbers, the government plans to build 1,200 filling stations by that time.

The number of registered FCEVs here stood at 10,906 as of the end of 2020, up 115 percent from a year earlier. These numbers are seen as being due to greater government subsidies, as well as lower prices and enhanced performance of the vehicles, backed by technological developments.

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