Hyundai Motor Chosen for Third Consecutive Year for European Commission Backed Hydrogen Fuel Cell Demonstrations
- World’s first mass produced Hyundai ix35 Fuel Cell continues key role in 2014
- Hydrogen-powered ix35 Fuel Cell vehicles will be driven by European officials
Hyundai Motor’s ix35 Fuel Cell has been selected for the third consecutive year by the European Commission-backed Fuel Cells and Hydrogen Joint Undertaking (FCH JU) to demonstrate the real-world benefits of hydrogen fuel cell technology.
Two examples of the ix35 Fuel Cell, the world’s first mass production fuel cell electric vehicle (FCEV), will be driven during 2014 by Members of the European Parliament (MEPs), European Commissioners, EU officials and other policymakers in Brussels.
Hyundai Motor has leased a hydrogen-powered fuel cell car to the FCH JU since October 2011. Over the course of the last two years, the ix35 Fuel Cell has been presented to EU decision-makers, stakeholders and the general public at a number of demonstration drives and public events across Europe.
Byung Kwon Rhim, President of Hyundai Motor Europe, commented: “The fact that the Hyundai ix35 Fuel Cell has been chosen for a third consecutive year underlines the vehicle’s pioneering approach to clean mobility solutions. Hyundai Motor and our colleagues at the FCH-JU will continue to work together to promote the benefits and advantages of hydrogen and fuel cell technology.”
“The visibility of the fuel cell and hydrogen technology in a market-ready product, together with the ability to experience, hands-on, driving the fuel cell car, are of crucial importance to make key stakeholders understand that fuel cells and hydrogen are technologies for today”, said Bert De Colvenaer, Executive Director of the Fuel Cells and Hydrogen Joint Undertaking
Examples of the Hyundai ix35 Fuel Cell are already being leased by public and private fleets, primarily in Europe, where the European Union has established a hydrogen road map and initiated construction of hydrogen fuelling stations. Public authorities in Denmark, France, Germany, Sweden and the UK have already taken deliveries of ix35 Fuel Cell cars.
In April 2014, Hyundai Motor announced its plan to deliver 75 units of ix35 Fuel Cell as part of the largest ever pan-European fuel-cell passenger car project. The Hydrogen for Innovative Vehicles (HyFIVE) project, funded by FCH JU, will see deliveries made in Bolzano (Italy), Copenhagen (Denmark), Innsbruck (Austria), London (UK), Munich and Stuttgart (Germany). As part of the project, the existing pan-European refuelling infrastructure will be expanded significantly, providing greater choice and convenience to early adopters of FCEV technology.
The Hyundai ix35 Fuel Cell represents the culmination of a fuel cell development programme that began in 1998, and continues at the company’s dedicated fuel cell research centre at its Eco Technology Research Institute in Korea. In January 2013 the company became the world’s first automaker to begin mass production of zero-emission, hydrogen-powered vehicles, underlining its position as a world-leader in the development of fuel cell technology.
